Neck Pain Support Blog

Why is Neck Posture so Important?

Posture is like a window into your spine alignment. If our spines are in good position, this means the nerves are free of pressure and the stress on joints is negligible. One small misalignment of shift of the cervical spine, however, (just millimeters) is enough to stress a nerve or nerves and decrease their functional output.

One small shift makes the spine less stable and just the pressure on us from gravity is increased tremendously. This is why your neck posture is so important. Some things to improve that posture are neck pillows, chiropractic adjustments, neck exercises, and neck traction.

Also, remember that your whole spine is connected and your neck is the first level of the spine that the nerves travel through. For nervous system communication to get anywhere in the body it must travel through the neck first.

Additional Reading Resources

• Neck Posture
• Get the Right Neck Pillow for Pain and Stiffness
• The Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Neck Posture & Get Rid of Neck Pain
• Neck Exercises
• How to Treat a Stiff Neck

What can I do to Help my Sleep Apnea Problem?

Problems sleeping can lead to some major health problems. Today, I wanted to talk about sleep apnea. Approximately 15% of people have some form of sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea is defined by lack of breathing during sleep. When we breathe we expel carbon dioxide and take in oxygen. Without oxygen to breathe we could not survive. Oxygen is the brain’s major fuel, so you can imagine how a lack of oxygen can cause some big health problems.
The scary thing is: how do you know you may have sleep apnea? Problems sleeping may be noticed by your significant other because the sleep apnea sufferer may not know he or she has it. The individual may realize he or she is having trouble sleeping or has other signs, like daytime sleepiness and fatigue. It can be diagnosed by doing a sleep study test which your doctor can give you recommendations on.

Whatever the case- here are some tips from Dr. Oz on sleep apnea.

Additional Reading Resources

• Getting Sleep In Today's Day Day and Age...
• Sleep Apnea Pillows
• Choosing the Right Neck Pillow for Better Sleep
• Remedy For A Stiff Neck
• Sleep Like a Baby and Wake Up Feeling Refreshed

Reducing Inflammation in Your Body

When dealing with neck pain or upper back pain, you may have red areas in the neck or puffed out inflamed regions, or even areas that give off heat. When this is going on we can use ice to bring down the inflammation. This tends to be more surface inflammation however.

Use your cervical pillow to align the neck … this helps open up all the foramen where the nerves flow out of. They travel from the spinal cord out the neural foramen on each side of the neck connecting and branching into smaller nerves. By freeing up the nerves and allowing correct spinal alignment, and therefore motion, it allows inflammation to dissipate. Your chiropractor’s treatment does the same thing. Getting your spine adjusted restores motion and allows inflammation to dissipate.

In fact, our #1 chiropractor recommended pillow is the Arc4life Cervical Linear Traction Neck Pillow. Using the pillow regularly, and especially following your chiropractic adjustments, helps you hold good neck posture and alignment.

What are some other things I can do to reduce inflammation?

1. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Foods rich in the best vitamins and minerals help the body to work the best. Also, fruits and veggies have a high water content.
2. Drink more water- our body is mainly made of water. It is important for nearly all body chemical reactions not to mention it helps to flush out your system- inflammation included!
3. Get rid of the fried foods. Most of this stuff is junk and loaded with or cooked in bad hydrogenated oils. This can increase your body’s free radicals, something you don’t want!
4. Decrease the stress. The body first shows physical changes, then things start to breakdown elsewhere. Stress can affect any or all of the body systems; so get rid of it!
5. Decrease sugars and processed foods- just like the fried foods. They actually promote free radical build-up, breakdown, and inflammation.

If we don’t reduce the inflammation it can lead to illness, disease, and aging. So, if you want to be healthy and stay young and pain-free do the things mentioned on the above list for the best results.

Additional Reading Resources

• How to Choose the Right Neck Pillow for your Needs
• Decrease Muscle Pain By Eating Ginger Everyday
• Natural Pain Relief for the Neck that Does not Include Surgery
• Products for Pain Relief: Positioning Pillows, rolls, Wedges and Bolsters
• Meals that Heal Inflammation

Nerves have a Motor, Reflex, and Sensory Component

One way your doctor can discover someone has significant nerve pressure is if the patient presents with muscle weakness (motor component), loss of reflex of hyper reflexes (reflex component), sensation changes or a difference from one side of the body compared to the other (sensory component).

An individual who has had a trauma to the neck may have some of these signs of severe nerve pressure. Some examples may be from a car accident, sports injury, slip or fall, and more. An injury that is severe often creates serious inflammation in the region creating nerve pressure. Major muscle strains and disc injuries can often create the inflammation responsible for nerve pressure.

A Negative Test from your Doctor does not Mean you Don’t have a Serious Neck Injury!

Serious neck sprains or neck injuries may not make your reflexes, sensations, or muscle strength diminished or the change is there but it is not obvious. So, do not feel that because the initial test at the doctor’s seem normal, that there is no injury. On the other side of the coin, tests that are positive- this means there are reflexes, sensations, or muscle tests that show problems- it doesn’t mean you need surgery.

A good doctor will let you know if it’s so serious that surgical intervention is necessary, but this is not the majority of cases.

Here’s the bottom line …

We need to take pressure of the nerves to restore these functions and more importantly, reduce neck pain or even pain that travels to the shoulder or arm. One easy option is to get a neck posture pillow. A neck pillow is used to restore neck alignment and support your neck while you sleep.

Additional Reading Resources

• Which Neck Pillow is Right for My Needs?
• Common Neck Conditions and the Nerve Level that Controls Them
• Neck Pain resulting from a C5, C6, C7, or C8 Radiculopathy
• Understanding Your Posture
• Understanding Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Neck Problems can Result From Bad TV Viewing Habits !

 Last week, it was reported that baseball player Carlos Zambros of the Chicago Cubs was suffering with neck pain. He apparently played throughout the game, but with neck pain. As a result, he was sent home and referred for cervical spine x-rays. Where was the neck pain coming from?

According to Bruce Levine of ESPN Chicago doctors found “that the discomfort was coming from a knot in his neck and is mostly muscular.”

Most people if you ask them seriously can tell you when they noticed they started experiencing Neck Pain. Same with this ball player. He attributed his neck pain to bad neck posture while watching tv. According to Zambrano, “I usually sleep with my head turned that way like when I’m watching TV. So I guess I’ll have to turn it the other way.”

Can Watching television, with your head turned a certain way, cause you so much pain, that you have to be sent to the hospital for neck x-rays. Well yes- especially if you are baseball player. Just like working on a computer for long periods of time, or working in a factory where you make widgets with your head down- watching tv with a bad neck posture can be the major source of pain. Imagine, you are sitting on your sofa, watching an hour long tv program- your head is turned one way, and your tv is on the other end. You may be using neck muscles that you are not used to using- causing discomfort, muscle spasm, tension and tightness. Now imagine you fall asleep like this- which happens with a lot of people. That can cause a major stiff neck in the morning.

Hopefully, Zambros will move his furniture around in his home so that watching television doesn’t attribute to his neck pain any more. We all know what poor sleep can do to people: tiredness, irritability, aching muscles, and neck pain. Any kind of pain can make you off of your game. I am sure this famous pitcher will figure it out.

Source:

1. Carlos Zambrano on neck injury:I sleep with my head turned that way when I’m watching TV, May 27 2011
2. WikiPedia: Carlos Zambrano

Additional Reading Resources

• Stiff Neck for Red Sox Pitcher Matsuzaka
• Neck Muscles Most Responsible For Your Stiff Neck And Trigger Points: The Levator Scapulae & Trapezius
• Kink in the Neck
• Remedy for A Stiff Neck
• Neck Posture