At some point in your life, you’ve likely woken up with a stiff, sore neck. In most cases, these random cases of neck pain will resolve on their own in a few days or a week. However, there are many times when neck pain lingers for far too long. Sometimes, the pain will be so severe that it prevents patients from participating in their daily activities.
Luckily, chiropractic care serves as a quick, effective, and all-natural method for reducing neck pain. In this article, we’ll take a look at neck pain and outline three benefits chiropractors offer to those suffering from neck injuries.
What Causes Neck Pain?
Neck pain can develop for a variety of reasons. Let’s take a look at some of the most common causes of neck pain.
Whiplash
When you are moving in one direction at high speed, you don’t expect to come to an immediate stop. However, if you’re riding in a car, and you end up in an accident, your forward momentum may be stopped immediately by the object you’ve crashed into.
As this happens, your head continues to move forward for a split second before your neck muscles activate and jerk your head backward.
This series of events usually results in a condition known as whiplash.
Whiplash is a serious issue that can cause debilitating neck pain, headaches, and many other symptoms which can last weeks, months, or even years after the fact.
Poor Posture
Posture is critically important for our health. When we maintain poor posture for long periods, we put tremendous strain on our necks and backs.
Unfortunately, our daily lifestyles make it very difficult to stand up and sit up straight. Working for 12+ hours a day at a desk naturally makes us want to slump. We need to fight the temptation or suffer the painful consequences!
Pulled Muscles
For both active and sedentary individuals, pulled neck muscles can cause huge problems.
We can strain our neck muscles very easily. Sometimes, we may even suffer a neck muscle strain from simply turning our heads too far in one direction.
Pulled muscles usually get better on their own with rest. However, this issue can really limit your activity level while you’re recovering.
3 Benefits of Chiropractic Care for Neck Pain
Now, let’s take a look at how chiropractic care can help patients with all different types of neck pain, such as the ones described in the previous section.
Benefit #1: Improved Range of Motion
Chiropractic treatments often help patients achieve a better range of motion. This is especially important for people who suffer from neck pain, as these patients usually keep their heads from moving very far, due to the fear of a painful episode.
Best of all, chiropractic treatments typically only take a very short time and you’ll feel better as you walk out the door after.
Benefit #2: Decreased Pain
Spinal adjustments, when performed by a skilled chiropractor, can often lead to decreased neck pain. By realigning the spine after it has fallen out of optimal positioning, your chiropractor can help you get your pain back to a manageable level in no time.
Benefit #3: Increased Resiliency
Chiropractic care can help to increase resiliency in your neck. These treatments will help to make your neck more mobile and stable. In turn, this will make you more resistant to injuries in this region and this will also help you recover more quickly should you sustain a subsequent neck injury.
The next time you experience neck pain, don’t wait for it to heal on its own! Our team at Awaken Chiropractic, your go-to Parker chiropractors, are here to help. Book your appointment today.