06/14/2026
ABC News… Chiropractors and Exercise Better Than Medication.
“Researchers Report Chiropractic Care Almost 3 Times More Effective Than Medication For Neck Pain Sufferers.”
A recent study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the best “medicine” is no medicine at all.
The study which was funded by the National Institutes of Health compared patients with recent onset (acute) neck pain who were treated using three different treatments…
1. Medication
2. Exercise or
3. Chiropractic
After 12 weeks of the different treatments, the patients who used a chiropractor or exercised were almost 3 times as likely to be pain free compared to those who took medication.
The patients treated by a chiropractor experienced the highest rate of success with 32% reporting they were pain free.
Exercise came in 2nd with 30% reporting being pain free.
Medication use resulted in just 13% of people being pain free.
According to the news article…
“(The results) Doesn’t surprise me a bit,” Dr. Lee Green, professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan told ABC News.
“Neck pain is a mechanical problem, and it makes sense that mechanical treatment works better than a chemical one.”
Conclusion from the actual study: “For participants with acute and subacute neck pain, spinal manipulation was more effective than medication in both the short and long term.”
The reality is that medications can help pain temporarily. Sometimes the best approach is taking something if the pain is very bad. Doing so while a person sees a chiropractor to correct the cause of that pain before progressing into progressive rehab and exercise. It’s not necessarily an either or situation. 👍
http://www.hagebuschchiropractic.com/abc-news-chiropractors-and-exercise-better-than-medication/
