Nagging Neck Pain Boomerangs Back: Part 1 (of 2)

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  5. Nagging Neck Pain Boomerangs Back: Part 1 (of 2)

That nagging neck pain driving you crazy? Neck feeling tight and achy,
and sometimes worse?

You’ve gone round and round to get relief: massage, over-the-counter
remedies, doctors, x-rays, prescriptions, exercise, stretching, physical
therapy, and changed pillows enough times to start a pillow store.

Nothing seems to help—for long.

Sometimes, it’s not so bad. “There,” but bearable.

Your hopes lift.

Then the real pain boomerangs back, peppering you unmercifully.

Out of the blue, tightness and achiness can
rage into constant,
sharp pain shooting up
into your head or down your back, stabbing
between your shoulders.

Your hopes plunge.

You can put up with neckaches and stiffness.
But when the pain
ramps up, misery spikes—
consuming you and your life!


Answers but No Solution.

Despite the hoops you’ve jumped through, your neck pain persists.
You’ve heard answers to your questions, but lasting relief eludes you.

One question haunts you: “Is there any help and hope for me?”

You’re scared. Scared you’ll have to live with this neck, annoying
you for the rest of your life.

 

Hope Hidden Beneath the Radar.

You may think you’ve exhausted all your options. But before
giving up and resigning yourself to “living with the pain”
(and hoping it doesn’t get worse), there may be help
for you yet.

May I ask: “Have you ever considered
seeing a chiropractor?”

Wait! Don’t slam the door shut! Whether you’ve already explored
chiropractic or know nothing about chiropractors, please give me
(and yourself) an extra minute of your time. [click here]

If nothing else, you may better understand the cause for your
neck pain.

At best, you may discover a solution for:

RELIEF!

Chiropractic care is an effective, non-invasive treatment, commonly
used for relieving muscular skeletal pain and stiffness in the neck,
lower back, between shoulders, upper back, legs, hips, groin, arms,
head, and other areas. [click here.]

Did you know that your neck pain and tightness
could be caused by:

  • the joints between your neck bones (vertebrae) “locking up,”
    tightening muscles, and restricting normal movement, due
    to previous injuries?
  • the joints between your neck bones “moving too much”
    due to the supportive tissues (ligaments, muscles) being
    injured and weakened?
  • tiny misalignments of the vertebrae, due to previous
    injuries, irritating nerves, tissues, and cells, called
    “vertebral subluxations”? [click here]
  • pain and stiffness in other areas of your spine (ex: lower
    back, between shoulder blades) due to injuries, jumpstarting
    future compensation problems in your neck and head?

Trauma: Unsuspected Root of Neck Pain.

What is the one key word in the four bullet points above?

Injuries. What causes injuries?

Physical traumas. Big and small. Known and unknown.
Remembered and long forgotten.

So, it goes something like this:

Traumas => injuries => spinal bones jamming up => neck pain
and tightness, immediate and/or sometime in the future (days,
months, even years).

“But I’ve Never Hurt My Neck.”

You may think you’ve never hurt your neck, but that may
not be the case at all.

Just because you didn’t feel pain at the time of a possible
traumatic event, or remember feeling pain, doesn’t
necessarily mean you didn’t jar, jam, or misalign a bone
in your neck that could precipitate neck dysfunction
and pain later in your life.

Whether we remember them or not,
traumas happen to all of us over our
lifetimes—from infancy and early
childhood to aging adults.

Of course, all physical traumas don’t necessarily result in
injuries in the neck or other areas of the spine. However,
many traumas, or the combination of traumas, are often
the initial cause of future neck pain and other problems.

Some physical traumas are permanently seared into our
memories: car crashes, bad falls, broken bones, or any
injury causing a lot of pain.

However, most traumas, seemingly minor in nature, fall
under the radar: not noticed at the time, not remembered,
or both.

Even one seemingly minor fall as a toddler
learning to walk can set the stage for chronic
neck pain years down the road.

And how many times do we fall before we
can get on our feet and stay on them?

Countless times.

Who would have guessed?

If falls, jerks, and jolts produce no pain when they occur,
then we don’t give them a second thought, much less
remember and associate them with future neck pain and
other spine-related pain.

In fact, unless the pain never stopped
after an injury, rarely do we connect
the dots between past traumatic events,
even if significant, and today’s neck pain
and tightness that crept up on us or
came from out of nowhere.

Sound familiar?

The Odds for a Clean Escape from Trauma.

Scan the traumas below.

  • Childhood traumas: birth process (we all experience),
    rolling off a bed as an infant, learning how to walk, falling
    off a bike, getting shoved by a sibling or playmate, slipping
    off the monkey bars, sports, roughneck playing, car crashes,
    and prolonged neck bending over devices, etc.
  • Teenage traumas: car crashes, sports, gymnastics, cheering,
    heavy work, prolonged sitting, weightlifting, falls, broken bones,
    sprained ankles, those heavy backpacks, and hours of goose
    necking over phones, devices, and keyboards spurring
    later postural- and spine-related issues.
  • Adult traumas: car crashes, broken bones, sprains and strains,
    heavy work and workouts, slips and falls, weekend “warrioring,”
    heavy lifting, improper lifting, pregnancies, and microtraumas
    that add up over time: prolonged sitting, excessive weight,
    goose-necking over phones and devices, and repetitive work,
    such as dentistry, hair styling, factory production lines, and
    computer work and keyboarding.
  • Physical abuse at any age: a ticking time bomb for future
    dysfunction of spinal bones and tissues, causing neck pain,
    headaches, jaw pain, low back pain, middle back pain, leg
    pain, and more.

After reviewing the possible traumas above, what are the odds
that you, too, have encountered traumas in your lifetime? Maybe one
or a accumulation of those traumas are the very root of your the neck
pain you’re feeling right now.

Yesterday’s traumas, at least in part, can cause
today’s neck pain.

Chiropractor: A Viable Solution. [click here] [click here]

By correcting spinal malfunctions and malpositions with precision,
low-force instruments [click here] or with their hands, chiropractors often
relieve neck pain, even if you’ve been diagnosed with degeneration,
arthritis, bone spurring, or disc narrowing in your cervical spine (neck).

If a chiropractor can give you freedom from neck
pain or other spine-related pain, I’d suggest,
“Go for it! It’s well worth a try.”

Already tried a chiropractor? Seek out another chiropractor who uses
a different method for adjusting the spine. Like all healthcare
professions, chiropractors are different from another with
their own unique skills, education, experience, and personalities. [click here]

To learn more about how to help your neck pain, please hop into Part 2
of “Nagging Neck Pain Boomerangs Back.”