It’s one of those things that can happen to any of us, and seemingly at the most random times. You’re driving through Tacoma and you see that big beautiful mountain out there and then you feel that crick, your muscles tighten up, and now you can’t turn your head anymore. Driving becomes painful, or even near impossible, and it hurts to even hold up your head. You may have tension pulling down into your shoulder blades, or up into your jaw, or it could even be giving you a headache. Time to visit your chiropractor!

Neck pain is rather common in our society, because it also has a lot to do with the kind of work that many of us do. We sit in front of computers, allowing our heads to travel ever farther forward in front of our shoulders. The muscles that hold up the head start screaming at you because your head is heavy! Estimates on the weight of the head put it roughly as heavy as a bowling ball. So when you let your head go in front of your shoulders, the muscles that anchor the head to the body, which attach to your upper back and shoulders, become fatigued. That leads to a burning pain that can make anything else you do rather unbearable.

Chiropractic can help in any of these circumstances. Whether the result of chronic posture problems or an accident, be it a car accident, a slip and fall, or a sports injury, visiting your chiropractor can help in any number of ways to relieve the pain and tension associated with subluxation in the neck. More than that, subluxation and neck pain have been linked with things like allergies, depressed immune system, jaw dysfunction (TMJ) and many other things. There’s even something called cervicogenic angina. That means it’s chest pain that comes from your neck!

The neck is an extremely sensitive set of bones, joints, blood vessels, muscles, lymph, nerve tissue, and many other things. To give you an idea of the complexity of it, in school, we had one semester on the arms and legs, one on the entire chest and abdomen, and one on the head and neck. It’s that complex. It takes a very skilled and gentle chiropractor to work with your neck.

Neck pain can also result from dysfunction through the upper ribs and upper back, and may have absolutely nothing to do with your neck at all. It can also refer from other places, and it’s important to be able to differentially diagnose those causes, which means figure out where it’s coming from.