Neck Pain
We have all had it once or twice in our lives for a variety of different
reasons. Some of us wake up from a bad night sleep and we can't move
our heads, some of us suffer from chronic neck pain that ranges from simply
nagging to downright debilitating. Some of our pain even radiates into
the shoulders, arms and hands. Our individual pains are as unique as
we are. Shouldn't the care you receive be unique to your problem?
Neck pain comes from a variety of sources. We will go into the most
commonly seen problems here:
- Acute Torticollis: You and I have both had the
problem at least once in our lives. You know it when you get it,
too! You didn't sleep very well and you woke up to realize you can't
move your head because your neck is so stiff and painful. You may
even have to hold onto your head to lift it off the pillow. Wow,
talk about waking up on the wrong side of the bed! Well, as I said,
you are not alone, and we can help. Torticollis is the fancy word
for my head doesn't want to move. It is caused by the tightening of
the muscles of the neck and, in the acute case, oftentimes associated with
misalignment of the spine. Torticollis usually lasts up to two
weeks. None of us has time for that, so come in as soon as you can.
We will get you adjusted, on physical therapy modalities and massaged (if
we have a massage opening). By the time you wake up the next morning
you will be at least 50% better. Usually it takes 3 consecutive days
of adjustments to get you back to feeling yourself again. Some cases
are tougher than others, but we will do our best to get you back as
quickly as possible.
- Chronic neck pain: This is the most common type of
neck pain we see in our office. Many people these days are sitting
at computer stations all day long and the station you are at is not
designed correctly for you. You are too tall or short, the monitor
is too low, the keyboard and mouse are at the wrong height. You have
no headset for the phone and the receiver seems to be permanently attached
to your ear the whole day. You feel fairly good when you get to
work, but within an hour, your shoulders and neck are killing you and by
the time the afternoon comes, your headache is in full force, too.
Or you are a student carrying a heavy backpack on one shoulder and when
you sit, you are in a desk that seems to made for a person half your age,
you are hunched over taking notes and by the time the class is done you
are sore. Perhaps you work a job where you are looking overhead for
the better part of the day and the neck muscles are sore from that.
When you come in, we will figure out what you need to do to help correct
your posture or workstation and we will see what we can do to realign the
bones in your neck to make you more comfortable. Usually if your
pain is chronic, it will take a course of treatment to get you back to
normal and feeling great again, but we can help.
Many people have symptoms that radiate from the neck into the head or
extremities. There are a variety of problems that can stem from the
neck. If you have headaches associate with your neck pain take a look
at the headache page for more information.
If you have radiating symptoms into your arms or hands, take a look
here for
more information.
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