How often do you feel neck pain? Do you even feel pain in your shoulders? Becoming even more common is the stress that takes place by desk and computer work. Let’s face it, that’s our modern culture. It’s inspiring we can touch the world by a keyboard.
Pain located in the neck is a common medical condition. Neck pain can be the result of various disorders and diseases correlating with the spine.
What Causes Neck Pain?
- Abnormalities in the bone or joints
- Trauma/Injury
- Poor posture
- Pinched nerves
- Disc herniations
- Degenerative diseases-joint and disc
- Tumors
- Muscle Strains, Ligament Sprains
Neck and Shoulder Pain Diagnosis Process:
The clinic process of diagnosis will use palpation, range of motion, orthopedic testing, imaging as necessary, and most importantly a thorough case history. Plain x-rays can reveal narrowing of the space between two spinal bones, arthritis-like diseases, tumors, slipped discs, narrowing of the spinal canal, fractures and instability of the spinal column. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a noninvasive procedure that can reveal the detail of neural (nerve-related) elements, as well as problems with the tendons and ligaments.
Neck Pain is disguised as many feelings
Neck pain is commonly associated with dull aching. Sometimes pain in the neck gets worse with movement of the neck or turning the head. Other symptoms associated with some forms of neck pain include:
- Numbness
- Tingling
- Tenderness
- Sharp shooting pain
- Fullness
- Difficulty swallowing
- Pulsations Swishing sounds in the head Dizziness or lightheadedness
- Lymph node (gland) swelling
- Headache
- Facial pain
- Shoulder pain
- Arm numbness or tingling (upper extremity paresthesias
These symptoms are often a result of nerves becoming pinched in the neck. Pain in the scapular and shoulder region can often be referred from the neck with no neck pain present. Chiropractic physicians are trained extensively in the diagnosis and treatment of neck pain conditions.
Case Study Using Flexion Distraction
A 64-year-old man presented to a chiropractic clinic with complaints of neck/left shoulder pain and hypoesthesia/anesthesia into the palmar side of his left hand. Magnetic resonance images of the cervical spine revealed a left posteromedial C6/C7 disk herniation along with foraminal narrowing. In addition, there were other levels of degeneration, most noted at the C3/C4 spinal level, which also had significant left-sided foraminal narrowing.
Treatment
Treatment included flexion-distraction protocols aimed to reduce nerve root compression along with supportive physiological therapeutic interventions to aid with pain reduction and functional improvement. The patient was treated a total of 10 times over a course of 4 weeks. The patient reported being pain-free and fully functional 8 months following the conclusion of care.