Effective Neck Pain Relief
Have you ever wondered why some people have constant neck pains and shoulder aches? Despite getting a soothing massage, the neck pains come back the very next day. It seems that no matter what the sufferers do to try to relieve the pain, the pains just keep coming back.
Does this sound familiar to you?
There’s a good chance that you might even have the same problem. According to a study in Hong Kong, more than ⅓ of the office workers have a postural issue that makes them susceptible to neck pains and shoulder aches.
So, what cause the neck pains?
It has a lot to do with the alignment in your neck and your posture. In simple terms, the normal alignment of your cervical spine should show a certain degree of curvature when viewed from the side, see Fig 1.
This is in medical terms called cervical lordosis. The normal curve allows the weight of your head to rest on top of the neck without causing excessive strain on the discs and vertebras supporting it. A normal lordosis also will not put unnecessary strain on the muscles in your neck and shoulders, which can cause you pain or discomfort.
Why is there a loss of curvature of the neck?
The loss of curvature arises when we repeatedly disrupt this delicate balance between the muscles, ligaments and tendons with poor posture for long periods of time. Think of people in front of laptops- it seems like they are almost trying to dive into the screen with their head to see what’s on it. And the worst part is that the same people do this for hours, day in and day out, and not knowing that their posture is slowly causing the curve in the neck to reverse.
What is alarming to note is that the loss of curvature is already happening at an early age and is affecting our children (Fig 2), and again it’s primarily due to poor postural alignment while they are studying for long periods of time.
What are the other long term effects of loss of lordosis?
Loss of normal lordosis or even reversal in some cases of your neck will have a negative long-term effect on you.
It increases the gravitational load on the supportive bones, joints and discs because the centre of gravity of the head has shifted more towards the cervical spine. It also puts an increased demand on the muscles to hold the head upright. The significant effects can be observed in the adjacent x-rays - decreased height of the discs and bone spurs with some cases even showing calcification in tendons in the neck, see Fig 3. These degenerative changes in the neck have often been preceded by years of tensed muscles and neck pains.
Can the spinal curve be restored?
Fortunately, the spinal curvature in the neck can be restored back to normal in almost all cases.
6 weeks of treatment is usually sufficient to restore the neck back to normal cervical lordosis, but some cases may require a longer time to resolve.
Our treatment provides great relief and a permanent solution for individuals suffering from neck pains.
This is how we fix your neck.
Contact Us at (65) 6737 0515 for an appointment,
or find out more about our Spinal Corrective Care Treatment