Your neck is one of the hardest working parts of your body, and it has a difficult job to do. When you're upright, it is continually making micro-adjustments (without you even having to think about it!) to support your head and maintain your sense of balance. When your neck is stiff or painful, it can be uncomfortable, and it can also hinder your normal, daily activities like driving a car, performing your job functions, and maintaining your exercise routine.
Neck pain can arise for many reasons:
At some point or another, everyone will experience a sore, stiff neck. Sometimes it’s as easy to explain as sleeping in an uncomfortable hotel room bed. For many neck pain sufferers, however, their pain becomes chronic and difficult to manage. Preventing all neck pain can be impossible, but following these prevention tips, you will keep your neck and spine healthier and less prone to injury.
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Many of us spend our work days working at a desk on a computer. To avoid strain on your neck, it’s essential that your work area is set up in an ideal way. Your computer monitor should sit at eye level – frequently it will sit too low and cause you to strain your neck looking down for hours a day. No need to do anything fancy – you can stack a few books underneath the monitor to raise it if needed. Some employers will offer sit-to-stand desk options, which are great for varying your position throughout the day. Your chair should be adjusted so that your knees are slightly lower than your hips.
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Sleeping on your stomach forces your neck into a turned position through the night, which can stress joints and muscles, and constrict blood flow. We know this can be a difficult habit to break, but it can help you to avoid neck pain and stiffness. Try falling asleep in a different position, either your back or side and over time, this can lead to a permanent change.
Drinking ample water is a simple way to improve how you feel overall, including reducing your odds of chronic neck pain. A properly hydrated body means healthier tissues and less inflammation, and less stress on your organs. Aiming for eight glasses of water per day is an excellent goal to shoot for. Others recommend taking your body weight in pounds, halving it, and drinking that many ounces of water per day (ex: a 150-pound person would aim for 75 ounces of water per day). Adequate water ensures that the discs that separate the vertebrae in your neck (as well as the rest of your spine) stay hydrated and nourished.
Over the years, many people have developed the bad habit of cradling their phone between their ear and shoulder to keep the hands free to type or otherwise. Transitioning to a hands-free device such as a Bluetooth earpiece or headset is a great way to avoid straining your neck to hold the phone. Not all scenarios will allow for it, but using speakerphone is another good option to keep from holding the phone improperly.
It is easy to get involved with a project at work or travel a long distance and remain in a seated posture for hours at a time. Doing so can put tremendous strain on your neck, whether you’re working at the computer or behind the wheel of your car. Making sure to take frequent breaks to stretch your neck and shoulders can help combat wear and tear that can lead to pain. When at work, set a timer to remind you to take a stretch break once an hour, even if it’s simply to get up to use the restroom or fill your water bottle.
Smoking, aside from the obvious health detriments, can be contributing to your neck pain. Nicotine harms blood flow since it causes constriction of the arteries that feed the discs. This hinders the process of bringing nutrition and oxygen to disc tissues, causing degenerative changes and ultimately, pain.
Just as people wear braces to straighten their teeth, it’s just as important, if not more, to make sure that your spine stays aligned. When your spine strays from its normal position, it places abnormal stresses on joints, muscles, ligaments, tendons, and discs. While this may go unnoticed at first, over time, it can be a significant factor in chronic neck pain, loss of normal range of motion, and tight muscles in the neck. Upper cervical chiropractic care is a specific branch of chiropractic that focuses on the upper part of the neck, where misalignments are most likely to take place.
Instead of temporary measures such as taking pain-killers, anti-inflammatories, or icing/applying heat, it’s always better to correct the root cause of the problem. At Precision Spine Specialists, we take a very detailed and systematic approach to helping our patients find a lasting solution to their neck pain. In many cases, the underlying cause of neck pain is a misalignment of the uppermost vertebra of the neck, the atlas. The atlas forms a junction between the head and neck, leaving it in a vulnerable position. Using a thorough analysis and a very gentle, precise adjusting technique, we can correct this problem and get you back on the road to living without neck pain. To learn more about why we’re considered the neck pain experts in Brentwood, TN, then give us a call at 615-488-7891 to schedule your complimentary consultation.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK338120/
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/neck-pain/symptoms-causes/syc-20375581
To schedule a consultation with Dr. Hall, call our Brentwood office at 615-488-7891 or just click the button below.
If you are outside of the local area, you can find an Upper Cervical Doctor near you at www.uppercervicalawareness.com
