Which treatment came first in a recent study to relieve neck pain?
You are going to be very surprised with the results I think. There was a study done late last year where hundreds of neck pain sufferers were asked which treatments they found most effective. The survey had asked them their level of satisfaction, basically whether they were satisfied with the treatment or medication they had had or not.
The results were very interesting. In the survey they were asked about herbal remedies, chiropractic, massage, acupressure, exercises, prescription medication, surgery, over the counter medication and several others.
What you may find intriguing is that over the counter medications rated LAST! The overwhelming majority of the people surveyed were very dissatisfied with the amount of help from over the counter medications. This is quite alarming when I think of how many people do exactly this when they have neck pain. They go straight to the pharmacy and get some pain killers only to find that the pain has not been killed. So in short, the next time you have neck pain this is, according to this study, your worst option for pain relief.
Another interesting result was that chiropractic care was ranked 7th worst out of the possible 11. This too is very alarming especially when you think of how many people spend thousands of dollars on chiropractic care each year for neck pain. So needless to say, if you are popping over the counter pain killers and seeking chiropractic care for your neck pain you may want to think again. You are using the worst and 7th worst voted pain relieving treatments.
Another surprise to me was the weight loss was ranked 6th best for relief. It does not say how they lost this weight so it is hard to tell what the reasons were. I would think that if it was through exercise it would have been very beneficial. Quite commonly people become couch potatoes and slouch around all day, or spend a lot of time at the computers in poor posture so the simple fact that they got out of their chairs and started an exercise regime could very well have helped their necks. A change in posture would have helped, and if they had lost weight they would also have better self esteem so they would generally tend to sit and stand with better posture and just basically being more physically active would have been enormously beneficial.
At number four we see neck exercises. This is again very limiting to me because it does not say what type of exercises were performed. For example, if a client was given neck flexion and neck rolls to attempt to alleviate a disc herniation they would make the client worse. If the same client was given chin retraction (double chin exercise) and retraction with extension exercises (tennis in the sky exercise) they would be helping the disc problem so it’s difficult to say without knowing more.
At number one comes (drum roll please) – massage! This does not surprise me. I have been performing massage on people for nearly twenty years amongst other therapies such as acupuncture, mobilisations, manipulations etc and therapeutic massage is an extremely effective therapy. When this is combined with postural advice and corrective exercises the combination is profound. The client will be much better much more quickly.
Remember though, when you seek out a massage therapist you need to know of their qualifications. Depending on where you live a person can call himself a massage therapist whether he has done a weekend course, learnt from a friend or cousin or has spent years in a school or university. Therefore, it is important that you find out what sort of qualifications and perhaps experience they have had. You can imagine the quality of a doctor who spent years studying as opposed to one who did a weekend course! Also, if they are in a country that has registrations for massage therapists see if they belong to this organisation and are registered. I know in Australia you need to be registered and have to do a certain amount of ongoing education each year to remain qualified to be registered. This is not so important if you are just going for a relaxation massage but when you are in pain you need to know the person is knowledgeable. This is one of the main reasons that massage can vary so greatly between practitioners. By the way, even if I was going to get a relaxation massage I would want to know my practitioners skill level because normally a person who has studied for longer will have better skills. This is not always the case though and one of the best ways to find a good massage therapist is to simply ask around.
Related Links:
What to do if a car is going to crash into you from behind
Neck Exercises-The Best and Worst to do and why
About Me
Mark Perren-Jones has worked throughout the world’s health spas and health clinics. He did the majority of his study (7 years) in Australia and has treated thousands of clients over the past 20 years with all sorts of neck and back problems. He has studied acupuncture, massage, joint manipulation and mobilization, kinesiology, reflexology, Thai massage, Bowen technique and many other modalities to understand which therapies gets the best therapeutic results and which don’t for particular neck and back problems.
With his 20 years of clinical experience, years of diligent study and research Mark has put together this site so that you can benefit directly from his work. You will be taught not only how to treat your own pain but as importantly what causes your pain in the first place. With the knowledge you gain to remove the causes of your neck and back pain, means you will not have to suffer anymore. 
I have my new DVD out now which will show you in my easy 3 step approach how to alleviate your own neck pain.
Neck pain and especially stiff necks are not difficult to treat once you know how ( ie.remove the major causes of your neck pain and stiffness.)
I will show you how simple it is to treat your neck pain & stiffness both quickly and easily.