The 3 Critical Keys to Overcoming Neck Pain and Finding Lasting Relief

Nobody wants to experience neck pain any more than they want to be a pain in the neck. Even the Mayo Clinic says that neck pain is common and that osteoarthritis is a common cause of neck pain. 

The most common symptoms beyond the obvious neck pain are:

  • Pain often worsened by holding your head in one place for long periods, as in activities such as driving or working at a computer
  • Muscle tightness and spasms
  • Decreased ability to move the head
  • Headache

Here are some of the common causes of neck pain and then we’ll dig a bit deeper and explore how to relieve the pain. 

  • Overworked muscles that tighten up or result in trigger points. Computer work, texting, and sustained postures can cause this.
  • Degenerated Joints or what is called Degenerative Joint Disease (DJD) that can cause inflammation and nerve irritation.
  • Nerve Compression from arthritis and disc injuries.
  • Injuries. Trauma like even low speed motor vehicle collisions have been shown to injure the neck.

The medical solution is not a solution. Taking medication or taking breaks is not solving the problem, just easing some of the pain. 

Here’s a related post of mine: Headaches are a Pain in the Neck

Why is the Neck so Susceptible to Pain?

The average head weighs about 11 pounds. That’s a pretty heavy weight to balance on a small structure like the neck. If you lean forward, slouch, or have a rounded upper back the head moves forward. I’m sure you’ve noticed people whose head seems in front of their body.

Every inch that the ear moves in front of the shoulder is like adding another 11 pound weight for the neck muscles to hold up. The vertebrae of the neck are small, as are the 20 muscles of the neck. 

This forward head posture takes its toll on the muscles, joints, and nerves of the neck. The muscles tighten up and go into spasm and this not only causes pain but it also causes a progressive worsening of the health of the muscles and joints. 

Even low speed car accidents cause injury. Crash tests show speeds of as low as 8.2 mph were sufficient to cause occupant injury. It’s not uncommon for someone involved in a car collision to experience the onset of chronic neck pain years later. X-rays will show significant degenerative arthritis. 

The neck is a delicate structure that has to balance an 11 lb. weight. Any change in position or trauma impacts the stress on the neck. 

3 Critical Keys to Overcoming Neck Pain

We’ve discussed how susceptible the neck is to problems, balancing an 11 lb. weight on a thin structure. It’s important to do everything you can to solve this challenging problem because the added stress to the neck is the cause of progressive degenerative arthritis that progressively worsens over time causing more constant and severe neck pain. 

Critical Key #1: Correcting Cervical Joint Restrictions: you have 7 bones in the neck and it is critical that the joints between each of these bones allows proper movement. When the joints lose mobility it causes a cascade of reactions. It puts greater stress on both the restricted joints and those that have to compensate with more motion. It makes the muscles work harder to balance that 11 lb. weight called the head. 

This becomes a self-perpetuating cycle that tends to progressively worsen over time. 

Critical Key #2: Cervical Curve: the neck is one of the 3 curves of the spine with the neck curving forward. It is common for trauma and poor posture to cause a loss or even reversal of this curve. This causes the head to move forward and magnify the stress to the neck muscles and joints. It also puts tremendous stress on the upper neck where the brainstem is located. 

This sets up an increasing cycle of joint pressure, muscle spasm, and joint degeneration. This creates a situation of ever increasing pressure and degenerative arthritis that progressively worsens, increasing the frequency and intensity of pain. 

Critical Key #3: Soft Tissue Rehabilitation: When any joints are injured and/or restricted for a period of time the body lays down scar tissue around the joint. Scar tissue isn’t healthy tissue. It’s weaker and less elastic than healthy soft tissue. When these are the tissues allowing motion and moving joints it causes a problem. There’s no way to restore these tissues to their uninjured state but there are different degrees of health. 

Once the joints are moving it is critical to continue to put movement and stress into the joints to help the scar tissue heal in a way that allows more normal movement. This should be done with soft tissue therapy along with movement exercises.

Those are the most important keys to overcoming chronic neck pain. It is also important to identify those movements and positions that add stress and tension to the neck. It is not always easy to identify these in real time but the better you get the more you can avoid re-entering the cycle of stress – tension – pain. 

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