Neck pain is one of the common complaints we see at The Physicaltherapy Centre.
Our experienced practitioners are highly trained and have the necessary skills to address all of the potential contributors to neck pain. Most importantly, we educate you about your condition so that you might understand how to prevent future occurrences.
What Causes Neck Pain?
Common causes of neck pain include trauma from accidents, postural stresses (especially as a result of prolonged sitting), working in awkward positions or cramped spaces, and lying or sleeping with the head in strained positions.
Poor Posture from Prolonged Sitting
When moving about, most of us assume a fairly upright posture with the head retracted and held directly over the vertebral column where it receives maximum support.
But in relaxed sitting, the head and neck tend to slowly creep forward as the supporting muscles gradually tire and no longer support good posture. This over-stretches and strains ligaments, often resulting in pain. In the correct seated head posture, your head is retracted.
The extreme retracted head position is what gives the appearance of a double chin, and is actually a position of strain. Sitting comfortably and correctly requires you to hold your head just short of the extreme retracted posture. To find this position, first retract your head as far as possible and then release the last 10% of this movement.
This is the correct head posture and can be maintained for any length of time. If you sit for large portions of the day, your aim should be to restore and maintain this posture. Neck pain will start to decrease as you improve your head posture, and disappear once good posture becomes a habit.
Sleeping Surface and Position
If you wake up in the morning with pain and stiffness in the neck that wasn’t there the night before, the problem may be due to your sleeping surface or your sleeping position (or both).
Sleeping surface: You might need to change your pillow’s material or thickness. The pillow should fill the curve behind your neck without tilting the head or lifting it up. You should be able to easily adjust your pillow to make a “dish-shaped hollow” for your head to lie in, whilst still being able to bunch the edge of the pillow to form a thick support for your neck. Beware of pillows made of moulded foam – they’re often not adjustable and don’t allow your head to rest in a supported position.
Sleeping position: Avoid lying face down when sleeping if you find yourself frequently waking up with neck pain. Lying face down means your head has to be turned to one side so you can breathe. Some of the joints, particularly those in the upper neck, approach the maximum degree of rotation in this position. This strains the surrounding soft tissues and can result in neck pain.
Cooling Down After Intense Exercise
After exercising, avoid sitting or lying with your head in a forward posture. Thoroughly exercised joints in the spine easily distort if they are held in an overstretched position for too long. Commonly, the exercise itself is blamed for the cause of neck pain, but in many cases it’s actually due to the prolonged forward bending of the head and neck when relaxing afterwards.
Working Related Causes
Some jobs can only be performed in positions likely to cause overstretching of the joints in the neck. Such jobs may require sitting and performing precision work (e.g., microscopy, watchmaking) or working in cramped spaces with the head and neck in awkward static positions.
It may not be practical to prevent the onset of neck pain by regularly assuming the correct posture. Instead, you should aim to interrupt positions of overstretch frequently by performing the relevant neck exercises.
The neck has a tough job – holding your head on top of your shoulders every day. Try to become more aware about the positions you find yourself in more frequently and asses yourself as to whether you are likely to be causing your neck unnecessary strain. If you can prevent neck pain from occurring, you won’t ever have to worry about how to having it treated – that’s just a pain in the neck.
What Should I Do if I Have Neck Pain?
As a first step toward relief that you can try right now, see this collection of simple neck pain relief exercises, which were adapted from the McKenzie Method for treating spinal conditions.
For professional assessment and treatment of your neck pain, make an appointment at The Physicaltherapy Centre in North Sydney for physiotherapy or chiropractic adjustment.