Neck Pain, what are the causes and solutions?

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Don’t Let Neck Pain Rule Your Life!

Neck pain is a common problem, often dismissed as just a minor annoyance. But that dull ache can turn into headaches, radiating pain, and limit your daily activities. You deserve to feel better!

This guide will explore the most frequent causes of neck pain, along with effective treatment options and preventative measures. We’ll also answer some common questions you might have, like “Why is the pain radiating down my arm?”

Several factors can contribute to neck pain.

Understanding the Culprits:

Facet Syndrome: Irritation in the tiny joints of your spine, often caused by old injuries or poor posture.
Disc Bulge/Herniation: A damaged disc between your vertebrae can press on nerves, leading to pain that travels down your arm.
Sprains/Strains: Sudden movements can stretch or tear neck muscles and ligaments.
Cervicogenic Headaches: Neck joint problems can trigger headaches that differ from tension headaches.
Upper Crossed Syndrome: Poor posture, especially from sitting all day, can lead to muscle imbalances that cause pain.

The Path to Recovery:

The good news: neck pain is often treatable without surgery or injections. Here are some approaches that can help:

Chiropractic Care: Adjustments can improve joint mobility and reduce pain.
Therapeutic Exercise: Strengthening weak muscles and stretching tight ones improves posture and neck support.
Soft Tissue Therapy: Techniques like massage or cupping can help relieve muscle tension.

Taking Control:

Remember, movement is key to healing! Gentle exercises can significantly improve your condition. While a healthcare professional can create a personalized plan, here are some exercises to get you started:

Chin Tucks: Strengthens deep neck muscles and stretches those tight from hunching over.
Pectoral Stretch: Loosens tight chest muscles that pull your shoulders forward.
Upper Back Mobility Stretch: Improves stiffness caused by poor posture.

Don’t ignore radiating pain or worsening symptoms. It’s important to address the underlying cause. By understanding neck pain and taking action, you can get back to living a pain-free life!

Here’s a deeper dive into the culprits mentioned above.

Facet Syndrome

What is it: irritation to the joints of the spine. In my experience this comes from old injuries that weren’t treated properly before or muscle and joint imbalances from poor posture. This can lead to the joint not moving in the range that it was built to move. This can also cause compressive irritation to surrounding nerve endings to the joint which lead to the pain that you feel. This could also come from a tweaked neck, for instance sleeping on your neck wrong.

How to treat it: To properly treat this, it takes a few methods. The key treatment point to remember is, movement is medicine. Chiropractic adjustments introduce some movement to the joint itself. This also “resets” the nerve that goes to the joint and reduces pain. Exercises and stretches are also important for this treatment to help keep the new movement to the joint. If you don’t add the proper exercises then you will ultimately return to the pain you had before getting treatment.

Cervical disc bulge or herniation

What is it: Injury to the disc which lays between each cervical vertebrae bone. From my observation, the disc is the most common injury that tends to lead people to fear for further damage. This can come from a traumatic injury or from a gradual overuse of the neck. Disc herniation or bulges can lead to applying pressure on the nerve. This often leads to radiating pain down to the shoulder, shoulder blade, arm, hand, and/or fingers.

How to treat it: Again, movement is medicine for the disc. The important thing here is finding the right movement that will help your disc. For this injury, it is not one size (treatment) fits all. We really do have to take it case by case. Careful adjustment to the neck is a case by case basis. Proper movement exercise is one treatment plan that I have seen work extremely well and the research reflects this as well. You can see the basis of that treatment by reading this book, Treat Your Own Neck. Neck strengthening exercises are going to be important as well for long term care. To set expectations right, plan on 9 months to get this to be treated in full. Discs tend to take longer to heal, especially if you are doing things at home or work that prolong the healing process.

Sprain/Strain

What is it: Sprain to the ligaments or Strains to the muscles of the neck. Just like a sprained ankle, it is a traumatic injury that occurs. These are seen in sporting events such as football, basketball, and even golf. But also very common among auto accidents.

How to treat it: You’ll need to extend 6-12 weeks for full recovery, depending on the severity of your overall health. Chiropractic adjustments will help maintain the range of motion to the joints and reduce pain by “resetting” the nerve endings to the joints. Soft tissue work is needed as well to help this treatment. That can be Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Manipulation (IASTM), or cupping, deep tissue massage, dry needling, and more.

Whiplash

What is it: This is most commonly known in auto accidents, but is also very common in sporting events, like football, basketball, rugby, motocross, and other contact sports. The term whiplash comes because your neck acts like a whip when you get hit from any direction. Your head at the end of that whip emphasizes that whipping motion and makes it more violent than you think it is. This action can lead to a Concussion, injury to the brain.

How to treat it: This depends on the extent of the injury. Whiplash can be the source of many different injuries such as sprains and strains, disc injuries and concussions. So after a proper evaluation the treatment plan will consist of those treatment plans listed above. Concussions will need rest. Severe concussions will need a neurological evaluation from a neurological clinic.

Cervicogenic headache

What is it: Headache that stems from the neck. Different and less common from tension headaches. These headaches aren’t coming from tight muscles in the neck. But rather, from a joint syndrome in the neck.

How to treat it: Chiropractic adjustments have been found to be the most effective treatment for these headaches. More effective than massage or stretching the neck.

Upper cross syndrome

What is it: Muscles and Joint imbalance of your upper body, head, neck, shoulders and upper back. This is very common for desk workers or those who sit down most of the day. In a nutshell this presents as tight muscles in the back of your neck along with tight muscles in the front of your shoulders. In contrast, you’ll have weak or inactive muscles in the front of your neck and in the back of your shoulders and upper back. This will lead to rib pain, upper back stiffness, shoulder pain, headaches and neck pain.

How to treat it: Reverse the muscle imbalance. Stretch the tight muscles and strengthen the weak/inactive muscles.

Dysfunctional Breathing

What is it: Okay, so there is nothing wrong with breathing, but the way you have trained yourself to breathe could lead to prolonged healing or neck pain. Dysfunctional breathing is going to be more breathing with your chest and your secondary breathing muscles, instead of your diaphragm, or your primary breathing muscles.

How to treat it: Time and patience with proper training on how to retrain your breathing. This is an exercise that will stretch your mind more than you think. It will also strengthen your core and abdominal muscles. By avoiding the use of your secondary breathing muscles with simple daily activities, you will reduce the stress that is placed on your neck and shoulders. In turn improving your ability to heal and reduce pain in those areas.

There are some common neck injuries that we see. I believe that education is power and by educating yourself you can set yourself up for success in the long run. If you have any other questions don’t hesitate to ask. If you live in the greater Utah Valley area, Provo, Orem, Springville, Vineyard, Utah then schedule your consultations with the appointment button on top. I would be happy to help you.