Your neck comprises seven bones stacked on top of each other with a soft “disc” between each segment to allow for flexibility. Typically, each joint in your neck should move freely and independently. A segmental joint restriction means that one or more of your neck vertebrae has become slightly misaligned or restricted. Joint restrictions can develop in many ways. Sometimes, they are brought on by an accident or an injury. Other times, they develop from repetitive strains or poor posture.
Symptoms: Joint restrictions most commonly cause local tenderness and discomfort. You may notice that your range of motion is limited. Movement may increase your discomfort. Pain from a restricted joint often trickles around your shoulders and upper back.
A significant percentage of all headaches arise from problems in the neck and are classified as “cervicogenic headaches.” The most common trigger for a cervicogenic headache is limited movement of the joints in your upper cervical spine. Usually, each of the joints in your neck moves freely and independently. Sometimes, restrictions in the upper cervical spine initiate a painful cycle of stiffness, muscle tightness, and joint inflammation. This may irritate the sensitive nerves leading from your neck into the back of your head.
Symptoms: Cervicogenic headaches are most commonly one-sided but occasionally may be present on both sides of the head. Pain often radiates from the base of your skull toward the top of your head and sometimes over your eyes. Headache episodes may last from hours to days. The pain is continuous but fluctuating, often described as “deep.” You may also notice chronic neck tenderness and stiffness.
Your spine consists of 24 individual vertebrae stacked on top of each other. Flexible cushions called “discs” live between each set of vertebrae. Cervical disc lesions are one of the most common causes of neck pain, and chiropractors are uniquely trained to find and fix this type of pain. According to the British Medical Journal, “spinal manipulation is more effective and less costly for treating neck pain than physical therapy or care by a general practitioner.”
Symptoms: Surprisingly, cervical disc lesions are present without symptoms in over half of the adult population. Since the spinal cord and nerve roots live directly behind the disc, bulges accompanied by inflammation will likely create neck pain radiating into your shoulder or arm. If the disc bulge is significant enough to cause nerve compression, you may also experience loss of your reflexes and weakness.
Our goal is to get you back to normal as soon as possible. To do that, we will likely recommend one or more of the following:
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