Neck Pain
The reason people have chronic neck pain can usually be summed up by two important factors:
1) Posture
2) Previous trauma to the neck
When we treat neck pain, we always start with a detailed history. In this history, we are looking for things that may have contributed to your present problem. Past injuries are usually experienced by a majority of our patients with neck problems. The reason for this is that whenever there is an injury to the soft tissues of the body (muscle, tendon, ligament), the body responds by laying down scar tissue to the injured area. This scar tissue causes the muscle to become tight and over time this tight muscle will become weak. This process will negatively effect the mechanics of the neck. As certain muscles become weak, other muscles must work harder to perform certain movements. Also, scar tissue tends to be adhesive, or sticky. These areas of “adhesions” will cause certain muscles to stick together. In many areas of the body there are several layers of muscle that are designed to slide freely over each other. When this slide is inhibited, pain can develop.
Bad posture, or past injuries will affect the actual bony structure of the neck. Many people present to our office with straight cervical curves. What this means is that, instead of having a nice C shaped curve in the bones of their neck (when looking at the neck from the side), their neck is straight up and down. The natural curve that is supposed to be in the neck is there for a reason. The reason for the curve is to give the neck the ability to absorb the constant weight of the skull under the force of gravity.
What we do to treat neck pain is use a powerful combination of Active Release Techniques (ART), and precise chiropractic adjustments. ART works to break down specific areas of scar tissue in muscle, tendon, ligament, and fascia, while chiropractic works to restore normal motion to the joints of the neck. Together, these two treatment systems work to get rid of neck pain and headaches, permanently.
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