Neck pain can interfere with your daily life and be challenging to treat appropriately. When experiencing neck pain, it’s essential to address neck pain sooner rather than later, as untreated neck pain can increase in severity and lead to lasting effects.
Types of Neck Pain
The simplest way to categorize types of neck pain is into how long you’ve been experiencing it.
Acute Neck Pain
Acute pain comes up suddenly and is temporary pain. It can last a few minutes or a few weeks and can range from mild to severe. For the most part, acute neck pain will stem from an injury in the muscles and ligaments, joints, or discs.
Chronic Neck Pain
Chronic pain is lasting, ranging from three months to ongoing. Chronic pain could be felt throughout your day every day, or it could worsen with certain movements or stretches. It can be difficult for medical examiners to determine the cause of chronic neck pain.
Symptoms of Neck Pain
While suffering from neck pain, you could experience a number of other symptoms. The most common of these is a dull ache and difficulty turning your neck or moving your head. You may also experience numbness, tingling, tenderness, or sharp pain.
Neck pain can cause soreness in other parts of the body as well; you may feel pain in your face or shoulders or numbness or tingling in your arms. Headaches, dizziness, and lightheadedness could also be experienced
or a fever, consult your doctor.
Causes of Neck Pain
Stress
One prevalent cause of neck pain is emotional stress. Stress has a real, physical effect on the muscles in your neck. As you begin to stress, your muscles tighten. The longer you feel this way without relaxing those muscles, the worse the pain will be. This can lead to chronic neck pain, irritability, and fatigue.
Vertebral Subluxation
Subluxation refers to the misalignment of the spinal joints. When this occurs, it leads to pain that can reach from your back to your neck. For the neck to be affected, the misalignment would exist within the top seven vertebrae of the spine. This can lead to other health issues outside of just neck and back pain as well.
Vertebral subluxation can be caused by a sprain, fall, car accident, improper lifting, or an excessive amount of sitting.
Cervical Herniated Disc
Commonly seen in those in the 30 to 50 age group, a cervical herniated disc occurs when the core of one of the discs in the neck leaks out and presses against a nerve root. This could be caused by an injury or accident, or it could arise spontaneously.
A cervical herniated disc is one of the most common causes of neck pain and can also be caused by genetics or a sudden strain.
Chiropractic Care for Neck Pain
Comprehensive Exam
When arriving at the office for your appointment, you will undergo a comprehensive exam for your chiropractor in Long Beach to learn about the specific neck pain that you’re experiencing and decide how to move forward. The comprehensive exam is a straightforward process, very similar to what you experience at a doctor’s office. You will be asked for your medical and treatment history, and a description of the pain that you’ve been experiencing.
Individualized Treatment Plan
Based on your comprehensive exam, your chiropractor will create a treatment plan tailored to your specific pain and history. An individualized treatment plan will assess the possible causes of the neck pain you’re experiencing and may include massage, nutrition, stretches, and adjustments as ways to address the pain.
Spinal Adjustments
Spinal adjustments are used to align the spine. This is done through a precise, controlled pressure applied to the joints of your neck and is mostly done by hand. After undergoing a spinal adjustment, patients enjoy improved mobility and range of motion along with a reduction in pain and stiffness.