Advanced Manual Therapy Techniques (Continued)

The Journal of Manual and Manipulative Therapy, Vol. 12, No. 1, 2004, pp. 32-34. Patients treated by a manually certified therapist had higher outcome measure scores than those treated by non-certified therapists.
British Medical Journal, Vol. 326, No. 26, pp. 1-6. The study compared both the effectiveness and costs associated with treatment of neck pain among three criteria: manual therapy combined with exercise, exercise therapy alone, or general practitioner care (regarded as pharmacological or education). Results of the study indicated that manual therapy when combined with exercise reported a clinically significant reduction in symptoms after 6 visits at a cost of $400 on average. The other 2 criteria (exercise therapy and general practitioner care) required 3X as long and costs to achieve the same symptom reduction. That is to say the average costs were approximately $1200 over several months of treatment. In Annals of Internal Medicine from May 2002 a similar study showed a 68% success rate in reduction of neck pain with manual therapy and exercise as compared to 36% success rate from general practitioner care alone.
Arthritis &Rheumatism, Vol. 51, No. 5, pp. 722-729. This study compared the effectiveness of manual therapy with exercise against exercise therapy alone in the treatment of hip osteoarthritis. The results of the study showed an 81% improvement in patient self-report of pain and function as compared to 50% improvement from exercise therapy only group. The results of the study concluded manual therapy combined with exercise is superior to exercise therapy alone in the management of patients with hip OA.
Annals of Internal Medicine, Vol. 132, No. 3, pp. 173-81. This study determined the effectiveness of manual physical therapy combined with exercise for the treatment of knee OA. Study results showed a significant improvement in WOMAC functional scores (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index). Functional score are a patient’s self-report, usually on a scale from 1-4 on how pain and dysfunction affects daily life. Study, therefore indicates that manual therapy combined with exercise significantly improves daily function. In the December 2005 issue of Physical Therapy a study of the same nature compared manual therapy with exercise to exercise alone in treatment of knee OA and found that manual therapy group had 2X the improvement in WOMAC score as compared to exercise only group.