Unfortunately, most of us have a lifestyle that makes us vulnerable to musculoskeletal problems. Do you have a sedentary work life and spend dozens of hours a week in front of a screen? Lately, have you come to feel constant pain in your spine that affects your daily productivity? Do your neck muscles feel tight, and you are experiencing weakness in your arms and torso? If that’s the case, a solution for your problems could be to call a professional chiropractor for neck pain.
Chiropractic is a holistic approach that focuses on the human body’s natural ability to heal itself with only small external inputs. In other words, the main idea of chiropractic is to improve the mobility of the musculoskeletal system without utilising invasive treatment options that can lead to complications. Chiropractic is not a magical practice. However, for non-degenerative conditions that do not require immediate surgical action, it is an effective method that can significantly relieve the discomfort you feel.
How Will a Massage for Neck Pain Help?
Neck pain is surprisingly prevalent, as no less than 70% of the general population will be affected by it at some point. Humans are marvels of nature, and our bodies were created for endurance, strength, and flexibility. However, all these aspects of our constitution can be affected by poor posture, increasingly sedentary daily activities, and our dependence on external means of transportation. Our way of life has evolved faster than our bodies can keep up. Therefore, many of us are feeling the consequences.
Have the occasional neck aches you used to get after a few hours in front of a computer screen become chronic, and now they’re affecting your work performance? Are you finding it challenging to complete your daily activities? Do you feel like your body is getting weaker every day? If so, the first solution that your chiropractor for neck pain might try is to leverage deep tissue massages. A massage for neck pain can be a way for your neck muscles and ligaments to relax and allow for the body’s blood supply to fill the affected area and reduce inflammation.
Massages increase local circulation and promote the transfer of oxygen and nutrients between blood and the affected area. A massage for neck pain can be a way to speed up the body’s natural healing process and aid in the removal of metabolic waste products that may contribute to local inflammation. Massages are scientifically proven to have a beneficial effect on numerous spinal conditions, are relaxing as they stimulate the release of serotonin and endorphins and can be a tool through which your chiropractor for neck pain can reduce your perceived stress and improve your joints and spine range of motion.
What About Spinal Manipulation?
When we talk about chiropractic treatment, most people automatically think of techniques to readjust the position of the spine—and for good reasons. While chiropractors use a diverse set of approaches to reduce spinal inflammation and restore the mobility of the musculoskeletal system, spinal manipulation remains the most widely used, albeit controversial, approach in this discipline. Why controversial? Bad reputation. Ultimately, spinal manipulation is a hands-on approach, the goal of which is to readjust the vertebrae utilising manual adjustments.
Moreover, in the hands of professional chiropractic experts, spinal manipulation, especially when combined with a massage for neck pain, is a safe practice that can lead to pain relief, alleviate nerve sensitivity and eliminate muscle spasms. However, chiropractic, although it is a well-regulated discipline in Australia, is not as well supervised worldwide. Lack of experience and the application of pressure on the spinal column is not a fantastic match, which is why, unfortunately, accidents did, and still do happen if the treatment is applied by persons unauthorised to practice this health profession.
When performed by a chiropractor for neck pain, spinal manipulation can reduce the inflammation around the spinal vertebrae and lessen the pain felt in degenerative spinal conditions, such as spondylosis or arthritis. Spinal manipulation is not a miracle cure that works for severe conditions that require surgery, such as spinal fractures. However, since it restores normal joint and spinal mobility, it can boost the body’s natural healing properties and be utilised as a complementary treatment to physical therapy.
What Are the Leading Causes of Neck Pain?
One of the most common spinal conditions that can lead to chronic neck pain is cervical spondylosis. Unlike other ailments that can be avoided by proper posture and muscle-strengthening exercises, cervical spondylosis is a degenerative condition of the spinal discs, which is almost impossible to avoid as we age. No less than 85% of the population over the age of 65 suffer from cervical spondylosis, while for people over 80, the percentage is almost 99%.
Another cause of neck pain is represented by herniated discs, which, due to external injuries or poor posture, can slip from their correct position and protrude from the annulus fibrosus portion of the vertebrae. Once this occurs, the herniated disc will put pressure on the surrounding nerves, inflame the neck muscles and lead to significant pain that can radiate in the upper arms. Plus, herniated discs can lead to muscle weakness and cause tension headaches. Not least, neck pain may also be caused by foraminal stenosis, muscle strains, or severe inflammatory conditions such as ankylosing spondylitis.
A Wise First Step Toward Recovery
When performed by a licensed chiropractor for neck pain, spinal manipulation can help improve joint mobility in cervical osteoarthritis, reduce the inflammation associated with cervical disk herniations, and relieve muscle tension or spinal ligament strains. Moreover, a thorough massage for neck pain can help with posture imbalances, improve flexibility and release muscle trigger points that can affect the surrounding nerves. Nevertheless, chiropractic treatment cannot perform miracles. So, for severe degenerative conditions like cervical spinal stenosis and chronic inflammatory ailments like rheumatoid arthritis, it can only have a supportive effect.
With all that being said, chiropractic may be an adjuvant treatment in conventional physical therapy, or it may be a separate method by which to address the root cause of the physical pain you feel. The chiropractor you call will readjust the optimal position of your spinal vertebrae by applying moderate but constant corrective pressure. On top of that, he will use massages to reduce the inflammation in the affected spinal area and improve blood circulation. A five-minute massage for neck pain could significantly lessen your perceived discomfort and increase your joints, spine and neck range of motion.
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