Neck pain is in the back of the neck, in the upper spine area just below the top of the head. It happens when specific nerves are hurt, and the pain can spread to the upper back, shoulder, and arm, as well as the back of the neck.
Neck pain can be caused by a sudden injury, like a fall, sports injury, or car accident, or by problems in the spine that have been going on for a long time. At Nova HHC, our hardworking physical therapists work with people every day to improve neck posture and reduce pain and stiffness.
In this blog post, we’ll help discuss what physical therapy can do when you go through this treatment. See more details of it below this post now.
Causes of Neck Pain
Many different things can cause chronic neck pain, and it can be hard to figure out where the pain originates. Even if you don’t know what caused it, physical therapy can work for you and help strengthen your neck muscles, improve your range of motion, and lessen the pain.
Some of the most common reasons for neck pain are:
- Poor posture
- Herniated Disc or Bulging Disc
- Spinal Stenosis
- Neck arthritis
- Whiplash
Most specialists agree that physical therapy is an excellent way to treat neck pain. Many studies have shown that most people who go to physical therapy have better posture, less pain and stiffness, fewer muscle spasms, and better neck function.
If patients do what their physical therapist tells them to do at home, they may get better long-term relief.
How Do You Diagnose Neck Pain?
Your physical therapist will give you a thorough exam with information about your health. They will also ask you detailed questions about your pain or injury, like
- When and how did it start hurting?
- What kind of pain do you have, and where does it hurt?
- What time of the day is it the worst?
- What can’t you do in your daily life right now because of the pain?
Your physical therapist will do tests on your body to find physical problems like
- It’s hard to move.
- Muscles that are either weak or tight.
- Some parts of the body lose their feeling (go numb).
- Having no reflexes.
- Joint stiffness.
- Poor posture.
- It’s hard to walk.
Suppose any of the above problems are found by your physical therapist. In that case, you may start physical therapy immediately to help you improve and return to normal activities.
Besides, tests can show more severe problems. Your physical therapist may work with a doctor or surgeon to get special diagnostic tests, like an MRI, to find out what’s wrong.
Your physical therapist will work closely with doctors and other healthcare providers to ensure you get an accurate diagnosis, the necessary treatment, and personal care.
Physical Therapy and Neck Pain
Nova HHC is an in-home health care agency that can tell you what treatments you or your loved ones need to improve your quality of life and get your chronic pain under control.
It doesn’t hurt and works very well when used in a routine. It works great as part of a treatment plan that includes other medical care for various illnesses. In recent years, the definition of physical therapy has grown to include the rehabilitation parts of the treatments.
This makes physical therapy a way to treat pain with more than one facet. The main goal of a physical therapist is to look at your body’s structure and how you walk and use all of these to figure out and treat your pain and get you back to everyday life.
The only goal is to help people move around better and control other symptoms. Usually, the following goals are part of physical therapy for neck pain:
- Lessen pain and aches
- Increase the range of motion of the head and neck
- Develop dynamic strength in the neck and the muscles that support it.
Even if you can’t remove the pain, physical therapy may help improve the neck’s posture and ability to move in everyday life. Other goals of physical therapy:
No surgery
Most of the time, a physical therapist can make an individualized treatment plan to help relieve neck pain, even severe radiculopathy, so that people with neck pain can avoid surgery. In rare cases, surgery is needed to treat the cause of radiculopathy.
Improve Posture
If your physical therapist finds that your bad posture has caused your neck pain, they will teach you how to improve your posture to get better.
Keep a Better Motion
Your physical therapist will choose specific exercises and treatments to help loosen up joints that aren’t moving as they should. These could be “passive” movements that the physical therapist does for you or exercises and stretches you do on your own. You can do these movements at home, at the office, and before sports to help your body heal faster and feel better.
When Physical Therapy Won’t Help Neck Pain
Physical therapy may not help with neck pain or even worsen it in some cases. Most of the time, physical therapy is not recommended for long-term neck pain if any of the following are true:
There is a lot of back instability.
Sometimes, the cervical spine is not stable enough to work out. This can happen if a vertebral bone is broken or spinal degeneration causes the spinal cord or a nerve root to be pressed.
Serious health problems
If an infection or a tumor causes neck pain, you must fix the problem at its source. For example, if a cancerous tumor causes neck pain, exercising won’t make the tumor smaller. Instead, the problem can grow and get worse.
Schedule Your Appointment Today
Nova Home Health Care focuses on providing physical therapy at home and has highly trained physical therapists who can help you get better. Our physical therapists have a Master’s or Doctorate in physical therapy. They are trained to look for muscle damage and problems with mobility.
Call us today at 703-831-1111, and let us help you clarify all your concerns. You can also explore more of our service for other challenges. We can’t wait to meet you soon!
