Research has it that more than just tension can cause neck pain. Chiropractic treatment and exercises are effective as they can offer a better solution to your neck aches than drugs. Many people are often distracted from their daily routines due to neck pains. Such pains sometimes lead to other problems such as headaches, upper back pains or shoulder pains.
Many people who suffer such neck aches assume it is triggered by over exerting of the muscles or straining. However, there are various causes that are overlooked time and again. Some of these other causes can be symptoms of a more serious health problem.
While it is true that the neck aches people feel originate from the neck muscles, chiropractors will ask vital questions such as why those muscles are in pain. He or she will get to ask if the patient has been doing any strenuous work such as painting, cleaning a garage or planting a new garden.
For isolated cases, say the neck pains have been existent for a few days due to a single incident where muscles were overused, then using a cold pack and resting should do. The chiropractor may recommend relaxation, stretching exercises that will strengthen any damaged tissues. If the aches have been present for days and involve areas such as shoulders and upper back, then you ought to visit a chiropractic doctor. You should also visit a chiropractic specialist if there is tingling, numbness or weakness of the arms.
Sustained muscle tightness resulting in aches can be a sign of functional concerns affecting the spine, e.g., joint misalignment, injury or disc degeneration.
Spinal joint problems can progress slowly over a period or can be due to a posture problem or an injury such as sleeping in an uncomfortable position. Sitting or driving in an awkward way can be a cause of spinal distortion. How you place you wallet can lead to physical damages and pains. A Chiropractor will determine the likely cause of such aches and suggest a remedy.
Subtle spinal joints dysfunctions are commonly overlooked during medical assessments. Even though major spinal movement abnormalities may be seen, subtle individual joint movements are often not assessed.
A problem originating from a single spinal segment or several locations can also cause neck pains. A proper and thorough diagnosis of each spinal segment ought to be done to ensure there is an accurate diagnosis of neck pains. Overlooking the subtle joints that are the cause of aches will lead to misdiagnosis.
X-rays should be used to assess neck pains. An underlying dysfunction or a joint pathology may be the root source of a new symptom that might seem like a mere muscular spasm. Damages to joints sustained from previous injuries is an example of an unnoticed joint pathology.
The Mayo Clinic Website states that often collision to the rear-end causes damages to neck joints and muscles. Such rear end collisions can result to neck aches that may take some time to develop or may come immediately.
Regrettably, most of the neck issues caused by the rear end or some other kind of vehicle accidents aren’t noticed until later years. Chiropractors often find signs of certain injuries that happened years before and have been worsening slowly over time. X-rays will help see the extent of the damage.
In numerous cases, the chiropractor will discover that there is an injury to the spinal discs that occurred years before, evidenced by herniated, bulging or thinning discs.
After an initial injury of the spine, a patient will feel some pain that often leads to muscular rigidity and a reduced range of motion. The pain the patient feels might subside after a couple of weeks, and he or she might erroneously think because the aches have gone, the injury is resolved. But this is not the case.
The spine, spinal joints and disks that have been damaged will continue to worsen over time. After some years is when the injury is found during a checkup and later confirmed using imaging checks such as an MRI. You should note that neck pains are very common but are certainly not normal. Don’t allow yourself to be a statistic of neck aches. Addressing such injuries early enough is a great way of mitigating what could lead to devastating results.
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