Max, our Associate Osteopath tells us about a recent patient he has treated with neck and shoulder pain:
“I recently treated a forty year old female complaining of persistent neck and shoulder pain, which was travelling to the base of her head. When we discussed her situation, she told me that the pain tended to flare up and down randomly with no obvious triggers that she could identify. When the pain worsened in her neck and shoulders, she experienced extreme headaches and migraines weekly including symptoms of blurred vision and visual disturbance. My patient had been prescribed rizatriptan to help with migraines. Although she found it effective, she didn’t really like taking it and wanted to avoid taking it if possible.
After initial examination, it appeared that the joints through her neck and upper back were generally restricted with the local muscle tissues very tight with active trigger points in upper trapezius referring to the head and causing headache pain.
Upon treatment after our consultation, my aim was to get her neck and upper back moving within the joints and to reduce her muscle tension. This was achieved as she returned for her second treatment. Their was considerably more movement, although her headaches were still just as present as was the pain through the shoulders.
Based on this I decided to apply a deeper treatment to the local muscle tissue, due to the chronic nature of her symptoms and clearly through communication, this would be well received.
On returning for her third treatment two weeks later, she had experienced no headaches or real pains to speak of from the neck and shoulders, just a mild discomfort, which I had expected. I continued to work into the muscle tissue and into the cervical spine to maintain range of movement with the structure. I then followed up with releasing the spine further down which got further relief and general movement.
The patient was given daily exercises to do to mobilise the spine (neck to lower back) and self-massage release through the associated muscle groups as well as using hydrotherapy to keep muscle tension and inflammation down.
We will be looking at a self-management and preventative care plan going forward in the form of regular Osteopathic and massage therapy as well as exercise rehabilitation advice. With chronic pain, it is best to keep up a preventative ongoing approach which prevents the problem reoccurring.”
Max is available for treatments on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings. If would like to book an appointment with him, please click here https://sgosteopaths.cliniko.com/bookings#service
Click here to learn more about Max https://www.mcpposteopath.co.uk/about-us-pain/max-manlay-m-ost/
What do you advise for helping to relieve simple neck pain?
There is no one type of advice that is best suited to treating neck pain and it usually involves different factors to achieve sustained long term relief from the symptoms. There are some simple measures that you can do to help your neck pain.
- A firm pillow may help to provide more comfort at night and support the hollow of the neck. Using two pillows may force the head into an unnatural position.
- Getting back to your normal lifestyle as soon as possible is very important. If you let the pain dominate your daily lifestyle and become protective of how you move then you can create more mobility problems down the line.
- See your Doctor immediately: Pain and inflammation will restrict the way you move your muscles and joints which may lead to long term compensatory patterns within these tissues resulting in potential headaches. They will be able to advise and prescribe the best medication for you based on your pain severity and medical history.
- Give MCPP Osteopaths a call. Pain can get very debilitating at times and if your symptoms haven’t change after 4 weeks then its time to get seek out a health care professional. We see a lot of patients in this scenario and find that a thorough case history combined with a selective functional movement assessment (SFMA) assists us to work out what areas of the body might be creating the neck pain. This information then helps us use a combination of active release technique, medical acupuncture, rock tape and selective exercises based on your movement impairments to achieve very quick results to your neck pain.
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