You Don't Have to Live in Pain
Whether you have degenerative disc disease, a herniated disc, cervical stenosis, radiculitis, a cervical strain or sprain, or just plain old neck pain, the answer to your problem is the same. All of these problems are just symptoms of one underlying cause: poor movement patterns. Almost without exception people become too stiff in their upper neck and mid-back (thoracic spine) and must then move too much in their neck. The neck is meant to be stable, but when the upper neck and mid-back are stiff, the neck must move too much. This puts undue stress on the discs, ligaments, muscles, joints and nerves of the neck and injury to at least one of these structures is the result. If your discs get injured, you end up with a herniated disc or degenerative disc disease.
If your ligaments or muscles get injured, you end up with a sprain or strain. If your joints get injured, you end up with arthritis, stenosis, or degenerative joint disease. If your nerves get injured, you end up with radiculitis. If you get in a car accident, you get a whiplash injury to the weakest link in your neck. Your neck pain is your unique way of saying you are too tight in your upper neck and upper back.
Treating the Root Cause of Your Symptoms
The treatment for your symptoms will vary depending on the actual pain you are experiencing. But the treatment for the cause of your symptoms will be the same for each of these dysfunctions. You need to learn how to move better. We use a combination of Functional Manual Therapy, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF), therapeutic exercises, and Functional Cryotherapy to treat your neck pain. Specifically, the neck itself usually has a number of tight joints that will be treated directly with hands-on techniques and then reeducated through various movement patterns and exercises. Injury to the neck is often combined with dysfunctions of the suboccipital region (upper neck) and upper thoracic region (mid-back). These areas must be treated also.
"Core" Stability
Everyone knows the importance of having a strong 'core' to help stabilize the lower back, but few people realize the importance of a similar muscular function in stabilizing the neck. These 'core' muscles of the neck are collectively known as the Deep Cervical Flexors. Our techniques to enhance posture and movement make achieving stability much easier through facilitation of the Deep Cervical Flexors. Specifically, PNF can facilitate the stability of your neck like no other technique available. And our techniques to facilitate the function of the deep, 'core,' muscles are decades ahead of the popular trends of today. In addition to the Deep Cervical Flexors of the neck, the importance of the mid-back and rib cage for neck health cannot be overstated. We call this area the Thoracic 'Core' because optimal motion in the mid-back (thoracic spine) and rib cage is essential for optimal (and pain free) movement of the neck.
Whiplash Injuries
Whiplash injuries are a common problem related to the neck. Whiplash injuries have a reputation of having a high rate or failure with all forms of treatment. The mechanism of injury during a whiplash in which the neck is violently flexed and extended can do serious damage to deep structures of the neck and cause chronic pain. The reason for the high rate of failure with standard treatment approaches is that the deep cervical flexors (the 'core' muscles of the neck) become inhibited by the whiplash injury and do not return to normal functioning unless directly facilitated through skilled treatment techniques. Our use of direct facilitation to the deep cervical flexors of the neck using PNF is the key to recovering from whiplash injury.
Headaches
Headaches (often termed Cervicogenic or Tension Headaches) are often the result of neck dysfunctions.They are treated using the same philosophy as discussed above, but with some unique aspects. You can read more about our approach to headaches on our headache page.
You Must Be Actively Involved
The only way you will ever get better is if you are actively involved in your treatment. Although our magic hands can change your body, improve your movement, and reduce your pain, you are the only one who can learn to move better, change the way you treat your body, and keep up with your exercises. We are very successful and get excellent results for our patients, but that is only because our patients know they are more than 50% responsible for their recovery. We are not into failure, and neither should you be!
Get Out of Pain in 5 Weeks
We offer the Neck Pain Solution, a 5-week program combining individualized, hands-on treatment from a physical therapist and a specific exercise program designed to resolve your pain. You will learn how to manage your own neck so that not only will you have less pain, you will also have the knowledge and skill to prevent it from coming back.
Our goal is to help you learn how to resolve you pain. In 5 weeks, we can teach you how.
Learn more about the Neck Pain Solution.
Our goal is to help you learn how to resolve you pain. In 5 weeks, we can teach you how.
Learn more about the Neck Pain Solution.
