Neck pain can be experienced in many different ways. Sometimes we can wake up in the morning after sleeping in a strange bed or having had a restless night and find that we have a stiff and painful neck. The pain might be felt on one side or both sides of the neck and may be accompanied by other symptoms.

These can include a burning pain, pain or numbness radiating down the arms to the hands, causing a tingling feeling in the hands or fingers. Weakness in the arms can also be a result. In addition, one might experience headaches, blurred vision or nausea.

Often the headache is so severe that it is the primary complaint and some people don’t even realise their neck is sore, stiff and possibly the source of their pain.

Neck pain can be caused by a traumatic incident such as fall, sports injury or a motor vehicle accident, either recently or in years past. You may have adapted around the problem for so long that you are not even aware how stiff and limited in movement you became. You might have sustained whiplash, with long standing degeneration of the joints of the cervical spine and due to abnormal postural changes and disc bulges or protrusions.

Of course, common problems seen today involve poor desk posture, pillows with little height or support, heavy shoulder bags, carrying little children and shopping bags. It is no wonder that chiropractors often promote contoured pillows to their patients when we see what they have been spending 1/3rd of their 24 hour day supported by.

Any one of the above problems needs immediate investigation by a Doctor of Chiropractic.
The chiropractor will have studied for at least 5 years at university to obtain his degree and is a competent and trained professional. The chiropractor understands that small incidents, often called ‘microtrauma’ build up over the longer term to create major joint changes.

The patient may be advised to have x-rays, CT or MRI to evaluate the physical situation of the cervical spine. Chiropractors understand that safety is paramount and perform spinal imaging if the history and examination indicate that nerve compression might be present. While it seems tempting just have your neck rubbed or to put relaxing heat packs on you, the chiropractor wishes to understand the root cause, or underlying reason behind your injury.

If this is not done, long term problems can result in permanent injuries. After evaluating the x-rays or scans, the chiropractor will assess the findings in combination with an extensive range of medical tests involving both neurological and orthopedic evaluations. Based on the results of these tests, it is hopeful that a course of gentle and safe chiropractic treatment commence and soon the troublesome symptoms will start to abate.

There are some cases, unfortunately, where the problem has been placed before the chiropractor very late after major changes have already taken place in the spine and there may be a real challenge to grant relief and alter lifestyles.

Often people with neck problems delay in seeking help from their chiropractor and think that the pain will go away by itself. This can be short-sighted thinking and, in fact, the problem may become worse over time with the muscles of the neck and shoulder blades becoming rigid and tight, further exacerbating the problems. While we are all hopeful that problems will go away ‘by themselves’ reality often shows us otherwise and they keep returning to haunt us.

If I had a penny for every time a patient told me their problem “fixed itself”, I would have retired a long time ago. The very thought prolongs the problem in being assessed meaningfully.
At the first signs of neck stiffness, see your chiropractor. He will be able to advise you, if necessary, to seek a  medical opinion if you have a high fever or significant symptom indicating you should have medical investigation.

Chiropractic education prepares the doctor to be aware of all the different possible causes of neck pain and headache – a thorough history and examination should include any medical problems you have had and all the symptoms you are complaining of. However, most cases of neck pain do not involve infection and fever and can be treated very well by the chiropractor.