Most Americans suffer from neck pain at one time or another, and my guess is that most family doctors hand out muscle relaxing pills to relieve the pain.
But research is showing that light exercise and/or a good chiropractor, physical therapist can be more helpful without the side effects of the meds, an trust me ALL meds have some side effects.
The New York Times’ Anahad O’Connor tackled this issue this week.
“The new study is one of the few head-to-head comparisons of various treatments for neck pain, a problem that affects three quarters of Americans at some point in their lives but has no proven, first-line treatment. While many people seek out spinal manipulation by chiropractors, the evidence supporting its usefulness has been limited at best.
“But the new research, published in The Annals of Internal Medicine, found that chiropractic care or simple exercises done at home were better at reducing pain than taking medications like aspirin, ibuprofen or narcotics.
“These changes were diminished over time, but they were still present,” said Dr. Gert Bronfort, an author of the study and research professor at Northwestern Health Sciences University in Minnesota. “Even a year later, there were differences between the spinal manipulation and medication groups.”
