Spinal Manipulation Recommended for Neck and Lower Back Pain

The Danish Health Authority published guidelines for non-surgical treatment of patients with recent onset neck pain or cervical radiculopathy (September 2017) and for low back pain or lumbar radiculopathy (January 2018) in the European Spine Journal. For lower back pain the guidelines suggest manual therapy, different types of supervised exercise, and patient education. The recommend AGAINST acupuncture, steroid injections, acetaminophen (Tylenol), NSAIDS (aspirin, ibuprofen, etc.), opioids in general, and routing use of imaging. For neck pain they suffuse manual therapy and different types of supervised exercise. For neck pain these therapies are recommended before medicine. For neck pain without radiculopathy acupuncture may be helpful, but is not recommended with radiculopathy. Traction is also recommended for radiculopathy. Medications should be a last resort. 

It's nice to know that I've been following these guidelines for over 30 years.