Manual Therapy, Physical Therapy, or Continued Care by the General Practitioner for Patients With Neck Pain: Long-Term Results From a Pragmatic Randomized Clinical Trial

OBJECTIVESThe authorsʼ goals were to compare the effectiveness of manual therapy (MT; mainly spinal mobilization), physical therapy (PT; mainly exercise therapy), and continued care by the general practitioner (GP; analgesics, counseling and education) over a period of 1 year. METHODSOne hundred eighty-three patients suffering for at least 2 weeks from nonspecific neck pain were randomized to receive a 6-week treatment strategy of MT once a week, PT twice a week, or GP care once every 2 weeks. The primary outcome measures were perceived recovery, severity of physical dysfunctioning, pain intensity, and functional disability. RESULTSThe differences between groups considered over 1 year were statistically significant (repeated measurements analyses P