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FCER News Release

For Release: September 10, 1999
Contact: Robin R. Merrifield
1304 Perry Ave., Bremerton WA 98310
Phone: 360-471-7837 or 800-343-0549
Fax: 360-478-0834

FCER Funded Study Rates Highest in Literature Review

Des Moines, Iowa–A critical literature review of 27 randomized clinical trials published between 1966-1995 and addressing neck pain, has been released in the Scandinavian Journal of Rehabilitative Medicine (Kjellman GV, et al. 1999; Vol. 31, pp. 139-152.) An FCER-funded study by P. D. Boline, et al., was included in this review and earned the highest rating of methodological quality of all studies reviewed (save one, which earned the same rating).

Of the studies reviewed, only one third earned a quality score of 50 or higher (out of a possible 100). The Boline study scored a 62, as did only one other study. Of treatments studied, methodological quality was higher in studies of manipulation, electromagnetic therapy, and active physiotherapy. Research on the effects of acupuncture and traction were also of high quality, but the results showed either no effect or a negative outcome.

"I think we need to make as loud a noise with this information as possible," said Anthony L. Rosner, Ph.D., FCER Director of Research. "It not only concerns one of the most positive outcome studies that has appeared anywhere in the literature concerning the efficacy of chiropractic, but it also 1) concerns an area beyond the low-back region; 2) shows an effect that persists beyond the treatment period; 3) shows an effect that is at least as pronounced as medication, is longer lasting, and has fewer side effects; and 4) attests to the fact that FCER funds studies recognized to be of the highest quality in the research community."

The Boline study, funded by FCER in 1991, displayed a positive and lasting effect of manipulation for the treatment of chronic tension-type headache. For the study, manipulation was compared and contrasted to amitriptyline, a commonly prescribed medication for the treatment of headache.

You may order a copy of the highly-rated "Spinal Manipulation vs. Amitriptyline for the Treatment of Chronic Tension-Type Headaches: A Randomized Clinical Trial," by P. D. Boline, et al., by calling FCER’s Literature Search Service at 800-743-3282. The study was published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, March/April 1995, Vol. 18, No. 3, pp. 148-154.

For more information on FCER and its research projects, please call 800-794-4376.

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