Neck Injury, Pain and Stiffness
Neck injuries, pain and stiffness is something we treat regularly in our clinics. The common issues we see are chronic neck pain and stiffness, sometimes caused by prolonged postures and unhealthy lifestyle factors, and more acute issues, like wry (stiff) neck, nerve pain and injuries caused through sport.
Here are just a few of these issues in a bit more detail, or you can book an appointment via the button below.
Chronic Neck Pain and Stiffness
Neck pain of the more constant, dull type that comes on during a long day at work for no apparent reason is possibly one of the most common complaints in our modern lifestyle, especially the desk worker life.
In the absence of any injury or damage, which we will be able to check for you, the issue is most likely caused by a lack of movement.
Pain in these conditions is often due to certain muscles fatiguing as they have to work hard all day without a rest from a change in posture. It can also be due to joints being irritated by being pushed into their end of range, especially if movement is lacking somewhere else in the chain. Usually it’s a combination
Our job as Physiotherapists is to figure this out for you, work on your mobility, and teach you to strategies to avoid that pain in the long run.
Wry Neck
A wry neck, sometimes referred to as a “cricked neck”, is a sudden onset of a particularly stiff neck, with movement being quite painful, usually to one side. It can happen during very innocuous activities, even sleeping sometimes! It can be frustrating and quite scary if you don’t know what is happening.
The good news is that apart from the pain and lack of movement, it is not a serious condition and usually resolves on its own, however mobilisation of the joints, by your Physiotherapist and by you can help it to improve much quicker.
In these conditions it is a good idea to get it checked regardless just to make sure it isn’t something more serious.
Neck Trauma or Whiplash
We refer to trauma here as something that has very obviously “happened” to your neck, you’ve had a knock or a fall, you’ve gone into the back of someones car and your head has been moved far too quickly for what it would normally be able to manage.
The first step in this kind of neck injury is to make sure there is no serious damage, either to the bones, discs or nerves. We may do a few tests and possibly send you for scans which can look a bit more closely at this area.
If nothing serious is happening we will often give you advice on how to best look after your neck while it is healing in those first few days or weeks.
Exercise Related Pain
We treat a lot of weightlifters, CrossFitters and Gymnasts at Formotion Physio, this means we see a lot of people who use their upper body a huge amount relative to the general population.
Neck pain can often result when there is an imbalance of how you use your neck, shoulder and back muscles, where you need more strength in some muscles, and less use of others that like to take over. The upper traps are a typical victim of this! It can also be caused by a lack of mobility which can cause you to use your muscles in positions that are not optimal in certain movements.
We will treat these issues with specific stretches, strength exercises or changes to your technique to allow your body to function as efficiently as possible.
In some cases an overload through overtraining of certain movements is the culprit, in which case treatment comes in the form of taking a good look at your training programme and your recovery strategies.
Pinched Nerves and Disc Injuries
The neck is quite a complex area full of nerves, blood vessels, the spinal cord, and discs which are the shock absorbers between the vertebrae (the spinal bones).
We would recommend that you do always see a professional for these types of injuries, rather than waiting and seeing as the pain can be quite intense, but while the thought of disc and nerve injuries often sounds scary, they are not all serious and rarely cause long term damage. Recent research has also shown that disc herniations, or disc bulges, can also heal on their own with appropriate management.
Nerve injuries in this area can be caused either by compression, either through a loss of disc height between the joints in the case of degenerative changes, or disc herniations. While these may sound scary these injuries can often do well with Physiotherapy and conservative management
Nerve injuries can also be caused by over stretching of the nerve, for example if you’ve fallen and grabbed onto something to catch your fall and the shoulder has been pulled away from the neck quite strongly and quickly without your muscles being able to hold everything close.
You might experience nerve pain as a deep, dull burning sort of ache, similar to a toothache. This may extend down the arm and you may experience pins and needles, numbness or a loss of strength, usually in the arms or hands.
If we think that it is manageable conservatively our treatment might involve things like advice on posture, joint mobilisations, exercises or taping. Often pain relief management from a GP is helpful with nerve injuries because the pain can be quite severe.
If we think that the issue is more serious we will be able to advise you on who is best to see as well as arrange the appropriate scans.