Can Chiropractic Help Your Neck Pain?

Your neck consists of seven very small vertebrae and supports the entire weight of your head. The average weight of the human head is 10 to 12 pounds, which isn't very light when you consider the neck is constantly supporting it!

Add in how much neck strain is incurred when you sit for long periods in front of the computer and you steadily increase the amount of work and strain you are expecting of your neck.

The neck also allows your head in nearly all directions which adds even more stress to your neck. With all of this responsibility, the neck is subject a great deal of stress, which often results in chronic pain and stiffness.

Once neck pain has been persistent for any period of time, you may begin to develop neurological symptoms. These may include numbness, tingling, or a "pins and needles" feeling. Usually these complaints are in the neck at all, but can be felt in the fingertips or up and down the arm.

If you begin to experience any of the neurological symptoms, this is usually an indicator that the neck problem is becoming worse. The early phase of pain is just stiffness, then it moves to real pain that can be sharp in nature. The pain will continue to get worse until the radiating symptoms begin.

Many people have neck pain and it is often extremely bothersome. Medical doctors cannot do a whole lot to permanently relieve neck pain. They can prescribe medications to mask your neck pain and they can do x-rays and other tests to see where the pain is coming from.

When they do find something wrong with the neck they will probably want to schedule surgery, which can prove to be a painful procedure with a long recovery. Surgery, while sometimes necessary, really should be considered a treatment of last resort. You can always do the surgery, but if you do the surgery first, you eliminate many other effective and conservative options.

If you have neck pain it may be wise to consult with a chiropractor before going to the extent of something much more serious such as surgery. Some of the first things that a chiropractor will do on your first visit will be to ask you questions about your neck pain.

Some questions they may ask are:

- When did your neck pain start
- What have you done to try to ease your neck pain
- Are there any other parts of your body that your neck pain stems to or from?

These are a few questions that your Chiropractor will most likely ask. After the initial consultation they will then perform a physical examination. The examination will consist of chiropractic tests, orthopedic tests, and a neurological examination. This entire process will allow the chiropractor to get to the root of your problem and allow him or her to come up with a solution to your pain.

A common practice of chiropractors is to perform a neck adjustment. A neck adjustment is a form of spinal manipulation, and is very specific in nature. This is a very precise technique and is usually very effective in alleviating neck pain.

Low Back Pain After Sitting At Your Computer?

These days, most people have to sit at their computer all day. They don't have the best posture in the world, and they don't always have the best ergonomic set up for their desks. They are also under a lot of stress. However, usually bad posture, stress, and poor ergonomics will lead to frequent headaches, neck and upper back pain... not low back pain.

Low back pain is usually reserved for those employees doing physical work, a lot of lifting, bending, and stooping. During the times that I've seen patients with more physical jobs, most of them presented to my office with low back pain. Now, the top half of their body provides the more abundant symptom.

So if you don't do physical work all day, why are you getting low back pain? I noticed the same two major muscle groups being tight and stressed over and over again. By stretching these two major areas, a lot of very common symptoms, including low back pain and sciatica seemed to get quick relief. Doing the stretches also seemed to make a difference long term in my patients' ability to get longer lasting results from their chiropractic care.

The first muscles you should stretch are your hamstrings. You sit all day and the seated position puts them in their shortest position. Standing up means your hamstrings are pulling on your pelvis and pulling things out of place. Keeping this muscle more flexible is key in helping your back pain.

People have the most trouble because they can't quite get it stretched. First step would be to get off the floor. That's usually too much! Stand up or sit in a chair and put your leg straight out on a chair. Slowly try to touch your toes. Just go slow and only as far as you can reasonably go without pain. Hold the stretch for at least thirty seconds. Repeat on each side twice. Usually people just don't hold their stretches long enough to do much good. Consistency will make the difference in getting more flexible.

The next muscles to stretch are your hip rotators. Relieving the muscles here takes a lot of strain off the sciatica problem. For this one, you can even do it while lying in bed or on the floor. Keep one leg straight while you pull your other leg up to your chest. You should feel a pull. You can further stretch this area by pulling your knee across your body to get better results. Again, hold the stretch for at least thirty seconds.

Chances are, you're not going to stop working on your computer any time soon. Taking a few minutes each day to do some stretching will make a world of difference. Seeing a chiropractor on a regular basis is also a huge help.

Chiropractic Miracle Story!

Dealing With Back And Shoulder Pain At Work

There are many signs that you're developing a posture problem. Back and shoulder blade pain is a common one. These areas of the body are under a lot of additional stress and pressure when your spine is not in a good position all day.

If your daily activities require you to sit in front of the computer all day, back and shoulder blade pain may be on their way if you don't take steps to prevent it. If you've already got these symptoms, the treatment is the same as the prevention.
As a frequent computer user, you've probably already been told to take breaks from sitting in that position at least once per hour.

Doing this give the muscles a chance to relax and regroup. A good formula is to figure out how long you can work before you experience the first symptoms. Let's say that's 55 minutes. Subtract ten minutes from that time and you've got the longest amount of time you should spend in front of the computer before taking some sort of break.

What are you doing during that five minutes of rest? Are you still in a position that will continue to allow the muscles in the front of your body to grow short? Take the time to stretch them out. Or you can keep working, but maybe it's time to return a few phone calls or drop off those files to the guy down the hall. Just break up your activity and get some movement.

A quick and easy stretch that will actually keep the pain from coming back right away can be done right in your office. Find an open doorway and brace yourself against the frame. Push forward and feel your chest muscles and the front of your shoulders stretch. Hold it for just a few seconds. Now repeat that about five times.

Are you giving your back muscles a chance to improve in strength? A simple exercise to help with back and shoulder blade pain is slowly move your shoulder blades together. One way of describing this motion is to imagine that you are squeezing an orange between your shoulder blades. Hold that position for a few seconds and release.

It's not necessarily your work that's causing your problem, but it is likely that your daily activities are very repetitive and they are leading to your posture issue and your back and shoulder blade pain. Take some small steps and you'll be amazed at the difference.

Neck Pain After Sitting At Your Computer?

You sit down at your computer, ready to put in a full day's work and make some serious headway on your projects. You know you'll easily be spending 8 to 10 hours sitting in front of the computer.
You've set up your computer workstation as effectively as you can figure.

Your keyboard is appropriately placed in front of you and your monitor is directly in front of you at eye level. So why will your neck start to hurt? Why will your effectiveness be destroyed by the nagging, aggravating neck pain that seems to show up more and more frequently?

If you are regularly spending a lot of time in front of a computer, you have to realize that your body is going to begin to change and adapt to take on this frequent activity. Your front neck muscles are slowly growing shorter and tighter, while the muscles in the back of your neck are growing longer and weaker.

The back muscles are also growing full of spasm and knots while they are forced to hold up your ten pound head for hours at a time. You would think they would grow stronger from having to hold your head up all the time, but it just never seems to work that way. As they get longer, they are growing weaker, and the job of holding up your head becomes increasingly difficult.

The best options are to do exercises and activities that will counteract the extended computer usage. The rule of thumb is to spend time stretching the front of your neck and strengthening the muscles in the back. This same rule applies to anyone looking to improve posture.

To stretch the front of the neck, turn your head slightly to one side, about forty-five degrees. If you turn your head to the right, you are stretching the left and vice versa. Place your right hand on left side of your chest and pull down gently as you tilt your head back. Stop immediately if you feel sharp pain or any dizziness.

To strengthen the back of the neck, the easiest route would be with a neck exercise machine. Some health clubs have them, but they are more of a specialized device. You can also fold up a towel and place it against a wall. Put the back of your head against the towel and push into it. Hold for a few seconds and release. This is an isometric contraction.

If you are unable to complete some of these movements, or you find that you can't painlessly move your head backwards, it may be time to visit a chiropractor. The chiropractor will perform a spinal adjustment and restore the normal movement of your spine.

Your neck shouldn't hurt just because your sitting in front of your computer. You've got to work and pain can be a nuisance, but it doesn't have to be there with a little effort.