Abstract
M.Tech.
Purpose: This randomised, controlled, comparative pilot study was undertaken in order to investigate the effectiveness of the chiropractic manipulation alone, the chiropractic manipulation followed by heat therapy or the chiropractic manipulation followed by cryotherapy in the treatment of cervical facet syndrome.
It was hypothesised that all three treatment protocols would be effective, but that applying chiropractic manipulation followed by heat therapy would be the most effective protocol in the treatment of cervical facet syndrome.
Method: Forty-five participants were recruited by means of advertisements posted around the University of Johannesburg Doornfontein campus and surrounding businesses. Only those participants who conformed to the inclusion criteria were accepted to form a part of the study. The forty-five participants were randomly placed into three groups of fifteen each.
Procedure: Group 1 received chiropractic manipulation only as their treatment protocol. Group 2 received chiropractic manipulation followed by heat therapy as their treatment protocol and group 3 received chiropractic manipulation followed by cryotherapy as their treatment protocol.
Each participant received six treatments over a two week period and attended a follow-up consultation in the third week. The follow-up consultation was used to assess the lasting effects of the treatment protocol.
Results: The objective data in the form of cervical range of motion was obtained by means of the Cervical Range of Motion instrument. The
subjective data was collected by means of the Vernon-Mior Neck Pain and Disability Index and the Numerical Pain Rating Scale.
At the end of the trial, statistical analysis was performed to determine whether one treatment protocol was more effective compared to the other treatment protocols.
The results indicated that group 2 (Chiropractic manipulation followed by heat therapy) proved to be the most effective treatment protocol. Although the other treatment protocol as well as the control group showed good objective results. Subjective results showed that although all three groups showed statistically significant results, group 2 showed the best results. Thus it is noted that in order to achieve a potentially lasting increase in range of motion and a decrease in pain and disability, the treatment protocol used for group 2 should be the treatment of choice.
Conclusion: Trends indicate the most effective treatment protocol in the treatment of cervical facet syndrome is when chiropractic manipulation is followed by heat therapy. The advantage of this combination is that each treatment modality is used to its full potential, thereby providing the patient with the best results in terms of lasting benefits.