• Almost two-thirds (59%) reported an impact on their overall enjoyment of life.
• More than three-quarters of patients (77%) reported feeling depressed.
• 70% said they have trouble concentrating.
• 74% said their energy level is impacted by their pain.
• 86% reported an inability to sleep well.

Chronic neck pain can be irritating and can also bring along headaches, cognitive fog, TMJ and upper back pain. In our nationwide offices, we have been taking care of people with these types of chronic conditions with great success.

Unfortunately, when most Americans confront these conditions they run to the drug cabinet. While pain killing
medication is effective at treating the symptoms and giving pain relief it is NOT going to take away the cause. In the following paragraphs, we would like to talk about some common causes of neck pain and then give solutions to help you eliminate triggers and remove the underlying cause.

Ergonomics That Are Helpful For Neck Pain Sufferers

Most people these days are working behind a desk, either on the phone or computer and sitting at a desk for long hours. These unnatural postures can exacerbate underlying conditions. We have found that there are many things you can do to help eliminate many of the postural faults that exacerbate chronic neck problems:

• Make sure that your chair has a lumbar support. Most people have a tendency to slouch when they sit. Slouching causes the natural curve in the low back to be lost which puts pressure on the muscles and discs that have a stressful effect on the rest of the spine, including the neck.

• Make sure that your computer is at eye level. Many workers are looking at a computer monitor that is too high or too low, which puts stress on the cervical muscles, exacerbating their problems.

• For those of you that type all day long, make sure that your elbows are resting on the arm rest of a chair. By resting the elbows you are taking pressure off of the muscles in the upper shoulders as they will no longer have to be contracted all day long as you type. This proper positioning can be an absolute game changer for many individuals.

• If you talk on the phone all day do yourself a favor and get a headset. Many of us have the bad habit of holding the phone between our ear and our shoulder. Lateral bending of the head is both bad for the neck joints and is very stressful on the cervical spine muscles.

Trauma And Neck Pain | Getting At The Underlying Cause

Your head is a 10-13 pound ball that rests on the top bone in the neck that weighs 2 ounces. To make this junction more unstable the head is resting on the end of a stick – your neck. Whiplash type traumas cause a shearing motion between the head and neck, damaging the soft tissue (ligaments, tendons, and muscles) that support a normal movement. Trauma can cause structural instabilities to the joints and as a result, the vertebra misaligns and functionally the muscles spasm due to the weakened tissue. The misalignment has a chain reaction throughout the system neurologically speaking and can cause not only neck pain but a host of other health problems.

Our office specializes in precisely correcting spinal misalignments at the head neck junction. We are skilled and trained to correct these misalignments and then monitor the patient over time to make sure it heals as nature intended it.