Acupuncture and Alexander technique appear to be equally effective and significantly more effective for the treatment of chronic neck pain than routine care, according to a study by British researchers published in the latest issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
The doctors divided 517 patients who suffered from neck pain for at least 6 years into three groups. The first group received an average of 10 50-minute acupuncture treatments, the second had an average of 14 30-minute Alexander technique lessons, and the third group received the usual care. The authors found that acupuncture and Alexander technique both led to a significant reduction in neck pain and associated disability compared with usual care at 12 months.
One possible explanation of such good efficacy beyond the direct effect of the treatments was that patients in the active treatment groups had improved self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is the belief that one’s actions are responsible for successful outcomes and it was measured by a standardized questionnaire.
It is possible that other forms of therapy that enhance self-efficacy, such as tai chi, meditation, and other can also improve long-standing neck pain, as well as headaches. There are many acupuncture studies that show a significant benefit for migraine headaches (here is one described in a previous post), however unlike this neck pain study most of them did not follow patients for such a long period of time. Alexander technique has been also helpful for some of my patients, but again, good studies are lacking.
