Neck Pain Treatment At Chester Osteo & Physio
Neck pain can be worrying and debilitating, and with so many treatment options available, it’s often hard to know where to turn. Our approach is different. While we recognise the important role of the spinal structures such as the muscles, joints, discs, and nerves, we focus on the whole person, not just the pain. We take the time to understand how neck pain is affecting you physically, but also how it impacts you emotionally, psychologically, and socially. This deeper understanding allows us to create a personalised treatment plan designed to achieve the best possible results for you.
What Causes Neck Pain?
Muscle Strain
Overuse or injury to the muscles around the neck can lead to pain and stiffness. Poor posture, prolonged screen time, or sudden movements can also contribute to muscle strain.
Facet Joint Pain
The small joints in the neck (facet joints) can undergo age-related changes similar to other joints in the body. Osteoarthritis may cause the protective cartilage between vertebrae to deteriorate, leading to the formation of bone spurs. These changes can limit movement and cause pain in some individuals.
Cervical Disc Pain
Discs in the neck can herniate and although common in pain free people they can also cause pain. If they become irritable enough they can also irritate the nerves leading to arm pain, tingling, pins & needles and numbness.
Nerve Irritation
Herniated discs or bone spurs in the cervical spine can press on nerves branching out from the spinal cord, resulting in pain, tingling, or numbness that may radiate into the shoulders or arms.
Whiplash
Traumatic events such as car accidents can cause whiplash, an injury that occurs when the head is suddenly jerked backward and then forward leading to strain of the neck’s soft tissues.
Stress
Emotional stress and anxiety can cause increased muscle tension in the neck and shoulders, often resulting in discomfort or pain.
Spinal Stenosis
Narrowing of the spinal canal in the neck (cervical spinal stenosis) can put pressure on the spinal cord, causing pain, weakness, or numbness.
Infections
Although uncommon, infections such as osteomyelitis, discitis, or epidural abscess can affect the neck region and cause significant pain.
Tumors
Rarely, spinal tumors can develop in or near the cervical spine, leading to neck pain and other neurological symptoms.
Questions,
Answered With Clarity
Do I need treatment?
Not all cases of neck pain require a physical treatment as symptoms typically resolve on their own with the correct self management strategies. It is beneficial to see us early into your flare of pain so we can rule out serious causes and provide you the tools to ease your pain and keep it away long term. Ignoring symptoms can lead to long term pain that persists due to adapted movement patterns and potential fear avoidance of pain provoking activities. We are highly skilled at assisting you to restore these movement patterns which are key to getting you back to your valued activities pain free.
How do we treat neck pain?
We use a person centred approach that explores the true root cause of your pain. This goes way beyond the structural causes and investigates the cognitive functional aspects of neck pain that often hold the key to a sustained recovery. We combine traditional approaches such as joint mobilisation and soft tissue work which can be effective in the short term, however our goal is to provide you the tools needed so you no longer need our services!
How long does treatment take?
This depends on your diagnosis, history of pain and complexity of your case. No two people are the same which makes it hard to give a concrete answer however we provide gold standard, evidence based care that aims to reduce treatment dependency and will be fully transparent from the initial consultation about your predicted trajectory.
Do I need a scan?
The majority of neck pain doesn’t require a scan as the expert clinical assessment provided by our team is sufficient to diagnose the problem. In the minority of cases when nerves don’t calm down and orthopedic interventions are considered, we are well placed to arrange scans and get you to the right provider. Scans are also warranted in the rare case of serious suspected conditions and we are able to write a clinical letter and organise the scan for you free of charge, usually on the same day.
Do I need surgery or injections?
Invasive options are the last resort for neck pain and at Chester Osteo and Physio we strive to make sure you avoid it by providing robust conservative measures with a multimodal person centred approach. We have experience working in second opinion clinics in the NHS where many patients we treated were told they needed invasive options. Having a more holistic diagnosis and better understanding of their pain they were able to avoid it and reduce their pain without these riskier and costlier procedures.
