4 Causes of neck pain, and how you can get rid of it
An estimated 70% of people get neck pain. Obviously this can be very debilitating, especially if the pain is constant and severe. Even if it’s ‘only’ some neck stiffness it can influence your daily activities and your productivity at work.
When you experience neck pain, this is your body’s way of telling you something is wrong. Pain is a signal from your body to your brain to tell you something is not functioning correctly. A lot of people take painkillers in response to pain. This obviously helps you feel better for a while, but it doesn’t solve the problem because it doesn’t address the underlying cause.
The cause of neck pain is often a problem with one or more of the joints in your neck. When these joints don’t move the way they should, they can interfere with the flow of nerve signals between your brain and your body and cause pain. As a result of this, your muscles can tighten up as well and make the pain even worse.
Common ways that joints in the neck become dysfunctional are:
1. Bad posture
A lot of people have bad posture, especially when sitting behind a computer all day (or worse, a laptop). Looking down at our phones as much as we do these days is also a big problem. Make sure your workstation is set up properly and take frequent breaks.
2. Stress
Everyone seems to be stressed these days. Short periods of stress are not necessarily a problem, but when the stress reaction becomes permanent it causes a physiological reaction in your body that makes your whole body tense. You might be pulling your shoulders up to your ears without even noticing. This can cause tightness in your neck joints and muscles. Meditation can make a big difference with stress management. Even doing it for only 10 minutes a day can help a lot.
3. Wrong pillow
A pillow that supports your neck is very important. Make sure that your spine is in a neutral position when you sleep. If you sleep on your back make sure your pillow isn’t too high. If you sleep on your side, make sure your neck is supported. Never sleep on your stomach! This isn’t a neutral position because your head is turned to one side. This puts a lot of pressure on the joints and muscles of your neck and causes problems for a lot of people.
4. Accidents and falls
Car accidents and falls can cause a lot of physical stress on your neck. The impact can cause problems in your spine, especially in your neck. Dysfunctional joints resulting from the impact can cause neck pain and other problems, and aren’t checked in the hospital or at your GP. Sometimes there will be instant pain after an accident, and it will be pretty obvious that the accident caused your neck pain. Other times the symptoms may not show up immediately.
If you have neck pain that doesn’t go away you could benefit from chiropractic. A chiropractor is an expert when it comes to correcting the spine, and neck pain is one of the many complaints a chiropractor can help you with. Chiropractors focus on restoring the movement of your spinal joints, making sure your nervous system can function optimally and your body can heal better. When your body starts functioning normally again your pain usually goes away. Read more about chiropractic.
If you are looking for a chiropractor in Amsterdam to help you with neck pain, you can make an appointment online.