What type of neck pain should I worry about?

Neck pain has been burdening the human race for centuries. It can vary from occasional discomfort to chronic and severe pain and despite the commonality of it; little progress has been made in pin-pointing the exact causes and remedies. Even today, it can be extremely tricky to diagnose and even harder to get rid of.

The primary problem with neck pain is misdiagnosis. If you do visit a doctor you will likely be pigeon-holed into another case of “chronic neck pain,” a very broad and not easily remedied diagnosis. It simply means you have pain in your neck more often than not. A primary cause of the discomfort is subluxation in the neck, in which the discs in your neck are out of place. Subluxation causes neck pain, fatigue, stiffness, numbness and can irritate the entire nervous system. Often it is caused by various forms of trauma to the joints in the spine, including car accidents, lifting injuries, falls and even repetitive motions, which many of us are subject to.

Retraining your muscles
The issue here is that typically the person in pain goes to a chiropractor, gets adjusted and feels great, but is never shown how to build up the supporting muscles in that area to protect the neck and keep the subluxation from reoccurring. Do keep up your chiropractor visits, but also do your homework. Be sure you have a good chiropractor who is showing you preventative, strength-building exercises.

Another common pigeon hole is the “strained neck,” diagnosis. Simply Google the term “strained neck,” and you will get nearly a million hits. If your doctor gives you this diagnosis, be sure to dig deeper. Ask questions about what is causing the strain. If it’s subluxation, and you catch it early on, you can save yourself from the subsequent health problems that may result.

Neck pain is a serious aliment that affects a lot of people worldwide, but you may be surprised to know that people in Third World countries actually have fewer issues with neck pain. The reason? Have you ever opened a National Geographic magazine or watched a movie set in a Third World country in which the women are carrying baskets on their heads or their babies from a sling that wraps around the top of their head?

When they carry the baskets on top of their heads they have their shoulders back and down. They carry their chins down and back and they relax their face, arms and lower backs. They assume the same position when carrying their babies in slings from their heads. We need to take a lesson from these women.

Now, this may not seem practical in our modern society; can you imagine walking down the street in New York City seeing women carrying their purses from their heads? We don’t need to go that extreme, but it is an issue that needs to be addressed now.

Damaging effects of modern-day conveniences
The structure of our spine is absolutely incredible and it is able to take a significant amount of trauma and still recover. However, in the modern world we rarely relax our faces, arms or lower backs. We drop our chins forward and down and allow our shoulders to slump forward. We are only partly to blame though.

Modern conveniences have conditioned our bodies to this type of posture. Car seats, office chairs, purses, the way we carry our children, the height of our kitchen countertops, and chairs with the arm rest set too high are just a few examples of items we use on a daily basis that are not conducive to proper alignment. We never correct the damage of our bad postural habits, so our spine never has the chance to show us how incredible it is.

Correcting the problem
With these elements plaguing the health of our necks, how can we prevent or get rid of the pain? Most of the time the issue can be corrected by a few adjustments from a great chiropractor and some simple exercises and stretches, followed up by postural changes. Start by conducting an easy experiment. Look at a friend from the side. Examine the alignment of their knees, hips, shoulders, and ear lobes. What do you see? Is it a straight line from point to point that forms a perpendicular angle to the floor? Or do their hips push forward and do they compensate by leaning back with their shoulders? Is it a fairly straight line from their knees to their hips, but the shoulders take a drastic round forward and their chin is so far forward and down that the curve from the shoulders just keeps going up through the neck? Can you tell if their knees are locked? A few simple adjustments can correct the posture:

• Begin by softening (unlocking) the knees. This will instantly change the overall posture, but we still need to make a few more changes.
• Next, tuck that tail bone under. Pretend you are a dog tucking your tail. This will take a lot of pressure off your lower back.
• Next, get the shoulders back and down, but DO NOT arch the lower back.
• Finally, pull the chin down so it is parallel to the ground. Be sure your ear lobes are directly over your shoulders.

 This new posture may feel slightly odd at first, but practicing it will help pull your spine back into place and alleviate the pain in your neck. While this posture is extremely important in daily interactions, it is even more important to maintain the stance when carrying heavy objects and working out. It could potentially save you from a life of pain.

Katie Stumbo, a nationally certified trainer with the National Council of Strength and Fitness, is the founder of FitLife, a Phoenix-based personal training business that offers in-home customized workouts as well as structured Boot Camps. Katie also holds certifications in yoga, Pilates, Aikido, Shinkendo and is a U.S. certified swim coach. 

Katie Stumbo is founder of FitLife.  She can be reached via email at katiestumbo@live.com.  For more information, visit www.succeedwithfitlife.com/.

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