Neck pain

Understanding chronic neck pain and how to solve neck pain at home

As a bodyworker, most people I treat complain of neck tension followed by headaches, jaw pain, or tingling/numbness/weakness down the arm. It wasn’t until I started working on car accident survivors that I realized where everything was stemming from; the brachial plexus.

(https://www.ahhot.com.au/blog/brachial-plexus-injury-demystified)

Located in the front of the shoulder, this is a superhighway of nerves, bones, tendons, and muscles squeezed into a small space and the space gets smaller when surrounding muscles are engaged. What are these activities that engage these muscles you might ask? Just literally most everything we do… driving, computer work, doing dishes, watching screens, looking down at a desk or tablet, etc. Electricians, painters, dental hygienists, pharmacists, software engineers, drivers, gardening, grocery store clerks, you starting to get it now?

Understanding the anatomy of chronic neck pain

Ok but what’s actually happening in anatomical terms? What muscles are constantly engaging? What frozen postures do we develop like drying clay left out in a high school art room?

It’s your rounded shoulders or back/neck hump. It’s the pectorals major and minor, your Sternocleidomastoid (SCM) and deep neck muscles: the scalenes. They all converge at your brachial plexus and they’re overstaying their welcome.

Don’t get me started on the domino effect that begins to take place on the structures down the line - to the arms below or neck and head above. But I will say one thing that relates to this… If you’re in a position for long periods of time where your elbow is bent and floating in midair (desk work), there are roughly 10 muscles constantly engaged trying to keep your shoulder stable. Rest your elbows.  Attached at the bottom will be an innovative way people rest their elbows from any where.

So where do we go from here? We can’t stop every two hours to do jumping jacks. I mean, jumping jacks isn’t the WORST movement to get your body to do, but my neurodivergent brain is bored just thinking about it. I feel like our bodies crave to be more integrated and celebrated than that.

How can we stop ourselves from doing these repetitive forward movements that is causing us so much pain?

This is my big question and new passion of mine. I suppose a big answer would be: By creating a system in our society that works for our bodies. But I, too, live in a capitalist society that requires some sort of repetitive movement from me to keep the lights on. So maybe we make small changes by sticking to what we can control; our own routines, habits, and self awareness.

Where / when / how do we leave our bodies multiple times a day?

Do you remember being young and the world was your gym?

I remember rolling on the living room floor while watching TV, shifting my weight and swinging my hips while waiting in line. When did I stop? Why did I stop?

Simple ways to ease chronic neck tension

Posture correction: Reminders throughout the day to check in and reset your body

• bar hangs after sleeping or long hours at the desk

• working back muscles after sitting or looking down for extended amounts of time

• take a walk and look around to warm up your neck muscles

• implement random innovative movements (dance) as frequently as possible
  (under a microscope, our fascia is in a fractal pattern and requires it. more on that later.)

Tendinitis

Understanding the causes of tendinitis

I love my job for many reasons. People are in pain and come to me because I help break their pain cycle. The education and homework I give them helps them stay out of pain. A huge example of chronic pain is tendinitis.

Tendinitis is caused from the over-working of a muscle during repetitive movements. This could be a golf swing, painting your kitchen, or using a computer mouse. Symptoms include: chronic tension, numbness, tingling, muscle weakness, sharp pain, decreased range of motion.

As we’ve learned, strength isn’t always measured by how much load you can put on a muscle. Sometimes strength is measured by endurance; in this case, how long a muscle can endure a contracted position. To build that endurance, slowly working up the frequency of repetitive motions will help.

The dysfunction comes when the repetitive movement is stronger or more than the endurance of the muscle.

Ways to treat tendinitis at home before going to the doctor

What to do:

1. Rest
(2-3 weeks) to interrupt the pain cycle

This is the most frustrating thing for people to hear. Whether it's an athlete that can’t think of the last time they went 2-3 weeks not doing that specific exercise, or someone that is required to do this movement for their job. I’ve had my own personal battles with elbow tendinitis as a bodyworker.

Sometimes it’s not realistic to stop performing certain movements. In that case, adjusting the frequency and way you do them can help. Example: buy an ergonomic mouse or take breaks hanging on the pull-up bar.

The idea is creating boundaries around the aggravating activity.

For me, I need 48 hours of rest every week, 30 minutes between appointments, and a slow introduction into full-day appointments if I’ve been out of the office for more than 2 weeks.

If adjustments don’t help and the pain persists, then the 2-3 week rest is ABSOLUTELY crucial to your healing. Going a long time with untreated tendinitis puts you in more risk of a nerve entrapment, ligament tears, or needing surgery.

Ways to Rest and Rehab Tendinitis

During this rest period, you can introduce manual therapy techniques to help release the deep, contracted muscles:

Massage, cupping, Graston blading / Gua Sha, dry needling, acupuncture, electrical muscle stimulation.

2. Rehab

To strengthen the muscles endurance. The key is to start small and slow so the tendinitis isn’t triggered again. Start with full range of motion movements and slowly add weights. Exercise bands and small dumbbells can be added as you get stronger.

When to go to the doctor

• If the pain worsens after 2- 3 week rest

• Pain continues after 3 week rest

• Decreased range of motion continues after 3 week rest