Neck pain can have a pretty dramatic effect on your quality of life, triggering or worsening problems like stress, fatigue, irritability, or even depression. This pain can result from aging, trauma, bad posture, degenerative conditions like osteoarthritis, bad sleep positions, a pinched nerve, herniation, and much more. Developing an effective chiropractic treatment plan for neck pain often requires first identifying the source.
The chiropractors and other care experts at Optimum Health Rehab possess the extensive experience necessary to treat neck pain. We offer a comprehensive array of technologies and techniques that allow us to accurately diagnose the cause of your neck pain before applying targeted solutions.
Optimum Health Rehab’s core philosophy is to treat the whole body, relieving underlying causes of pain through comprehensive solutions to health and wellness. Your neck pain management plan could include physical therapy, chiropractic care and regenerative cell therapy.
Chronic neck pain often has an easily identifiable root cause, but it can also be a symptom of more systemic problems with your health. Optimum Health Rehab can help Georgia neck and back pain patients take control of their health.
Best Chronic Neck Pain Treatments
While many complicated muscle groups and tendons come together to help form the neck, it is essentially just another component of the spine. Spines are made of a vertical stack of bones called vertebrae, with rubbery discs in between to cushion them while facilitating movement and flexibility. Inside the hollow center of the bones run the nerves of the central nervous system, which the spine protects. Attached are the tendons, ligaments, and muscles that serve to stabilize the whole thing. This collectively forms a complex system, and so there are many ways that neck pain can occur.
When one of the bones of the cervical spine or neck comes out of alignment, nerves can get pinched. Tendons, ligaments, and muscles may also tighten, all of which can lead to neck pain.
Chronic neck pain treatments usually consist of manual adjustments to the cervical spine. Electrical pulsing may also be recommended to relieve tight muscles. Your chiropractor might recommend stretches and toning exercises to strengthen the neck muscles and prevent the pain from progressing.
The course of chiropractic therapy recommended by your Optimum Health Rehab doctor will likely depend on your neck injury, posture, and your overall health. Our comprehensive services include can things like trigger point injections and regenerative medicine, all of which can aid in minimizing your pain over the course of your chiropractic and physical medicine treatments.
Neck Pain and Car Accidents
It’s very common for patients to experience neck pain after a car accident. Neck injuries are often missed because the patient may not experience pain or symptoms immediately. Further, neck pain is usually caused by sudden motion, rather than direct contact i.e. the neck is not struck directly.
Whiplash is the most common neck injury resulting from car crashes, although some patients may experience fractures, spinal misalignment, herniated discs, and other injuries. Whiplash occurs from a sharp jerking motion that happens in a crash, yanking the head forward and then throwing it back. Typically it happens when a car brakes quickly during a collision or when there is an impact from behind (like a rear-end accident). The seatbelt stops the forward motion of the person’s body, but the head is thrown forward and back violently, causing strain and sometimes small tears in the neck muscles and ligaments. Whiplash leads to pain and inflammation, often triggering stiffness that limits mobility and can cause cascading issues throughout the neck and upper spine.
Because whiplash pain may not show up for a few hours or even days after an accident, it’s often missed. If the patient has other injuries and goes to the emergency room, they probably won’t mention their neck if it doesn’t currently hurt. This is understandable because people want to focus on the most painful or pressing problem when they’re at the hospital.
Even if whiplash is diagnosed, the usual treatment is rest and painkillers. For some patients, that’s all it takes to relieve their pain. But for others, whiplash can become a chronic pain problem.
Doctors aren’t usually equipped to do anything but treat the symptoms with pain medication or muscle relaxers. The problem with this plan is twofold:
- It doesn’t treat the root cause of the pain.
- It doesn’t always relieve the pain or restore function.
How a Georgia Neck and Back Chiropractor Can Help
If you’ve experienced prolonged neck pain after a car accident, an experienced chiropractor may be able to help. We will work to get to the bottom of your pain, whether the problem is unresolved muscle damage from whiplash or another injury like a compressed nerve or herniated disc. Many patients will have more than one root cause for neck pain, requiring personalized treatment to address both the underlying conditions as well as the most disruptive symptoms. Your team will prescribe a customized treatment plan to address your needs, adjusting and adding new treatments as necessary.
If you have concerns about paying for your treatment, remember that you may be able to seek compensation from the insurance carrier for the driver who caused your accident. If you’re not sure how or don’t know who caused the accident, we recommend speaking with a personal injury lawyer right away, and we can put you in touch with one.
Choosing the Best Neck Pain Chiropractor for Your Needs
Experience matters when selecting a healthcare provider. For example, you don’t want to see a doctor solely based on who charges the least amount of money, as they may have only had a license for one month, or may even have a record of reprimands by state boards and certification agencies.
One effective method to rule out unqualified providers is to look to reviews on Google, Yelp, Facebook, and other sources in order to see if past patients had a quality experience. You can also search for a specific healthcare professional on Georgia’s Composite Medical Board Website to confirm that they have a current license and are in good standing.
Once you select an initial treatment provider, you can continue to vet their qualifications through a series of simply questions. During your initial appointment, be sure to ask:
- Do they participate in continuing education? Chiropractors never get out of school. They must keep up with the latest science and techniques to continue providing effective neck pain relief.
- Are they willing to develop a customized neck pain treatment plan for your particular circumstances?
- What would they recommend if a specific treatment doesn’t work or isn’t a good option for you? A good chiropractor should have more than one way to treat your neck pain because each person is an individual. Even two people with the same root cause of neck pain may need different treatments due to individual responses or other conditions that might affect their care. If a chiropractor seems fixated on one treatment and doesn’t have any other ideas, they may not be the best fit.
- What is their treatment philosophy? Every chiropractor has one but be careful of a specialist who only says you have a subluxation or misalignment philosophy. Look for chiropractors who are willing to perform diagnostics and make evidence-based recommendations.
What Are Some Ways to Treat Chronic Neck Pain at Home?
Most patients come to us after already attempting the obvious remedies, to no avail. It is highly recommended to see a doctor any time neck pain is seriously limiting your ability to function normally day-to-day.
Some concerning symptoms of neck pain (potentially indicating worse underlying issues) include:
- Numbness of the face or scalp
- Blurred vision or loss of vision
- Difficulty concentrating
- Chronic fatigue
- Difficulty sleeping
- Problems with swallowing or chewing
- Intense headaches
- Memory loss
See a healthcare professional immediately if you experience any of the above. If you are interested in trying possible remedies at home either before or after your appointment, here are some common methods that can relieve neck pain:
- Hot compresses or hot baths
- Epsom salt soaks
- NSAIDs and other over-the-counter pain relief medicine
- Neck stretching routines, yoga
- Increasing upper body support when sleeping with a neck pillow
- Increasing water intake
- Improving sleep routines and diet
- Performing light exercises, including neck rolls
- Consider using a neck brace or soft collar to limit mobility after injury
- Self-massage or massage from a housemate/partner
- Reduce physical activity
- Watch for a slumped over head posture, especially when reading or using devices
- Increase the height of your computer monitor to reduce the angle your head is tilted
These remedies are not meant to be a replacement for professional diagnosis and therapies. See a physician or chiropractor when neck pain feels concerning or impacts your quality of life for more than 2-3 days.
Visit One of Our Georgia Clinics for Neck Pain Management
Find Relief From Your Neck Pain With Optimum Health Rehab
The chiropractors and care teams at Optimum Health Rehab are dedicated to helping every patient find relief from their pain and maximize their overall wellness. If you’re looking for an honest assessment of your neck pain relief options call us at 877-704-1761 or request an appointment online.