Neck pain is one of the most common problems, and is it any wonder when our heads are the size of a bowling ball and they are positioned forward of the rest of the spine throughout the day (bad posture!). So the results are tight neck muscles and compressed joints. If this happens too much, then the nerves become irritated, too, and pain will travel up into the head, into the arm, or down into the upper back. Changing your posture can reverse many of the problems, but easier said than done. Sometimes the muscles and ligaments are too tight to allow optimal posture to occur. So for many persons with neck pain, treatment includes:
— Hands-on work to create balance, length, and comfort
— Education how to release tension and stretch safely on your own. Very often, the main culprits of muscle tension in the neck are actually the muscles in the front of the neck, even though the back ones are the achey areas. So identifying if this is true for you, and correcting it, can make a huge difference.
— Learning what good posture actually means, and achieving it most effortlessly.
— We may use machines which promote deeper healing (like laser) or use special taping techniques to re-teach the muscles in the neck what to do. (Have you seen the Olympic athletes with tape on their shoulders? Tape like that, but used a little differently, can give immediate relief to achey muscles in the neck, upper back, and shoulders).
— Learning how to function more comfortably. Learn how to lift groceries, or sleep, or drive, or exercise, or even breathe without creating strain.
Posture alone accounts for many of the problems in the neck, upper back, and shoulders. But of course, other things come into play as well. We can help you identify these factors and create long-term solutions to resolving the pain and function.
Frozen shoulder (also known as adhesive capsulitis)
Frozen shoulder, or adhesive capsulitis, is a condition in which the capsule of the shoulder becomes “locked,” and thus a person loses the ability to move the arm (especially behind the body or overhead). There are several joints which make up the shoulder complex, but often therapy overlooks the other joints and focuses too heavily on mobilizing the glenohumeral joint (where the arm fits into the socket). I help you mobilize all of the shoulder joints, the neck and upper back, and sometimes even the fascial connections of the organs to the shoulder complex, so you regain your motion faster and more comfortably.
This condition most often affects women during menopause, so there seems to be a hormonal influence in some cases. Understanding women’s health inter-relationships of the hormones to the shoulder can help you take the full picture into account, and do what needs to be done to give you a faster, fuller recovery.