Health blog Category: Back and Neck Pain
Common Neck Injuries
Your neck is a vital yet vulnerable part of your body due to its ability to move in many directions while holding the weight of your head (average wt 10 lbs). While neck pain (cervical spine) is not as commonly treated as low back pain (lumber spine) millions of people will experience it at some point in there lives. While the majority of everyday neck pain and stiffness will alleviate over time without surgery it is important to understand neck pain and causes.
Read full blogSolution to that Back Strain
Are you feeling:
- Pain across the low back into the buttock and hip area
- Stiffness and limit motion
- Swelling
- Inability to maintain positions
- Muscle spasms
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms you may be dealing with a lumbar strain. A lumbar strain is when the muscles or tendons in the back get overstretched or tear. Microscopic tearing can occur suddenly due to injury or develop overtime. Strains are classified into varying degrees based on the severity of the injury.
Read full blogForward Head Posture
Posture plays a huge role in all of our activities. We are so busy throughout the day that we usually don’t pay much attention to our posture, especially while we work, watch tv, or stand. The increased use of cell phones, tablets and computers has made forward head posture a problem for many and a common postural problem we see in our clinic.
Over time, forward head posture can cause:
– Neck pain
– Decreased neck motion
– Shoulder pain
– Decreased shoulder motion
– Upper back pain
What does forward head posture look like?
Read full blogLow Back Pain & Core Strength
There are many people today who suffer from general lower back aches and pain of no known cause or injury. The likely culprit would point to poor postural awareness and poor abdominal or core strength.
We are presented throughout our day with various different postures with sitting and standing being the most problematic. We are required to hold and maintain these postures for long periods of time. Over the course of this time our body and muscles that support these postures begin to fatigue and we start to take on a more slouched posture.
The Culprits of Back Issues
Back pain can arise due to a number of different reasons:
- It can be of traumatic origin, such as a car accident or a high impact fall.
- It can be degenerative in nature, occurring as the vertebral bones become arthritic and the joints they form no longer move as well.
- It can be postural, developing when poor muscle control causes nerves that emerge off the spine to become irritated.
The Chain to Low Back Pain
How Much Does Back Pain Impact Us?
Chronic back pain and discomfort is a debilitating condition that will affect the majority of Americans at some point during their life. In fact, chronic back pain is one of the leading reasons people go to the doctor and employees miss work. Chronic back pain can make it difficult to walk, sit, drive, and perform routine activities such as laundry, and dishes; to name a few.
What are the symptoms of chronic back pain?
Read full blogForward Head Posture; the Reason for Neck Pain
Neck problems, neck spasms and general neck pain are common complaints in the orthopedic rehab world. One of the most common causes of these problems is forward head posture.
Forward Head Lifestyle
With the high prevalence of desk jobs, the influx of cell phone use, computer use and video gaming, as well as time spent relaxing in front of the TV, our posture certainly suffers more often than we realize. Over time, these repetitive tasks put us into a position called forward head posture, in which our heads and necks protrude forward into a flexed position.
The Role of Osteoporosis
Forward head posture is not only caused by cell phones and leaning over a computer all day.
Read full blogTried and True Solution to Back Issues
Back issues often start when we feel that we have done too much, then later on or the next day we experience some aches or muscle soreness. While the discomfort usually goes away in a day or two, your body is telling you that there was straining and microscopic tearing of muscle tissue, causing inflammation. Microscopic tears and inflammation if allowed to occur repetitively can result in the potential for long term problems in the future.
Read full blogHandle Neck Pain the Right Way
We all know a time when we have fallen asleep in an awkward position and had the unexpected pleasure of waking up to a “crick in our neck.” Having an aching neck makes it very difficult to turn our head to check our blind spots when driving, bend our neck forward to check our cell phone, or enjoy knitting or crocheting without discomfort or pain.
When not handled appropriately and immediately, this small “crick” in our neck can lead to tension headaches, facet joint (the junction between two neck vertebrae) dysfunction, and ultimately limits our ability to perform daily tasks safely.
Common Causes of This “Crick in your neck”
- Sleeping in a compromised position.
Back Pain and Back Strains
Low back pain is one of the most common issues seen in an outpatient physical therapy clinic and the vast majority of people will experience some form of back pain at least once throughout their life. There are many different causes of low back pain, but one common cause of back pain is due to muscle strain.
Defining a Strain
Muscle strains can occur to any muscle throughout the body.
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