Overall , as a therapeutic intervention , structured patient education was equal or less effective than other conservative treatments including massage , supervised exercise , and physiotherapy .
However , structured patient education may provide small benefits when combined with physiotherapy .
Either mode of delivery ( ie , oral or written education ) provides similar results in patients with recent WAD .
Results suggest that structured patient education alone can not be expected to yield large benefits in clinical effectiveness compared with other conservative interventions for patients with WAD or NAD .
Moreover , structured patient education may be of benefit during the recovery of patients with WAD when used as an adjunct therapy to physiotherapy or emergency room care .
These benefits are small and short lived
BACKGROUND CONTEXT In 2008 , the Bone and Joint Decade 2000 to 2010 Task Force on Neck Pain and Its Associated Disorders recommended patient education for the management of neck pain .
However , the effectiveness of education interventions has recently been challenged .
PURPOSE To up date the findings of the Bone and Joint Decade 2000 to 2010 Task Force on Neck Pain and Its Associated Disorders and evaluate the effectiveness of structured patient education for the management of patients with whiplash-associated disorders ( WAD ) or neck pain and associated disorders ( NAD ) .
OUTCOME MEASURES Self-rated recovery , functional recovery ( eg , disability , return to activities , work , or school ) , pain intensity , health-related quality of life , psychological outcomes such as depression or fear , or adverse effects .
Randomised trial of a brief physiotherapy intervention compared with usual physiotherapy for neck pain patients: outcomes and patients' preference
Abstract Objectives Firstly , to compare the effectiveness of a brief physiotherapy intervention with “ usual ” physiotherapy for patients with neck pain . Secondly , to evaluate the effect of patients ' preferences on outcome . Design Non-inferiority r and omised controlled trial eliciting preferences independently of r and omisation . Setting Physiotherapy departments in a community setting in Yorkshire and north Lincolnshire . Participants 268 patients ( mean age 48 years ) with subacute and chronic neck pain , who were referred by their general practitioner and r and omly assigned to a brief physiotherapy intervention ( one to three sessions ) using cognitive behaviour principles to encourage self management and return to normal function or usual physiotherapy , at the discretion of the physiotherapist concerned . Main outcome measures The Northwick Park neck pain question naire ( NPQ ) , a specific measure of functional disability result ing from neck pain . Also , the short form 36 ( SF-36 ) question naire , a generic , health related , quality of life measure ; and the Tampa scale for kinesophobia , a measure of fear and avoidance of movement . Results At 12 months , patients allocated to usual physiotherapy had a small but significant improvement in NPQ scores compared with patients in the brief intervention group ( mean difference 1.99 , 95 % confidence interval 0.45 to 3.52 ; P = 0.01 ) . Although the result shows a significant inferiority of the intervention , the confidence interval shows that the effect could be in the non-inferiority range for the brief intervention ( below 1.2 points of NPQ score ) . Patients who preferred the brief intervention and received this treatment had similar outcomes to patients receiving usual physiotherapy . Conclusions Usual physiotherapy may be only marginally better than a brief physiotherapy intervention for neck pain . Patients with a preference for the brief intervention may do at least as well with this approach . Additional training for the physiotherapists in cognitive behaviour techniques might improve this approach further
Overall , as a therapeutic intervention , structured patient education was equal or less effective than other conservative treatments including massage , supervised exercise , and physiotherapy .
However , structured patient education may provide small benefits when combined with physiotherapy .
Either mode of delivery ( ie , oral or written education ) provides similar results in patients with recent WAD .
Results suggest that structured patient education alone can not be expected to yield large benefits in clinical effectiveness compared with other conservative interventions for patients with WAD or NAD .
Moreover , structured patient education may be of benefit during the recovery of patients with WAD when used as an adjunct therapy to physiotherapy or emergency room care .
These benefits are small and short lived
BACKGROUND CONTEXT In 2008 , the Bone and Joint Decade 2000 to 2010 Task Force on Neck Pain and Its Associated Disorders recommended patient education for the management of neck pain .
However , the effectiveness of education interventions has recently been challenged .
PURPOSE To up date the findings of the Bone and Joint Decade 2000 to 2010 Task Force on Neck Pain and Its Associated Disorders and evaluate the effectiveness of structured patient education for the management of patients with whiplash-associated disorders ( WAD ) or neck pain and associated disorders ( NAD ) .
OUTCOME MEASURES Self-rated recovery , functional recovery ( eg , disability , return to activities , work , or school ) , pain intensity , health-related quality of life , psychological outcomes such as depression or fear , or adverse effects .