One of the famous lines from the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire was, “Did you know the human head weighs 8 pounds?” In reality, the average human head weighs about 10 or 11 pounds, making up about 8 percent of the weight of the overall body. Either way, one thing’s for sure: your neck has a lot of work to do all day, every day, supporting your head!
Have you recently turned your neck side to side and it hurt? If so, you’re not alone. Neck pain is prevalent these days, especially with many people sitting and working at a computer for hours a day in one position.
For relief, most people resort to holding a cold pack on their neck for several minutes to reduce any swelling they’ve got around their neck area. Others will try adjusting things around them, such as their pillow, to see if a new one will help bring relief from the pain. Of course light neck stretches can help loosen tight muscles, so it’s not unusual to see people with neck pain trying to move their head around, in different positions, to see if that can help, too.
Did you know many people consider chiropractic care for neck pain? After all, chiropractors are known for helping ease bad backs, but they’re also known for helping people deal with neck and shoulder pain, too, using chiropractic adjustments.
How do you know if you’re at the point where you should see a chiropractor for your neck pain? If it has been lingering for days and isn’t going away, then you should make an appointment. If you’re unable to turn your neck/head to the left or right to see something, there’s a problem. Are you using several pills a day to deal with your pain? You can’t keep doing that forever. Are you worried that something’s wrong? Does your neck really hurt when you wake up in the morning? If so, you should get to a chiropractor.
Chiropractic care for neck pain involves the chiropractor asking about your symptoms/pain as well as when it feels bad versus when it feels better. Since the neck is connected to other parts of the body, a chiropractor checks for tenderness, numbness and/or tingling in other body parts, such as your arms or hands. He or she will ask if you made any abnormal movements that could have triggered the pain. In general, pain in the neck may be due to vertebra out of alignment. Hand manipulation by the chiropractor can put vertebra back into alignment and/or eliminate a pinched nerve, therefore naturally healing the problem and eliminating the need for drugs/medications.
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