Neck Pain & Dysfunction Management
We have a special interest in treatment of neck pain and dysfunction. It is very common that people suffering from neck issues will also have regular headaches as a consequence. The treatment we provide will work on both neck pain and headaches. Furthermore, we work commonly on other painful areas such as: Lower back, hips, knees and elbows that are no different to neck when it comes to a process of inflammation and pain.
Assessment of your Neck Pain & Dysfunction
Firstly, when managing your neck pain we need to assess the area of pain to make sure that we understand the nature of the pain and structures involved. In addition to asking questions we’ll also do physical assessment of muscles, tendons, ligaments and spinal facet joints in order to test functionality and mobility of your neck.
Secondly, given the outcome of initial assessment we will decide on what type of treatment is the most appropriate for your stage of pain and dysfunction.
Finally, we will try to give you as accurate recovery prognosis as possible as to how many sessions it could take to resolve your neck pain and dysfunction. Please bare in mind that recovery is heavily influenced by your daily activities which means if you can’t give your self a break from things that are causing pain and problems it will always take longer to achieve a pain free neck.
Treatment of Neck Pain with Acupuncture & Remedial Massage
Depending on presentation of your neck pain and discomfort we may recommend Acupuncture, Remedial Massage or combination of two as the most appropriate main treatment. Moreover, we may include tapping or exercises as a additional support for the main treatment in order to get the best outcome possible.
Other signs and symptoms which may accompany neck pain are:
Neck stiffness and tightness
Headaches and Migraines
Poor focus and concentration
Referred Pain, pins and needles, numbness or weakness in area of shoulder and arm
Restless sleep
Dizziness
Tinnitus
How do we get to the stage of Pain?
Acute Pain
Acute pain is usually sustained through direct trauma which can be due to fall, accident or direct hit to your neck, upper back and shoulders. If trauma and pain are minor then a little bit of rest and light movement and stretching may be sufficient to resolve your neck and upper back pain. However, if your neck pain and discomfort is still there to same extent or getting worse after two or three days, the chance of it resolving on its own is quite slim. In addition, the longer your neck pain is present the more spasm and restriction of movement through neck and upper back area is going to be. Also if acute pain of your neck and upper back area stays for long enough it will become chronic pain.
Chronic Pain
As acute stage of neck and upper back continues a chronic pain sets in. The significance of this is that certain physiological changes are taking place in your body. There are some studies showing that long term effect of chronic pain will affect the chemistry of your brain as well as resulting in change of the wiring of the nervous system. Moreover, cells in the spinal cord and brain of a person with chronic pain, especially in the section of the brain that processes emotions, deteriorate more quickly than normal, exacerbating many of the depression – like symptoms. Therefore chronic pain has a capacity to change your social and emotional behavior thus possibly leaving you struggling with day to day living.