Does the Addition of Massage to Manual Therapy and Exercise Improve Outcome in Chronic Neck Pain?

To date, the benefits of massage in chronic neck pain patients has only been investigated as a singular treatment, rather than as part of a treatment package. The need for this research has been highlighted in the literature (Ezzo et al, 2007; Haraldsson et al, 2006) This research aimed to establish whether the addition of massage to a program of exercise and manual therapy offers any additional benefits over exercise and manual therapy alone in the treatment of patients with chronic neck pain.