Many people suffer with neck pain at some point in their life. In fact, Neck pain has an annual prevalence rate exceeding 30% among adults in the US; nearly 50% of individuals will continue to experience some degree of chronic neck pain or frequent occurrences. Among adults, 20% to 70% will experience neck pain that interferes with their daily activities during their lifetime.
How Does Neck Pain Happen?
Neck pain can happen from trauma to the spine aka the birth process, sporting activities, car accidents, whiplash injuries, upon waking up from sleeping in an awkward position, to having dental work done, and the list goes on. Regardless of the trauma involved, there can be other factors that continue to cause neck pain, such as arthritis, bone spurs, improper neck curve, stenosis, disc injury, kyphosis, postural distortions, work environment factors, or repetitive stress to name a few.
How you choose to address the pain in your neck is ultimately going to determine if your neck pain becomes a chronic condition or ideally is resolved in a timely manner.
Find the cause of your neck pain: First, it is important to understand the history involved when attempting to get to the root cause of neck pain. How was the neck injured? When was the neck injured? How long ago was the neck injured? What area of the neck, jaw, or shoulder areas were injured? In fact, what other body parts have been injured in the past because an old football injury that broke your leg more than likely caused a neck injury as well whether you realized it at the time or not. You are more than your neck pain and many times, this can take over someone’s life.
Chiropractic Science & Neck Pain
When there is misalignment of the spine or any of the individual bones in the spine, this can put pinching and pressure on the nerves that come out from the spine and a pinch nerve can then cause neck pain.
The shifting or misaligned bones in the spine are called Subluxation. Chiropractors are the only trained doctors to detect and correct Subluxations, but Chiropractic care is so much more than just addressing your neck pain. When your spine is adjusted by a chiropractor, this takes pressure off of the nerve / s that are causing your neck pain. This in turn allows your body to start to heal. The body is amazing because it was designed to heal. If you cut your finger, the cut bleeds, but eventually over time, your body heals that cut. Not a band-aid or antibiotic ointment. These tools are to keep the cut clean which is important, but it is your body, in fact your nervous system that heals that cut.
Your neck and your nervous system: The nervous system is your brain, spinal cord, and all of the nerves that come out from it. When your nervous system is working at its optimal potential, then your body can function and heal at a higher level. You can put in all of the good nutrition in the world, expensive medications, or supplements, but if your body is not working right on the inside, you are only spinning your wheels. If you stop taking pain medication to address your neck pain, the problem is still there. However, if you are getting your spine adjusted for subluxation, this takes pressure off of your nervous system and the specific nerve being pinched causing your neck pain and this allows your body to heal naturally without putting in toxic chemicals in your body.
Address the Cause of Your Neck Pain Sooner than Later
If you do not correct the underlying cause of your neck pain, it can get worse leading to missed time from work or social time with loved ones. If however, your neck pain goes away from medication, understand that this is not a guaranteed fix as neck pain can come back if the problem is not fixed. Only 9-10% of the nerves feel pain, so you can have subluxation and not know it. In other words, this is why neck pain often times returns because if your spine is not fixed, it just continues to cause nerve pain which = neck pain.
Another reason to take care of the underlying problem or neck pain sooner than later is because subluxation can lead to more problems such as herniated disc, degeneration of the spine, fusion of the spine, and other health related problems. The nerves that come from your neck feed to parts of your body such as your eyes, ears, throat, thyroid gland, heart, lungs, and up to your brain. Therefore, if you have pinching and pressure on the nerves in your neck, this can also lead to pinching and pressure on your spinal cord. Your spinal cord is a direct extension of your brain. When you have pressure on your spinal cord, this also = pressure on your brain which can lead to migraines or headaches. Subluxation has been found to be the cause of headaches or migraines in many cases.
In addition to neck pain, headaches, and/or migraines, Subluxation can affect other body functions such as sleep. The reason why a pinched nerve aka Subluxation is the cause of most neck pain and other health related issues, or difficulty with sleep is because chiropractic care addresses the nervous system. Your nervous system controls everything in your body, including your immune system.
Therefore, when neck pain is gone, you have to remember that you can still have subluxation in your spine especially if you are living with other symptoms. Address the cause and not only feel better, but get your body functioning and healing at a higher level.
Call Dr. Higgins at 612-554-1290 today to arrange a free consultation and to see if you are a qualified candidate for chiropractic care. Neck pain should be taken seriously to avoid further problems down the road. Feel free to share this with any of your family or friends who are currently struggling with neck pain. There is light at the end of the tunnel!
CONTACT US »