Your neck protects your spinal cord and spinal nerves, while supporting and balancing the weight of your head. Poor posture, wear and tear, injury, stress, and tension can strain or damage vital parts of your neck. Damage to the natural curve of your spine can cause painful problems.

Your doctor of chiropractic looks at your overall health, focusing not only on your neck, but also on your lifestyle, such as diet and amount of daily exercise. This integrated approach helps determine the best treatment for your neck pain. To help identify the cause of your problem, you and your chiropractor will discuss your symptoms and previous injuries, your family health history, and your lifestyle, including recreational and work related physical activities.

Your doctor of chiropractic is uniquely qualified to restore the health of your spine and neck. Special chiropractic techniques may relieve the pressure that is causing your neck pain. After locating the misaligned vertebrae in your neck, your chiropractor manually applies gentle pressure and repositions the vertebrae. These adjustments can help restore alignment, improve mobility, and relieve pain and stiffness.

Your chiropractor may recommend other types of treatment for relieving your neck pain. These may include a cervical pillow, moist heat, ice packs, massage, traction, or stretching and strengthening exercises. Your chiropractor can discuss these with you.

Shoulder pain as a symptom is easily recognized but seldom understood. Shoulder pain is often described as pain radiating down the back of the neck into the shoulder blade area. This type of difficulty can be the result of tensed muscles, postural alterations, rotator cuff conditions or loss of motion in the spinal joints. Our office treats all of these conditions with a comprehensive treatment approach. Earlier less acute symptoms provide the tip off. What often results in the aching, throbbing shoulder, is a condition that began as stiff and tender shawl muscles across the top of the shoulder. Left untreated that stiffness and tenderness can progress over a period of weeks that could ultimately reach an intensity that is almost unbearable. Burning ache of the shoulder can and often does extend into the neck and head. Obviously, neck and shoulder movement becomes increasingly painful and difficult.

The first serious interest in correction frequently follows the frustration of a person who has attempted to shave, comb or shampoo, since that action can cause an increase and sharpness of pain down the arm and tingling into the fingers. Ultimately, weakness, fatigue, and tremor of the arm accompany the pain and the muscles across the chest become tender. The symptoms then, are all the more recognizable and made more severe by coughing or sneezing.
Nature responds to the incessant pain by varying degrees of immobility. Shoulder and arm pain constitutes the most frequently recognized symptoms of the lower neck and upper spine. Abnormally small or distorted nerve openings serve to irritate the nerves which pass through them which supplies the shoulder, neck, arm and upper back and chest muscles.
It follows that muscles supplied by irritated nerves (Diagram of a Pinched Nerve) themselves become tense, painful and loose their normal elasticity and ability to relax. The shoulder pain, tingling and the pain across the chest can be only the first of many problems. Upper back aches, headaches and pain and tenderness of the forearm all are pieces of the composite pie.
Experience has shown that shoulder and arm pain respond to the specialized care offered by the doctors of chiropractic. The early warning symptoms of pain and tenderness are calls to action. Shoulder and arm pain will probably never permanently correct themselves.
If you have any other questions about neck, shoulder pain or arm pain or if you would like more information come into the office for a Free Spinal Evaluation of your condition at no charge.

First Alternative Chiropractic©

July 16, 2006