October 2004

Harvard report minimizes chiropractic for neck pain

A special report published by Harvard Medical School mentions chiropractic as a source of alternative care for neck pain, but warns healthcare consumers to seek allopathic medical treatment prior to consulting a chiropractor and states that “well-controlled studies do not demonstrate greater value of chiropractic manipulation over other techniques.”

The report, What To Do About Neck Pain, is written for healthcare consumers. A statement on the table of contents says, “The goal of materials provided by Harvard Health Publications is to interpret medical information for the general reader …”

The major sections in the 37-page booklet include:

• Anatomy of neck pain,

• What you may feel,

• Common causes of neck pain,

• Evaluating neck pain,

• Healing your neck pain,

• Ergonomics: Moving and sitting safely,

• Athletics and your neck,

• Medication,

• The mind/body connection,

• Alternative and complementary therapies,

• Surgery for neck pain

• Glossary and

• Resources.

Chiropractic is covered in five paragraphs under “alternative and complementary therapies. One of the paragraphs is entitled “Caution on chiropractic.” The introductory paragraph of the section on chiropractic states:

“Despite its popularity, some medical experts advise against chiropractic manipulations for neck pain because of rare but serious complications … For this reason, seek a medical evaluation for your neck pain before seeking chiropractic care, especially if you have symptoms that could indicate a condition for which chiropractic care might be particularly hazardous …”

The section further states, “Many people gain relief from chiropractic care. However, well-controlled studies do not demonstrate greater value of chiropractic manipulation over other techniques (exercise therapy, physical therapy) in easing neck pain …”

The resources listed in the booklet include references to allopathic physicians, as well as to massage therapists and physical therapists. No resources are listed for chiropractic.

The booklet is available from Harvard Medical School, www.health.harvard.edu.

Although the Harvard booklet minimizes chiropractic, Medical Economics (the medical community’s equivalent of Chiropractic Economics) recently gave readers “A field guide to alternative healers.” The article stated, “If you’re not familiar with the work of medical intuitives, naturopaths or other practitioners or ‘complementary and alternative medicine,’ you should be. They’re treating your patients. … And the borders between CAM and conventional medicine are blurring. MDs and Dos have not only been learning about CAM in medical school lately, but they’re also adopting many of the techniques or working side by side with CAM practitioners …”

The article elaborates on CAM and provides descriptions of various specialties. Referring to chiropractors, the article states: “Although the public doesn’t ordinarily associate chiropractors with CAM, the NCCAM [National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine] puts them in this category. And they’re the most widely consulted kind of CAM practitioner …”

Source: What To Do About Neck Pain, Harvard Medical School, www.health.harvard.edu, Medical Economics, www.memag.com.

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