Neck Pain, Headaches and Migraines

Physio Well-th provides care for neck pain sufferers from the surrounding areas of Keilor Downs, Keilor, East Keilor, St. Albans, Delahey, Kings Park, Taylors Lakes, Sydenham, Melton, Taylors Hill, Caroline Springs, Burnside, Tenterfield, Cairnlea, Kealba and Deer Park, as well as the wider areas.  

Neck pain can be a very annoying, persistent and disabling type of pain. Again, it is a very common occurrence with most of the population experiencing some sort of neck pain at least once in their lifetime. As mentioned early, this has become largely more common due to the lifestyles that society now leads. People are working longer, harder and performing more repetitive tasks. Then on the other end of the scale many people are also leading more sedentary lives and staying in front of the computer or a desk or even TV for longer periods of time.  

CAUSES

Most of the time, neck pain has to do with some sort of musculoskeletal mal-alignment throughout the neck or upper and mid back area. Generally, poor posture is the leading underlying cause of any kind of mal-alignment. So while we hear daily that poor posture is always a problem, the significance of poor posture and the detrimental effects it can actually have on the body and in causing painful symptoms is not clearly understood. 

The head weighs almost 5 kg and it is designed to sit perfectly on our spine to keep everything in balance. When the body is in the perfect posture, all the muscles, ligaments, nerves and tissues work perfectly with minimal tension or pressure.  When sitting with bad posture, especially due to our busy lifestyle and popular sedentary type work, such as sitting at a desk or at a computer for too long, the tissues all are pulled and pushed out of that perfect position/posture it was designed to sit in.  This overtime can cause huge amounts of stress and pressure on different structures such as muscles, joints, ligaments as well as nerves and can eventually lead to painful symptoms.  

SYMPTOMS

Patients can experience different sorts of neck pain or complaints, such as 

  • headaches or migraines  
  • facial or neck pain 
  • Pain or tightness around the shoulder region 
  • Pain radiating down the arm and into the hand 
  • Pins and Needles radiating down the hand 
  • Decreased Range of movement of the neck 
  • Stiff neck especially on waking after sleep 
  • Difficulty getting the neck into a comfortable position at night time 
  • creaking sounds of the neck 

TREATMENTS

Your physiotherapist at Physio Well-th will perform a thorough assessment of your neck and back areas to ascertain possible problem areas and probable underlying causes of your neck pain. Various treatment techniques (see treatments) will be used, such as: 

  • massage: to help release tension and trigger points within muscles. This aids in circulation to help restore normal movement and control in muscles.  
  • Exercise: to stretch tight muscles and to strengthen weak muscles. Provides circulation to these muscles to stop them from spasm and allows them to continue functioning correctly 
  • Dry needling: to help release trigger points and help encourage release of our body’s own ‘good’ chemicals to help resolve inflammation, swelling and pain. 
  • Joint mobilisations: to help mobilise stiff and dysfunctional joints which are not working correctly the way they should be. 
  • Advice and teach correct movement patterns: to help prevent the body from slipping back into these negative postures, therefore helping to relieve the prolonged pressure and tension on tissues. 
  • So have a pain in your neck? Stop neglecting it, chances are it will only get worse. Come in and see the physiotherapist here at Physio Well-th and let us help you on your journey of comfort.