Neck pain

The importance of the Head (Atlas)

The human body is a complex creation with a phenomenal ability to heal itself - given the right conditions. The atlas is the top or first - a single, doughnut-shaped cervical vertebra of the neck, which supports the skull. Nerve fibres numbering in the trillions originating from the brainstem travel through the small opening in the atlas and flow down into the spinal column. Due to the slight opening and the close proximity to the brain stem, if the atlas has moved out of position even one degree it can result in body imbalance and restricted brain messages.

Causes of Neck Pain

There can be many contributing factors to neck pain, such as:

• Trauma
• Overuse
• Wear and Tear
• Poor Posture

They can ultimately lead to pain due to injury of the structures and those surrounding the spine, such as muscles, joints, ligaments, tendons, discs, blood vessels and nerves.

Other joints can be affected by problems of the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists and fingers. Pain can radiate to these points.

Orthopaedic testing will establish where the “root” cause of the problem is coming from and then a treatment plan is discussed with the patient. If the affected area is inflamed, initial treatment could be acupuncture or a combination of acupuncture and chiropractic adjustments.

Trauma

Injuries to the neck caused by a sudden movement of the head backwards and forwards or sideways, are referred to as “whiplash”. Whether from a car accident, sporting injury or an accident at work, whiplash or neck injuries warrant a thorough chiropractic examination and in most cases X-Rays are needed to establish the positioning of the vertebra before treating the neck with chiropractic manipulation.

Whiplash; consequences of the injury?

• The muscles and ligaments supporting the spine can be over-stretched or torn.
• The discs between the vertebrae can bulge, tear or rupture.
• Vertebrae can be forced out of their normal position, reducing range of motion.
• The spinal cord and nerve roots get stretched, irritated and choked
• One problem with whiplash is that the symptoms can take years to develop and too often people do not seek treatment until more complications develop.

Migraine

Many people will ask me how chiropractors can help migraines since they are a vascular headache.

How do migraine headaches work?

Something happens in a migraine patient’s Body that causes the arteries going up into the head to constrict or become smaller.

That trigger can be anything from stress, hormones, or a reaction to food or chemicals.

Whenever that trigger reaches a certain threshold the body responds by constricting those blood vessels. The brain picks up on a decrease in blood flow going up to the head and it sends out a signal to dilate or make the vessels bigger. This results in a significant increase in blood flow up to the head. That is where the pain and throbbing of the migraine comes from. For those of you who get the auras before you get the migraine headaches, they are a result of the constriction of the blood vessels going up to the brain. Whatever part of the brain gets lack of blood flow is where the aura is – if it’s the part of the brain that controls vision you get the lights or dots before the eyes, if it’s the part of the brain that controls smell – your aura is smell-based, etc.

How can chiropractic help?

So what chiropractic care does is relieve some of the nerve irritation caused by misalignments in the upper neck, by performing spinal adjustments and, as a result, the blood vessels are less reactive to triggers. When the neck is in good shape, the threshold for triggering migraine is less likely.