Do you know someone that’s always complaining about their neck or cracks their neck to make it feel better? Upper Cervical Chiropractic Care might be just what you’ve been looking for.
In the paper titled “Chronic neck pain: making the connection between capsular ligament laxity and cervical instability” the authors discuss chronic neck pain dysfunction, what causes it, and how it can be helped. Within the general population, about 30-50% of people suffer from a bout of neck pain at some point. Women over 50 make up the largest proportion of this statistic. One third of the population will have chronic neck pain which lasts longer than 6 months, and 5% of the population will become disabled from chronic neck pain. Traditional treatments for chronic neck pain these days include: NSAIDs, Narcotics, cervical collars, PT, rest, nerve blocks, manual therapy, and strengthening exercises. These traditional treatments tend to have short-term changes or results, but lasting, long-term changes are few and far between. In this paper the writers propose that chronic neck pain and neck pain disability occurs because of a ligament laxity and cervical instability from macro and micro trauma to the cervical spine ligaments, tendons and muscles. These traumas could include everything from whiplash associated disorders from a car accident, or a concussion from sports injury, all the way down to anterior head carriage from sitting at the desk all day. Upper cervical chiropractic care is very effective at stabilizing the spine after macro traumas and micro traumas a like, so if you are struggling with debilitating neck symptoms, give our office, or your local Upper Cervical Chiropractic office, a call.
There are many reasons why the cervical spine is so susceptible to chronic instability. The upper cervical vertebra are the smallest bones in the spine and sit directly under the head which weights up to 10-12 lbs on average. The upper cervical spine is comprised of some of the most mobile joints in the spine, which is why you have a lot of mobility in your neck, but that also makes it more susceptible to injury. The upper cervical spine is held in place by muscles, ligaments, and tendons. When there are traumas to the upper cervical area, the ligaments and tendons that prevent too much motion become slightly unstable, causing the joints to move in unhealthy patterns. If this sounds like you, an Upper cervical chiropractic evaluation will be able to tell if you are a good candidate for care. Give our office a call to find out more.
If your neck has become unstable from an acute injury like a whiplash, or from prolonged poor posture, the joints may be out of alignment in the upper cervical spine causing restricted range of motion, or clicking, popping, and grinding. These are all signs that the cervical spine is out of alignment, and possibly compensating from ligaments and soft tissue damage. In a specific upper cervical chiropractic office, we assess and analyze the spine to see if gentle, upper cervical corrections will be the best fit to allow the joints to heal. If you have seen someone grab their head and twist their neck until it pops that is the opposite of what we do in our office. We are working to find out what joint is the most affected and correct the alignment gently without any rotation so that the range of motion naturally returns and the joint heals and becomes strong again to prevent abnormal motion, and allow proper motion to return. If abnormal motion persists for long periods, the body will start to lay down bone to prevent abnormal motion, which is called arthritis, or degeneration. If we get to the problem early enough, we actually prevent that degenerative process and keep the ligaments, tendons, and muscles healthy and happy. If you are struggling with chronic neck pain and instability give our office a call to see if you are a good candidate for Upper Cervical Chiropractic care.
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