Chiropractor in Brick NJ Better Than Drugs
Neck pain is a common problem, affecting approximately 70 percent of us at some point during our lifetimes, resulting in millions of visits to primary care physicians every year. While the most common treatment recommended for neck pain is the use of over-the-counter or prescription pain medications, a January 2012 study, authored by Gert Bronfort, DC, PhD et al., and published in “The Annals of Internal Medicine” suggests that seeing a chiropractor in Brick NJ may offer more effective and longer lasting pain relief.
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Research Shows Seeing a Chiropractor is Better Than Drugs for Neck Pain
Funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health, this randomized, controlled study evaluated the symptoms of 272 participants ranging in age between 18 and 65 years old who had non-specific neck pain for a period of 2 to 12 weeks. Researchers divided 272 participants into three groups. One group was assigned to take pain relieving drugs, ranging from over-the-counter medications, such as acetaminophen, to prescription narcotics and muscle relaxants. A second group was treated by a chiropractor, receiving an average of 15 sessions, each roughly 20 minutes in duration. The third group were sent to see physical therapists, receiving two sessions during which they were instructed in neck exercises that they were to do at home.
After 12 weeks, an evaluation of subjects in each of the three groups revealed evidence showing that neck pain sufferers can find better pain relief from a chiropractor in Brick NJ than from drugs, and that relief comes without the gastrointestinal problems and other side effects that can become an issue with long therm use of pain relieving drugs.
57 percent of Participants Reported a 75 percent Reduction in Neck Pain
According to study authors, 57 percent of participants who were treated by chiropractors reported a 75 percent reduction in neck pain, as opposed to 48 percent of the exercise group and just 33 percent of the group treated with pain relieving medications. Additionally, when researchers followed up with study subjects a year later, 53 percent of the participants who had received chiropractic care reported that they still had a 75 percent reduction in pain. Meanwhile, the group treated with pain relieving drugs, when evaluated a year later, reported a reduction of pain of only 38 percent.
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