NCT05374057

Chiropractic Spinal Manipulative Therapy for Acute Neck Pain

Chiropractic Spinal Manipulative Therapy for Acute Neck Pain: a 4- Arm Clinical Placebo Randomized Controlled Trial

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: Phase 4
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 320 (estimated)
• Sponsor: University Hospital, Akershus · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 59 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Acute neck is very common in the general population and often causes disability over shorter or longer time periods. Unfortunately, the efficacy of chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy (CSMT) and the efficacy of Non-steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) on acute neck pain is unknown. This 4-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) will likely provide evidence for the efficacy of CSMT as well as NSAIDs. The applied methodology of the study will aim towards the highest research standards possible for manual-therapy RCTs, thus avoiding typical methodological shortcomings from previous manual-therapy studies. Our aim is to establish evidence-based knowledge on the efficacy of CSMT and NSAIDs in the treatment of acute neck pain.

Detailed description

The Global Burden of Disease study ranks musculoskeletal neck pain as the most common disability worldwide. This study will highlight and validate CSMT for acute neck pain, compared to sham manipulation, ibuprofen and placebo medication. NSAIDs are the most frequently prescribed medications by GPs worldwide and are widely used for patients with back pain. However, evidence-based data are missing for acute neck pain patients treated with NSAIDs while existing evidence for CSMT for acute neck pain are limited by serious methodological shortcomings. The 4-arm placebo-controlled RCT will assess the efficacy in the following four treatment groups: 1. Chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy (CSMT) 2. CSMT sham manipulation (placebo) 3. Ibuprofen (NSAID) 4. Placebo medication We intend to invite 40 recruiting chiropractors from larger Norwegian cities, distributed by gender and geography. The study participants presenting to each chiropractor will be block-randomized equally into one of four study groups based on a computer-generated algorithm. Each chiropractor will include 16 participants, four into each arm. A total of 320 participants will be enrolled in the RCT, within 12 months. Participants randomized into the chiropractic treatment groups will receive 5 interventions over 12 days, i.e., CSMT or CSMT sham manipulation; while the pharmacological groups will receive 600mg ibuprofen or placebo administered 3 times daily for 12 days.

Conditions

• Acute Neck Pain

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy (CSMT)	See study arm.
OTHER	CSMT sham manipulation	See study arm.
DRUG	Ibuprofen	See study arm.
DRUG	Placebo medication	See study arm.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-05-23
• Primary completion: 2023-12-31
• Completion: 2024-08-01
• First posted: 2022-05-13
• Last updated: 2023-08-08

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Norway