Dealing With A Pain In The Neck

If you're suffering from chronic neck pain, you definitely know it: Chronic neck pain is consistent pain lasting for more than six months.  An estimated seven out of 10 adults develop it at some time in their lives.  The big question is what can you do about it? Fortunately, neck pain is usually treated effectively by chiropractors. In fact, recent guidelines on neck pain point to spinal manipulation as a recommended treatment option. It is also important to recognize that another recommendation is exercises, many of which can be performed at home. 

In general, there is no one cause of neck pain that applies to every patient. If you have chronic neck pain, you may have received a diagnosis of disc herniation, strain, sprain, whiplash or something else. Regardless, most of these conditions have one thing in common: Certain muscles are affected, and these are the muscles we need to target before progressing to more challenging exercises or activities.

 There are certain muscles in the neck that are designed to help us maintain our normal and health curve of the spine. In addition, these muscles are designed to hold our head up all day.   In people with chronic neck pain, these muscles are often fatigued a lot quicker than in people without neck pain.  That means other muscles pick up the slack and begin working harder.  The muscles that begin working harder are the ones we generally end up stretching. Have you ever noticed that when you stretch stiff muscles, they feel good for a short time, only to get tight again? The thing is, if you don't address the other muscles, the ones that get fatigued and gradually stop working, then your stretching program will not work as well. All these muscles need to be in balance.

The best way to see if your deep neck flexor muscles fatigue is to try and lift your head off the ground when you are lying down.  The technique is simple: Just tuck your chin in to your chest and lift your head off the ground, and then attempt to hold it there for 10 seconds.  If the neck begins shaking, or your chin is unable to stay tucked in, then your deep flexor muscles are fatigued and need to be addressed. 

 Part two of this message will cover two basic exercises to help strengthen these deep neck muscles and manage your chronic neck pain.