Your poor neck. It has to hold your head up all day long as you go about life in Williamson. The neck is like a golf tee holding up a 10 pound bowling ball. (The head weighs 8 to 12 pounds on average.) Sure the neck has muscles. It is designed quite well. But the neck muscles may be lazy or injured or out of shape. Train the neck muscles to get the most out of their design and prevent neck pain or ease the neck pain you have now. (Consider using our
Neck Pain Symptom Analyzer to see what condition(s) may be complicating your neck pain as well.)
Neck Muscles Degenerate
No one thinks about the neck muscles until they don't work the way they are expected to work...well, no one except Apple Country Chiropractic! We treat neck muscles carefully; Apple Country Chiropractic does not take neck muscles for granted. If you have an osteodegenerative spine, the anterior and posterior neck muscles are weaker. (1) If you experience chronic neck and head pain, fatty degeneration of the suboccipital neck muscles occurs. (2) Like anywhere else in the body, fatty tissue needs firming. For each new individual neck pain patient in Williamson Apple Country Chiropractic sets a
treatment plan that usually includes neck pain relief exercises. Apple Country Chiropractic knows from spinal research literature that muscles degenerate just as
spinal discs degenerate (3,4); fat actually replaces muscle (5). But the good news is that it doesn't take too much exercise to reverse muscle degeneration.
What Works in Treating Neck Pain? Exercise Ranks High.
In patients with non-specific neck pain, exercise improved patients 55% at discharge from care and 44% one year later. Poor outcome was predicted by taking medication for pain in the short and long term and by catastrophizing in the long term. (6) In a study of office workers with non-specific neck pain, researchers compared exercise types. For prevention of non-specific neck pain, no one exercise type was recognized as being effective. For treating neck pain, strong evidence pointed to the effectiveness of muscle strengthening and endurance exercises. For reducing neck pain disability, moderate evidence supported the use of muscle endurance exercise. (7) Therapies involving manual therapy and exercise are more helpful than other alternative strategies for patients with neck pain. (8)
What Exercise is Good for Neck Muscle Strengthening?
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In Williamson Apple Country Chiropractic will work with you to determine the right neck exercise program. Simple neck exercises you can do anywhere require only your own hand-resistance. After your consultation with Apple Country Chiropractic, do the neck pain relief strengthening exercises consistently and correctly to notice a difference. |
For the neck pain patient who likes to work with equipment, simple
headband resistance exercises are reported to
increase neck muscle strength by 110%. (9)
In Williamson Discuss Neck Pain Relieving Exercise with Apple Country Chiropractic
Whatever the neck exercise program, Apple Country Chiropractic will show you how to exercise properly and check your progress toward improved neck muscle strength and neck muscle endurance. Be sure to discuss the neck pain exercises with Apple Country Chiropractic first. Researchers wrote that too vigorous an exercise may worsen rather than help low back pain patients.(10) That may pertain to neck pain patients as well, so talk with us at your next appointment.
Contact Apple Country Chiropractic to discuss your neck pain condition and set a neck pain relief exercise program that will benefit you most.
Click here for references to "Fatty" Neck Muscles? Yes! Tone them up.
"This information and website content is not intended to diagnose, guarantee results, or recommend specific treatment or activity. It is designed to educate and inform only. Please consult your physician for a thorough examination leading to a diagnosis and well-planned treatment strategy. See more details on the
DISCLAIMER page. Content is reviewed by
Dr. James M. Cox I."