Physical Therapy For Neck Pain Relief

Can physical therapy help with neck pain?  Yes, you would be surprised at how much pain a physical therapist can alleviate with their techniques.  In fact, physical therapy is one of the more common ways to get relief from neck pain. 

Physical therapy will both stretch the muscles as well as strengthen them with exercise.  The goals of a physical therapist office are:

• Restore and improve mobility
• Reduce Pain and Stiffness
• Develop a plan to help keep the pain from coming back
• Strengthen and stabilize joints of the body

There are many reasons that people have neck pain.  Some reasons are:

• Surgery
• Injury
• Poor Posture
• Accident
• Sports

If you have neck pain you should consult your doctor or chiropractor.  They will determine if you need physical therapy and to what degree.  This will allow you to see a physical therapist and get some assistance for your problem. 

Chiropractic care along with physical therapy is a great combination.  Physical therapy uses a combination of massage type techniques with physical exercise.  This will massage out your soft tissue and help your neck get back into alignment.  Physical therapy can do this on its own.  But, with combining it with Chiropractic care, you will get to the finish line a bit faster.

Poor posture can be the cause of neck pain.

If you haven’t heard, the world is suffering from poor posture.  We are looking down more than our bodies were designed to do more than ever before in the history of mankind.  Our mobile devices and computer screens are causing our heads to translate forward. 

This means that people are actually deforming their spine and don’t even realize it.  As we look down our upper back and neck are lowered.  This is causing rounding in the shoulders as well as causing many people to have a hump on their back.

This can be reversed and actually it takes a lot longer to get your back and neck like this than it takes to get it back to the natural curvature.  This is because the body wants to be in its natural position.  However, the head weighs approx. 8 lbs. 

As the head gets more and more forward, gravity takes over and pulls on it.  This means the body doesn’t have a chance to restore the curvature on its own.

However, with shoulder and neck massage and manipulation, the physical therapist can help reverse the effects of this.  This problem we are facing actually even has a name called text neck.  Physical therapy for neck pain is a great solution that isn’t invasive either.

There isn’t any surgery needed and most physical therapists won’t recommend surgery unless that is the only way.  They are like most chiropractors and believe in a holistic approach to medicine. 

Because of this, they will look at your entire body, much like a chiropractor, and see where you are off in your alignment.  They will use their own techniques to ensure that your neck gets the proper treatment that you need.

Check your alignment.

Neck pain might not even be from the neck itself.  This is why taking a whole-body approach is so important.  When your alignment is off, you can have pain in areas that are not the issue causing the pain.  We see this a lot of knees and hips. 

As your alignment gets off, your body adjusts to keep your head upright.  These small adjustments over time can be that your leg is crooked, meaning you are coming down on your knee incorrectly.  This same issue can happen with your neck.

Physical therapy for neck pain

Whiplash is another occurrence that causes neck pain.  Whiplash is caused when there is a quick jolt to the head.  Sometimes you might feel the pain of whiplash until much later.  However, the effects can last a lifetime if not treated. 

Find a local physical therapist’s office to help with this sort of pain treatment.  They work with both the bones and the muscles to get them back to where they should be.  Whiplash is nothing to leave and let it “heal itself” as that can cause further damage.  You should be checked out by a chiropractor or a physical therapist right away.

However, some whiplash patients have lasting pain that goes on for weeks.  A physical therapist can help alleviate this pain and offer suggestions of things that you can do at home to help.  Whiplash can be very painful and again has lasting affects far greater than we can see or feel.  Be sure that you take whiplash very seriously and seek medical attention.

Neck pain is nothing to mess around with.

Whether your neck pain is from a fast jolt such as a car accident or if you are experiencing the text neck phenomenon, a physical therapist is there to help.  They can answer all of your questions and go over a treatment plan that is suited just for you. 

Taking the time to find the right specialists is important.  They are all a bit different and treat people differently as well.  They each have certain techniques that they like to use.  So if you find one that isn’t working out so well, try someone else to see if maybe they just were not a good fit.

Neck pain is nothing to mess around with.  Seek treatment before it gets worse.  With the text neck, the joints of the neck can eventually become severely arthritic and eventually fuse, which will give you yet a larger problem. 

Don’t delay in seeking treatment because you fear missing work.  In fact, most places can work with you on your schedule so you don’t have to miss work.  Think about the alternative, surgery.  Surgery is costly and takes time away from what you love doing.  While a holistic approach that is taken by a physical therapist doesn’t have the costs involved and it allows you to get on with life.

If you have injured your neck in some way a physical therapist might be the perfect solution.  Before you read this, you might have asked; Can physical therapy help with neck pain? Well, the answer is yes, they certainly can help you with your neck pain. 

Physical therapy for neck pain is approached by the PT (Physical therapist) as they approach everything else.  Which is by looking at your entire body and posture.  They will ask you some questions and get some history on you.  It really is that simple to get started.