And the winner is….

Osteopathy! A new article (published January 3, 2012) compared the effectiveness of spinal manipulation with medications and exercises for neck pain. The medications in the study included aspirin, ibuprofen, muscle relaxants and narcotics.

Neck manipulation was proven to be statistically significant to medication at the 2 month follow up, and again at 3, 6, and 12 months, with nearly two thirds of people receiving neck manipulation reporting a 75% reduction in pain. The exercises (basic stretches and neck retractions) were also proven to be more effective than medications, so the combination of getting some treatment with  doing some stretches would appear to be a winner.

In addition to their limited pain relief, the medications had at least one other downside: people kept taking them. The people in the medication group kept on using a higher amount of medication more frequently. If you’re taking medication over a long time, then you’re running the risk of developing more systemic side effects like gastrointestinal problems.