Neck Pain 101 – The Causes and the Solutions in Vineland

Neck pain has become one of the fastest-growing complaints from patients in my Vineland chiropractic clinic. There are many reasons why a person experiences neck pain, but the most common ones we see here are dysfunctional joints or compression of the joints.

Some of the reasons for the increase of neck pain problems include technology, where we’re looking down at our phones, laptops, and the like; posture, the way we present ourselves has de-evolved somewhat, and how we’re doing things, so lifestyle, more driving and so on. The causes are not instantaneous, they are developed over a long period of time. The two bones will slowly begin to compress and make the joint dysfunctional. This dysfunction causes inflammation which causes more pain. Range of motion decreases which means the neck isn’t able to move as it should and tension is built up as the muscles then joint in this “dance” making the problem even worse until it spirals out of control and the pain becomes intense. Typically, we see these conditions affect the upper back to the lower neck area, and the base of the head.

What Can Be Done About Neck Pain In Vineland?

There are several main treatments and solutions to the problem of neck pain, and depending on the severity some or more may be necessary to correct the problem. However, prevention is better than cure. If you start to feel pain in your neck the first thing you should do is reach for ice.

Ice is the number one method to help with any form of joint pain. I do a lot of judo and over the years, my body has taken a battering, particularly to the neck area. I do suffer from neck pain, so I have got into the habit of treating my neck every day for 20 minutes. Each evening, I set aside some time to relax, and apply a rolled-up ice pack to the base of my neck. Doing this each night really helps me manage the pain and allows me to function properly.

Spinal manipulative therapy for neck pain

If you try this for your pain and it’s still not enough, it would be best if you got in to see me or another doctor and we can take a look at you. If you come in to see me, we can examine you and most likely perform spinal manipulative therapy to treat your neck pain. Now, it’s not as scary as it may sound, and there are a couple of ways we typically treat you. The first way is with a neck “crack” where we manually adjust your neck. Alternatively, we can use instruments to help break up adhesions and scar tissue and get the joints re-aligned. My patients tend to be split on this, half will go the manual manipulation route, the other half prefer instruments. But the bottom line is it doesn’t matter which method is used, both will have the same results, decompression of the joints and neck pain relief.

Spinal manipulative therapy has been proven to be the number one way to decompress the joint, get them realigned, decrease inflammation, and get the neck working properly again. Other methods to help with neck pain include muscle and myofascial work, and also massage. A good treatment combination may be to ice the neck, have spinal manipulative therapy followed by a massage to provide deep muscle work, and also relax you.

If you have any questions, you can contact me at my Vineland office on (856) 690-8883 or simply message me on Facebook, I respond to all messages.