Did u know that a giraffe has the same number of bones in the neck as
humans do?
On a recent trip to Florida, I read an interesting fact that I didn't know as I
waiting for my plane to take off. A giraffe has the same number of bones in
their cervical spine (neck). A giraffe is a mammal just like us and it shares
the same number of vertebrae. The only difference is the height of these bones.
In a giraffe the length of the vertebrae are 10 inches. Wow !!!
The Neck Pain Support and The Neck Pillow Queen are so happy to be blogging with TypePad. We love typepad because we can communicate with our patients and help them solve problems. Whether discussing a news article, promoting a product, or giving advice to a patient, typepad makes it all possible. East to post blogs, and easy to communicate with our readers. Thank you Typepad and Happy 10th Birthday!
We have discussed sleep and how much you need many times here at the Neck Pain Support Blog. Yesterday morning, yet again, the Today Show had a peice on how not sleeping enough can be harmful to your health.
Researchers have shown that about 1/3rd of Americans are not getting the required 8 hours of sleep. Why? Simply, other things take precedent: folding laundry, writing bills, emailing our friends, working late, buying on amazon, etc. Most people are getting 5-6 hours of sleep (2 hours less).
Sleep deprivation can cause health problems at all ages such as:
mood disorders such as anxiety and depression
memory loss
gaining weight
more prone to getting sick (3x more likely to get an infection, flue or cold symptoms
kids can be misdiagnosed with ADD because of sleep disorders
can lead to cancer, diabetes and obesity
can affect all organs
On the Today Show, their health corespondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman made a great point. She asked "how fast are you falling asleep when head hits the pillow". If you fall asleep instantly, there is an issue. It should take you 10-15 minutes to fall asleep.
Not sleeping enough releases stressor chemicals into the body. Your body will go downhill in terms of health. This doesn't happen overnight, but over time it can affect your health. Even one night of not sleeping well, changes the hormones in our body.
According to a Today Show Poll, they showed that only 8% of their views got 8+ hours of sleep. Interestingly only 33% viewers only get 5-6 hours of sleep per night.
So what can we do to sleep better?
Keep the place you sleep, your bedroom dark, quiet and peaceful. That means no television, computers, tablets, or big bright alarm clocks
If you are very sensitive to how caffiene affects you, then don't drink it in the afternoon
Refrain from taking a late afternoon nap, take it earlier so it does not affect your sleep
Use your bed mainly for SLEEP
Have a routine for when you go to bed each night. As we get older, its gets harder to regulate our circadian rhythms.
Use a supportive neck pillow at night to help you sleep comfortably on your side or on your back
Yes, your allergies can be causing your neck pain. I
actually have some allergies, and so I can over speak from experience. In fact the allergy season of 2013 has been pretty bad in New England!
It can sometimes be so
uncomfortable many things hurt. It can be the other way around too; neck
problems causing allergies. Or it could be a downward spiral, each making
things worse.
Here are a few direct causes of how the allergies cause or
worsen neck pain:
Sneezing and coughing- sometimes from big coughs
or sneezes we basically ‘whiplash’ our necks. Maybe not as traumatic as that
fender bender you were in a few years but I’ve seen people with some pretty big
sneezes.
Referred pain- this can go either way- sinus to neck, neck to
sinus. This leads me into…
Sleeping is difficult; getting in a restful
position, finally get away from blowing your nose for a minute, just being able
to relax.
Everything is uncomfortable: it becomes difficult
to concentrate at anything when all you can think about is your nose. You can’t
use a hanky because there’s too much to blow out. And those times you don’t
have any tissues left, arrr….
You may have swollen glands. Having allergies
runs you down. Your immune system is working on overdrive, you’re often
physically worn out, not to mention, more susceptible to other colds. Along
come swollen glands to make your neck even more sensitive.
So neck pain and allergies can often go hand and hand. That
being said…work on fixing the neck and see if this helps your allergies.
Neck Traction has been used for a long time to help relieve neck pain. You may have been prescribed traction by your doctor to do at physical therapy, you might get it at your chiropractic office, yu may even do it at home with a device you can travel with.
Whatever the case is, It Works!
Let's first take a look at our spinal anatomy to fully understand the process. As you can see in the picture, spinal vertebrae stack on top of one another. The neck has 7 cervical vertebrae. From the brain, comes our spinal cord, which travels through that neck spinae all the way to the low back. Off of the spinal cord at every vertebral level comes nerve roots. They leave the spine through holes on the side of the vertebrae called neural foramen.
This is a key point with traction. Often the nerves are compressed here. If we have a slight spinal misalignment, disc irritation, inflammed muscle or arthritic process that has taken place we then have a good chance of nerve pressure and then pain.
Let's say the neck gets knocked out of whack, do you think that hole wil be nice and round and big. Probably not! The we have a greater chance of pressure. What about a bulging disc; it tends to be posterolateral (to the back and side where the foramen are), now that clogs up the whole. How about inflammation - that fills up in the space too. Now a bone spur (arthritis); we have less space again. Now imagine a couple of these issues, maybe all four; You may have pain and pressure all the time.
So How Will Traction Help?
Tractioning the neck helps to open up the spaces where the nerves come out. This frees the nerves from pressure and allows inflammation to dissipate.
Now try taction that is more than just a linear stretch. Let's put the neck curve back too. Restoring that C-curve in the neck will relax the spinal cord and add to the spine staying in alignment. This will also stretch the appropriate muscles and ligaments allowing them to hold spinal alignment as well.
