What To Do With Neck Pain That Won't Go Away!

1/3 of neck pain after an injury can hang around for over a year. That’s quite a large stat.

Whether that is in the form of your neck catching every time you move, an ongoing ache that comes at the end of the day, or purely your neck feeling stiff and noisy when you wake up.

Research is beginning to come out on solutions for persistent neck pain. 

The two key and MOST effective interventions are a combination of exercise and “hands on” Physio. 

EXERCISE 

This can be specific neck muscle retraining. Subtle exercises targeted at the smaller endurance muscles are option 1. We try and incorporate these early. Firstly because they can be done pain free even when your neck is very sore. It also builds from the inside out, meaning once the key stabilizing muscles are going their job well we can then focus on building neck strength in the bigger muscles. Doing this early means that within 6-8 weeks you are seriously reducing your chances of your neck pain persisting.

Another exercise option that has been studied is global postural muscle strength exercises. This focuses on posture globally, working larger postural muscles with bigger exercises affecting multiple muscle groups.

They did a study comparing the above interventions against each other relating to persistent neck pain. They both signifcantly improved neck pain however they couldn’t determine which was more effective. They concluded they were both effective.

Here at Balance In Motion Physio we like to throw the whole kitchen sink at neck pain and combine both interventions.

Making sure the deep little muscles are working through the ranges you need, then introducing the bigger gross postural and strength exercises to build resilience in your neck.

We combine this with imagery cues to make sure we get the most specific contractions possible to enhance results.

The final exercise intervention that has been shown to reduce persistent neck pain is cardio. Most people that suffer from this find going for a 40 minute walk or run makes them feel considerably better.

If you do get neck pain with walking make sure you come in and get your gait assessed. It sounds like you are using your neck muscles to walk. When we film you walking, you will see for yourself why you are getting neck pain.

I wanted to go through a couple of basic exercises from each of the above exercise groups for you to try. I’ve added videos to make it easier for you to understand.

Exercise 1: Deep Neck Flexor Isometric Holds

This exercise wakes up the deep neck flexors of your neck. Their primary job is to hold the neck joints in a snug stable position and prepare your neck for movement. In pain they can be inhibited and the shallow overactive smuscles take over. These bigger muscles weren’t designed to stabilize your neck so get tight which leads to sore compressed painful joints and muscles.

The exercise is essentially doing a gentle nod or yes motion with your head, making sure you aren’t overusing the front neck muscles. It is subtle and you won’t feel much. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat 10 times.

Exercise 2: Deep neck flexor hold in neck flexion

This is a far more advanced version of the first exercise. It requires a lot more neck strength. Don’t try this without at least 1-2 weeks of the initial exercise. Watch the video for instructions

Exercise 3: This is a great postural exercise for necks. If you notice your head sticks forward relative to your shoulders, this one is for you. You should never feel pain. It should feel challenging but manageable. Ideally hold for a few seconds and build your endurance from there. Once you are doing 6-8 x 30 seconds you are doing well.

Every single neck that walks through the door is different and generally requires a very specific tailored approach. Alot of neck injuries aren’t caused by the neck but the neck joints are a victim of some other part of the body not working optimally such as the shoulder, trunk or pelvis. Yes sometimes treating someones pelvis once immediately removes their neck pain. We think it is pretty cool too.

HANDS ON PHYSIO

In order to help restore balance to the neck we use “hands on” physio techniques. We then progress to adding hands on techniques through all the movements we do during the day. Why? because we don’t live lying face down on a treatment table. 

Once the neck muscles begin to wake up we can start heading towards the exercises above. But quite often we will use “hands on” physio while you do the exercise initially. This helps you get the feeling of what your neck should be doing through out the exercise.

Why hold your neck in an optimal position? To see whether the exercise is going to make you better or worse. One exercise can be effective for someone but not for another person. Prescribing exercises that have the same positive effect on your neck as “hands on” physio is the name of the game. An art as well as a science. You could get 5 people next to each other and those same exercises could have 5 different effects. Put together 4 good exercises that target neck control with upper body, lower body, abdominal control and you start to really solve the problem of persistent neck pain. 

So try the above exercises. See whether they work. It’s ok if they don’t. Your neck pain may not be caused by your neck! Just come in and let us help figure out your unique neck pain puzzle. If you do want some help now you can click HERE to book an appointment. Otherwise if you want a free 10 minute phone consult with our Physio team to see whether we can help click HERE