Methods: One hundred and forty patients with a primary complaint of neck pain who meet the inclusion/exclusion criteria and consent to participate will be enrolled in the study. We based sample size calculations on detecting a statistically significant difference between any of the 4 cells of the study which include the patients status on the rule (patients that meet the CPR and patients that do not meet the CPR) and treatment group (manipulation and exercise) by using the 1-week Neck Disability Index (NDI) score at an alpha-level of 0.05. To detect a 10 point change in NDI, with an expected standard deviation of 12 points at the 1 week follow up (effect size 0.80) with 90% power using a two-tailed hypothesis and assuming a 50% distribution of patients who do and do not meet the rule, 31 patients per cell are required. We will recruit 140 subjects into the study to control for drop-outs prior to the 1 and 4 week follow-up and possible distribution discrepancies between the classifications. The primary outcome point is four-weeks after randomization, with change in disability as measured by the NDI, serving as the primary outcome measure.