Trouble Moving Your Head Around Because of Nagging Neck Pain? We Can Help

Let’s take a moment to appreciate all the work your neck does, which can become very obvious when it’s in pain. From driving your car to doing chores around the house, these simple, everyday tasks become almost impossible when neck pain strikes.

Unfortunately, neck pain is very common and affects about 15% of adults in the United States. If the neck pain were temporary, that would be one thing, but the reality is that between 50% and 85% of people who experience neck pain go on to have a recurrence within five years.

So, if you're in the large group struggling with ongoing neck pain and stiffness, it’s time to explore relief solutions. For that, we turn to the experienced team of spine health experts at SOAR Spine and Orthopedics. Let’s take a look.

What drives most nagging neck pain

There are many different roads to chronic neck pain, and we confine our discussion to the most common, which include:

• Osteoarthritis
• Herniated cervical disc
• Cervical spinal stenosis, which affects about 5% of the adult population
• Strain due to overuse and/or poor posture
• Muscle tension due to stress, which is commonly felt in the neck and shoulders

As you can see from this list, nagging neck pain often falls into two categories: Degenerative or strain/tension, and treating these two categories is different.

Finding relief from degenerative neck pain

When we say degenerative, we refer to the effects wear-and-tear and age can have on your cervical spine. If you have a degenerative condition in your neck that causes pain and stiffness, such as arthritis or stenosis, our goal is to halt the condition's progression and even reverse it somewhat so you can enjoy pain-free movement of your neck and head.

To do this, we often first tackle the pain, which we can do with intervention injections, such as cervical epidural injections or cervical facet injections. These injections contain steroids for inflammation and a local anesthetic that provides near-immediate pain relief.

Another way we can quiet overactive pain signaling is through cervical radiofrequency ablation, a technique in which we use heat to destroy nerve endings so that they don’t send pain signals.

Once you are more comfortable, it’s time to take more sustainable steps to relieve your neck pain and prevent it from recurring. At the top of the list is targeted physical therapy to strengthen the soft tissues in your neck and promote better range of motion through stretching.

To reverse some aging processes, we might suggest regenerative medicine treatments that support healing in your body, such as platelet-rich plasma or stem cell injections.

Lastly, we might also recommend adjunct treatments, such as chiropractic care and acupuncture.

Finding relief from neck tension

If we find that your nagging neck pain stems from muscle tension due to stress or poor posture, we change our focus. In these cases, we work toward improving the underlying issue.

For example, if poor posture causes your neck pain, we show you how to improve your sitting, standing, and even sleeping posture for less neck strain.

If your neck pain is stress-related, we often suggest acupuncture and chiropractic care, and stress-relieving practices such as deep breathing and meditation.

The bottom line is that we work with each patient individually to develop the best treatment plan for their nagging neck pain.

To determine your plan of attack for nagging neck pain, contact us today at one of our offices in Santa Clara or Redwood City, California, to schedule a consultation.