Do you have pain in your neck, pain that just never seems to go away? Do you have headaches that affect your full physical capability? Does your pain start in your neck and then spread down to your shoulder blade and into your arm?
If you answered yes to any, or all, of the above questions you must keep reading…you DO NOT have to accept this pain anymore!
Why do I have neck pain?
I wish that were a simple answer. I would need to do a complete physical therapy examination on your neck, upper back, and arms to give you my exact assessment of your injury. However, my many years of experience allow me to give you some definite general answers to your questions.
A typical head weighs 10-12 pounds…yes you have a 10-12 pound bowling ball sitting on top of your spine. But I must tell you the bad news…the bowling ball is only 10-12 pounds when you are sitting with ideal posture of your spine. And how many of us really sit with ideal posture for much time in our day?
Technology, especially use of computers and smartphones, has greatly changed the stresses to our necks. A 2019 journal article by Mahmoud et al. shows that forward head posture (what we have when looking down at our phone) is significantly correlated with neck pain in adults and older adults.
Who Cares If I Have Bad Posture?
The discs of your neck, the joints of your neck, the nerves of your neck, and the muscles of your neck all care. And these structures will start talking to you at some point, just like your parents did when they told you to sit up straight when you were a child.
Remember earlier when I was talking about the 10-12 pound bowling ball which we know more commonly as our head? Well, guess what happens when we start to have what is called forward head posture? The 10-12 pounds turns into 30-40 pounds, thus making the stress to the anatomical structures I just discussed significantly higher. Stress that is compounded hourly, daily, weekly, monthly…you get the picture!
Not surprisingly most of the thousands of neck patients I have treated in my career have most of their problems with discs and joints in the C4, C5, and C6 regions of the neck. And this is exactly the area that receives more stress when we are looking for minutes and hours a day at our smartphones!
What Can I Do About My Neck Pain?
Luckily for all of us many options exist for treatment of neck pain. From non-invasive to fully invasive surgery, the whole spectrum of treatment is available for you. I recommend avoiding the surgical option possibility unless two situations exist. One, you have tried conservative options for a period of time and these options have failed. Two, you have lost strength, sensation, and reflexes in your arm as determined by a qualified health care practitioner.
Non-invasive to less invasive options include physical therapy, chiropractic, massage therapy, and steroid injections. Should you choose the physical therapist route, I want you to be seen by a therapist with advanced Residency or Fellowship training in orthopedic manual physical therapy.
Conclusion
We know that neck pain in our society is here to stay. However, that doesn’t mean you need to be a prisoner to the pain. Seek education and you will have control over your condition. Without education and options, anxiety and fear will rule our thought process. iMove TelePT is here for you. Our advanced physical therapists will get you on the right track, all while you are in the safety and convenience of your own home. For more information, contact our Founder and Physical Therapist Dr. Michael Gorman at mgorman@imovephysicaltherapy.com or message him at (636) 578-3649.