Neck Pain Treatment

Arthritis is an umbrella term for conditions that result from inflammation in the joints. The most common type of arthritis is osteoarthritis, which is also known as degenerative joint disease. DJD develops over time and is often noted as an ancillary finding on X-rays—meaning that there’s evidence of bony changes to the joints long before pain or other symptoms present. For instance, arthritis in the SI joint can start in your 20s. 

Now, many people think of the inflammatory arthropathies when they think of arthritis; they think of rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis, which are both different diseases that can progress to affecting the joints, and because all of these get grouped under “arthritis”, the general public views them all the same way.

The good news is that osteoarthritis does not have the same progression as inflammatory arthropathies and that x-ray findings of degenerative joint disease are poorly correlated with symptoms. So you may have arthritis, according to your x-ray, but that does not mean that you have to live with pain. Motion is one of the best ways of managing pain related to arthritis—making sure that the joints are moving well, and within healthy ranges of motion to encourage blood flow and reduce stiffness.

A kink in the neck is a muscle spasm likely due to a muscle strain. When a muscle is strained during an activity, during a whiplash accident, or due to overuse, like with poor posture, the muscle will spasm, and it’s this spasm that hurts. 

A muscle spasm is the brain protecting the area from further damage. If a muscle is too tight to move, it’s not likely to be overloaded, and it can heal. When your neck is kinked, the best thing to do is encourage the healing of the area. This can be done with heat or ice, rest, gentle stretching, or a visit to a care provider to diagnose any specific strains, treat the area, and recommend exercises to strengthen your neck and address your postural habits so that it doesn’t happen again.

The popping sound associated with a Chiropractic adjustment is the formation and popping of nitrogen gas bubbles in the fluid around a joint. When a Chiropractor adjusts a joint, they’re doing so to optimize movement—identifying joints that aren’t moving well and providing a quick thrust to stretch the joint capsule ligaments, send nerve impulses to the brain, and help the body use that joint better.

When a person pops their own neck, they‘re usually over-stretching and forcing joints to move further than they would naturally to create a sensation of release. 

Although it is possible to pop your own joints, it’s usually not advisable to do so, as there’s a risk of injury and a risk of continually popping the same joint, creating a relative hypermobility in the body. These hypermobilities cause the brain to tighten muscles around that joint to create support for the joint, but then most people perceive that the joint is tight, and pop it again, creating a vicious cycle of hypermobility and tightening. This is why a Chiropractor will always assess the body to identify which joints are tight and need to move more, and which ones are hypermobile, and should be stabilized to move less.

A pinched nerve is the everyday name for compression on a nerve. It can be an incredibly painful experience, with sharp and shooting pain in your arm and numbness or tingling that accompanies that pain. True pinched nerves are a result of compression on the nerve from the spine, either from a disc bulge or herniation or by bony changes in the vertebrae that press on the nerves. 

Muscles can also create compression on the nerves when they’re tight, which can cause similar symptoms as a disc or bony protrusion, but often in slightly different areas. It’s a healthcare practitioner’s job to identify if the pain you’re experiencing is from a pinched nerve or from some other cause. Identifying the source of pain is important to focus treatment on the root cause.

The nerves that supply the muscles around the shoulder and joints—that make up the shoulder complex—originate from the neck. Furthermore, many of the muscles surrounding the neck, like the levator scapula and trapezius (the traps), attach to the shoulder blade. Because of these connections, tension in one area or irritation to the nerves (that supply that area) can create tension and pain in the other. 

Poor posture also usually involves both the neck and the shoulder, and so do many injuries to the area. It’s difficult to injure the neck or shoulder without also injuring the muscles that connect the two. So single events can affect both the neck and the shoulder, and you may experience pain in one area when moving the other.

The best posture is your next posture. The human body was designed to move, not to stay in any one position for long periods of time. Muscles and ligaments “relax” into a position after about 20 minutes; this means that they get used to being shortened or stretched within 20 minutes, and the more time we spend in one position, the more used to that position the body gets, and the less likely it is to move out of that position at rest. In that sense, posture is a habit—your body will choose the position that it’s used to, and comfortable with, which can create pain and dysfunction because of the muscles that are continuously shortened or stretched.

Now, when we’re required to be in one place, like at work, there are “better” postures and the ideal posture is one where if you were to relax completely, your body would not move because it is supported. This means sitting comfortably with your weight even between your “sit bones”, your feet flat on a surface (the floor or a foot support), your knees and hips bent to 90 degrees, your spine upright and supported by your chair, your arms resting comfortably with your shoulders down and not rolled forward, and your head being centered over your shoulders. Most of us are unlikely to spend a lot of time in this position, so it’s a good idea to take frequent breaks, not sitting in one position for too long.

In an ideal world, we would be able to get up and move around every 20 minutes. However, when we’re confined to one spot, such as at a desk, certain postures are better than others. The ideal posture is one where, if you were to relax completely, your body would remain supported. This entails sitting comfortably with your weight evenly distributed between your “sit bones,” feet flat on a surface (either the floor or a footrest), knees and hips bent at 90 degrees, spine upright and supported by your chair, arms resting comfortably with shoulders relaxed and not hunched forward, and head aligned over your shoulders. Since many of us won’t maintain this position for extended periods, it’s best to take frequent breaks and avoid prolonged sitting in any one position.

Take a look at our tutorial for ways to reduce low back pain, neck pain and/or headaches while working from home. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaKjRlz5j5A&t=27s

The best pillow for you will be the one that fills the space between your head and the mattress without lifting your head any further than necessary to keep your neck in a neutral position. For side sleepers, this is likely a high-loft pillow that fills the space between your ear and your shoulder so that you can sleep with your head supported. For back sleepers, this is likely a very thin pillow that does not elevate the head. For stomach sleepers, this may mean sleeping without a pillow so that when your head is rotated, it is not extended up off the mattress.

For people who sleep in multiple different positions, an adjustable pillow, like a water pillow or one with removable memory foam, may be a good option. In any case, a comfortable pillow is a must.

Pain in the neck when you wake up can have multiple contributing factors. At the most minor and most common, this discomfort may be because your mattress and pillow are not properly supporting your shoulders & head, and as a result, your muscles have to work hard overnight to create that support. You may be sleeping in a position that is awkward for your body, putting strain on your neck muscles through the night. Stress also plays a role in our body’s ability to fully relax overnight, which can lead to tension in the morning. 

In more severe cases, morning stiffness may be a sign of several different forms of arthritis, which would be diagnosed based on other symptoms, patterns, and tests. An evaluation from a healthcare professional can help identify the root cause of your morning pain and set you up with a plan to help reduce it.

Shoulder checking requires a full range of neck rotation along with supporting rotation through the upper back. The most common reason that your shoulder checking may be limited is because of tight muscles, like the upper traps, levator scapulae, and other neck muscles, or because the joints in your neck are not moving well enough to allow for that motion. This could be due to your posture, pain or discomfort, a previous injury, or stress. 

It’s important to identify the root cause of this limitation, as treating the cause may help prevent injuries in other areas of the body that are compensating for the reduced range of motion in the neck.

The best way to get rid of neck pain is to figure out why it started in the first place and address the root cause. This will increase the likelihood that the pain resolves, and does not come back. Some root causes may include muscle tension, injury, arthritis, posture, stress, or joints that are not moving well. The treatment will depend on the cause, but it may include massage therapy, chiropractic care, exercises, heat & ice, or lifestyle modifications such as increasing activity and postural breaks

A Chiropractor can help with neck pain with a few different approaches. For starters, they can identify some of the reasons you are experiencing neck pain, pinpointing the sources and causes of pain to help get you better. 

Additionally, once the cause has been identified, if it’s musculoskeletal in origin, a Chiropractor can help joints move better (through adjustments), help with muscle tone & function through manual work on these muscles, or utilize modalities like dry needling, acupuncture, shockwave, or low-level light therapy (laser) to help with inflammation, and help you recover from your pain. Chiropractors can also recommend exercises & stretches for you to do at home to reduce future occurrences of pain & help you recover should you experience a flare-up.

As with any treatment, there are risks associated with Chiropractic care. The most common risk is soreness; you may feel sore after the treatment. 

In the case of neck adjustments, there’s a correlation in the research between neck pain treated by a Chiropractor and strokes. This correlation occurs at the same frequency as it does with treatment for neck pain at a Medical Doctor’s office. Thus, individuals may present to a Chiropractor’s office with neck pain, and a Chiropractor may fail to identify the symptoms of a stroke already in progress. It has not been shown that Chiropractic adjustments cause strokes.

Strokes are more common in people with pre-existing conditions, like vascular disease, and they’re at a higher risk of having a stroke. A Chiropractor must take extra precautions to ensure that an individual is a good candidate for a neck adjustment through thorough evaluation.

Other techniques can be used to treat the neck, so an adjustment is not strictly necessary for the relief of neck pain. Having a conversation with your Chiropractor is important so that you understand the risks and can decide what type of care is best for you.

Massage and Chiropractic care work together for neck pain. Both professions can work on the muscles of the neck to reduce tension and can encourage motion in the joints of the neck, although the techniques in both cases may be different. It’s important to identify the cause of the neck pain for the most appropriate treatment. Ultimately, the best treatment is the one that targets the issue specifically and that works for you.

The best treatment is tailored to you and the underlying condition contributing to your pain. Research shows that people get better faster and stay better longer when a multifaceted approach to pain is used. These approaches might include adjustments to help joints move better, muscle work to reduce tension, exercises to strengthen healthy movement patterns, and modalities like dry needling, acupuncture, shockwave, or low-level light therapy (Colder Laser). A healthcare provider can help identify why you have pain and create a care plan that meets your needs.

Most neck pain will eventually go away, but that doesn’t mean that the underlying dysfunction or cause of the neck pain is resolved. Neck pain can last anywhere from a few days (acute) to years (chronic), depending on the cause. Because of that, it’s important to have your neck pain evaluated and the cause identified, so that treatment can be administered and you can get back to doing what you love.

Whiplash is a strain/sprain of the muscles and ligaments of a joint because of sudden acceleration and deceleration. It most commonly occurs in the neck but can also occur in any joint in the spine. It’s often the result of a car accident, but it can also occur in sports injuries, from headbanging at a concert, or falling. The symptoms of whiplash include pain and stiffness, limited range of motion, palpable tenderness, swelling, tingling and numbness in the arms or legs, and in the case of the neck, dizziness, vertigo, and headaches. 

Concussion symptoms are also closely tied to whiplash, as every concussion will be accompanied by whiplash due to the nature of the two injuries.

If you suspect you have whiplash, it’s important to have it evaluated and treated to prevent chronic pain or dysfunction.