If you are treating a patient who is recovering from a serious trauma while on a travel PT assignment, he or she may experience neck and back pain. There are a number of methods for relief and you may be wondering which is the best option. However, new research from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, which was published in The Spine Journal, found that there's no clear winner when it comes to the most effective treatment for neck pain.
Treating neck pain
According to Reuters, in 2008, Canada's Neck Pain Task Force recommended that neck pain sufferers should use cardio and strengthening exercises to alleviate their discomfort. Yet, when researchers from Ontario conducted an investigation into the matter in 2013, their findings said otherwise. In order to track the effectiveness of methods, the researchers considered six things:
- patient-rated recovery
- functional recovery
- level of pain
- health-related quality of life
- psychological outcomes
- adverse events
These outcomes were measured in reference to eight electronic databases that collected information from 2000 to 2013. In total, 4,761 articles were referenced, nine of which looked at neck pain specifically and one covering whiplash-associated disorders. Different treatment methods used in the data included:
- manual therapy
- unsupervised range of motion exercises
- non-steroidal anti-inflammatories and acetaminophen
- qi gong and strengthening, range of motion and flexibility exercises
- supervised Iyengar yoga
Overall, each of these options led to similar outcomes. Based on this information, authors of the study concluded that no single treatment beats out the others in terms of effectiveness. In fact, exercise in general was not proven to have any beneficial results on patients with neck pain.
"If you have neck pain, whether it started two days ago or two weeks ago, one of the best things you can do is gently move and stretch your neck muscles," Dr. Pierre Cote, a study author and epidemiologist at the University of Ontario Institutes of Technology, told Reuters.
Depending on the type of neck pain those you are treating on travel therapy jobs are experiencing, you may want to implement varying types of treatment. However, the source recommends talking to your patients before choosing any routine. Gearing an individual's treatment plan based on his or her abilities and interests can help move the rehabilitation process along more rapidly. In general, you will want to advise movement of the muscles to improve the condition.