Dr. Snow’s Chiropractic and Jiu-Jitsu: How to Stay Rollin’ January 2012 - Neck Pain

Here it is, a brand new year with brand new resolutions. Will you be smarter about your training this year? Will you be smarter about taking care of your injuries this year? 2011 was a brutal year for me with two surgeries from an unrelated injury I sustained in an auto accident in 2007. I learned the hard way that injuries left unattended will come back to bite you. Don’t get me wrong, I was treated for several visits, but I grew restless and got back to training too soon. I made a mistake. As a result, my resolution for 2012 is to do as I say, and not as I DID. I will be a regular chiropractic and massage patient in the New Year, just like I suggest to all of you. Above all, do not be tough and train through your injury. I did that for four years, and I paid a hefty price for it.

In my office, I treat all types of musculoskeletal conditions and injuries, but my practice focuses primarily on spine. I have seen several spine conditions, both acute and chronic, over the years training Jiu Jitsu. Not all of you have sought help for those and my concern is, and has always been, the overuse of medications for these injuries. Don’t get me wrong. I am not against the use of medications, but when they are the sole solution used is where my concern arises. If you take a pain pill, it allows you to feel better more quickly, obviously. The issue with that is that it minimizes in your mind the injury that occurred, and also allows for you to do too much too fast. This can enhance the long term effects of the injury. Further, anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxants do exactly what they are prescribed to do, which is to remove inflammation and muscle spasm but none of these medications do anything to rehab or “fix” the injury. What can result is weakened tissue that is more prone to injury and re-injury. If our goal is to train for the long term, we need to be smarter about how we approach our aches and pains this year.

Below is a research article which compares the benefits of spinal manipulation to that of the use of medication in the treatment of acute and subacute neck pain. I will also note that all treatment plans in our office include the use of home based exercises that we teach that will help you rehab your injury more quickly. Please see that spinal manipulation was more effective in both the short term and long term that using medication alone.

Spinal Manipulation, Medication, or Home Exercise With Advice for Acute and Subacute Neck Pain
A Randomized Trial - http://www.annals.org/content/156/1_Part_1/1.abstract

Abstract

Background: Mechanical neck pain is a common condition that affects an estimated 70% of persons at some point in their lives. Little research exists to guide the choice of therapy for acute and subacute neck pain.

Objective: To determine the relative efficacy of spinal manipulation therapy (SMT), medication, and home exercise with advice (HEA) for acute and subacute neck pain in both the short and long term.

Design: Randomized, controlled trial. (ClinicalTrials.gov registration number: NCT00029770)

Setting: 1 university research center and 1 pain management clinic in Minnesota.

Participants: 272 persons aged 18 to 65 years who had nonspecific neck pain for 2 to 12 weeks.

Intervention: 12 weeks of SMT, medication, or HEA.

Measurements: The primary outcome was participant-rated pain, measured at 2, 4, 8, 12, 26, and 52 weeks after randomization. Secondary measures were self-reported disability, global improvement, medication use, satisfaction, general health status (Short Form-36 Health Survey physical and mental health scales), and adverse events. Blinded evaluation of neck motion was performed at 4 and 12 weeks.

Results: For pain, SMT had a statistically significant advantage over medication after 8, 12, 26, and 52 weeks (P ≤ 0.010), and HEA was superior to medication at 26 weeks (P = 0.02). No important differences in pain were found between SMT and HEA at any time point. Results for most of the secondary outcomes were similar to those of the primary outcome.

Limitations: Participants and providers could not be blinded. No specific criteria for defining clinically important group differences were prespecified or available from the literature.

Conclusion: For participants with acute and subacute neck pain, SMT was more effective than medication in both the short and long term. However, a few instructional sessions of HEA resulted in similar outcomes at most time points.

Primary Funding Source: National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, National Institutes of Health.

Dr. Jeff Snow, D.C.
The Jiu-Jitsu Doctor
(512) 459-4014
The BJJ Chiropractor - Austin, TX
"Make sure you thank the BJJ Doctor Jeff, Richard and Marshall. They took good care of me, but I will still make them do the push ups if they mess up on the drills!" - Rigan Machado

Vandry BJJ Academy: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), and Muay Thai Boxing, Austin, Texas.