39 patients with neck pain of greater than three months duration were randomised to either a massage or non-massage group in a primary care setting in the Dublin region. One therapist administered all treatments. Randomisation was carried out by the use of sequential sampling, utilising permuted blocks. Patients were excluded from the study if they had severe co-existing disease, had neck pain due to fracture, tumour, infection or other non-mechanical causes, or if the patient had a diagnosis of osteoporosis anywhere in the body.