Manual therapy, exercise therapy or combined treatment in the management of adult neck pain - A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Neck pain is a common and often disabling musculoskeletal condition. Two therapies frequently prescribed for its management are manual therapy (MT) and exercise therapy (ET), and combining these treatment approaches are common.

Objective: To assess whether or not combined treatment consisting of MT and ET is more effective than either therapy alone in relieving pain and improving function in adult patients with grade I-II neck pain.

Design: Systematic review with meta-analysis.

Methods: A systematic search on EMBASE, MEDLINE, AMED, CENTRAL and PEDro were performed until June 2017. Randomized controlled trials with adult grade I-II neck pain patients were included if they investigated the combined effect of MT and ET to the same ET or MT alone, and reported pain intensity or disability on numerical scales. Quality of life was assessed as a secondary outcome. Quality of the included trials was assessed with the PEDro scale, and the quality of evidence was assessed with GRADE.

Results: 1169 articles were screened, and 7 studies were included, all of which investigated the addition of ET to MT. Only very small and non-significant between group differences was found on pain intensity at rest, neck disability, and quality of life at immediate post-treatment, 6 months, and 12 months follow-up. The quality of evidence was moderate for pain-at-rest outcomes and moderate too low for neck disability and quality of life outcomes.

Conclusion: Combined treatment consisting of MT and ET does not seem to be more effective in reducing neck pain intensity at rest, neck disability or improving quality of life in adult patients with grade I-II neck pain, than ET alone.