Cervical Pain?
Whenever anyone has neck pain, that pain can worsen and start affecting the head to cause a headache. Neck pain can cause shooting pains down the arm. It can also result in problems with the muscles on the face, pain in the shoulder, and elbow or hand. Neck pain is notorious for interfering with one’s ability to concentrate, sit up straight, stay in a good mood, and have a great day.
The problem is that most neck pain really needs to be investigated thoroughly to determine its cause and treat it appropriately. For example, if someone hits their head against a wall, there’s a good chance that the resulting neck pain is because the jar to the head resulted in a loss of motion in a vertebrae or two. In this case, you’d want to know with certainty that there was no fracture of any type.
There are a number of reasons why someone will have neck pain. Some of the most typical causes include:
• whiplash from auto accidents
• sudden forceful movement of the neck or head, including shaking the hair
• disc disease that directly affects the spine, such as disc compression
• arthritis with bone spurs on the joints that affect joint motion
• compressed nerve roots in the vertebrae, causing spinal stenosis
• slouching, poor posture
• overweight or obesity
• weak abdominal muscles
• cold draft on one part of the neck for several hours
• injury from hitting the head
In an initial consultation with a Arlington MA Chiropractors, many questions about how the neck pain started will be asked. Additional questions are asked about what makes the neck pain better and worse, if the pain ever occurred before, and if the pain radiates to other parts of the body; these answers will provide further information that assists in the diagnosis.
Arlington MA Chiropractors perform orthopedic tests to determine the cause of the neck pain, take x-rays, discover bone spurs, cervical fractures, degenerated discs, spinal stenosis, and determine what the next step is for each patient. Chiropractic physicians also have unique treatment tools such as ultrasound, electrical therapy, hot and cold packs, cold lasers, and of course, chiropractic manipulation that can be used the same day that the diagnosis is determined. This allows the patient to start the healing process sooner than if he was sent off to physical therapy.
If a situation arises where a patient with neck pain needs medical care, there is no hesitancy in referring the patient out to the appropriate health care provider. Chiropractors do this on a regular basis.
During the treatment for any type of neck pain, or any other chiropractic condition, chemical painkillers are never used or recommended. Chiropractic physicians do not dispense prescription medication such as Motrin, Naprosyn, or Vicodin that can be habit-forming. The philosophy of chiropractic is to do no harm, and simply assist the body in its healing process using all natural means.
Recent studies prove that chiropractic care to patients with chronic neck pain was successful improving their condition when chiropractic spinal manipulation was used.