Three Things to Know About Chronic Neck Pain

A chronically stiff or sore neck can be extremely debilitating for anyone, but it can be particularly problematic for an athlete or someone who enjoys being physically active. Here are _ things that you should consider if you’ve recently begun to experience chronic neck pain.

  1. Understand the Difference Between Acute and Chronic Pain

An acute injury can cause severe pain over a short period of time. If the condition fails to improve within a reasonable time frame, pain becomes chronic. Your neural pathways that relay pain signals will become essentially hardwired for pain, and treating chronic pain can become increasingly difficult. Simply trying to ignore pain can have a counteractive effect of causing it to build up over time, so it’s important to give your pain the attention that it deserves with treatment.

  1. Don’t Forgo Physical Therapy

In addition to causing pain, neck pain can cause you to experience weakness and fatigue A physical therapy regimen can help you build strength to reduce strain and inflammation, and it can help you get back to a more normal range of motion. For help with Burlington physio and sports medicine, choose a provider who you can work with one-on-one to learn exercises and stretches that can give you relief from chronic neck pain.

  1. Alleviate Disc Compression to Relieve Radiating or Shooting Pain

An injury that primarily affects your neck can extend to other parts of your body such as your shoulder, arm, or hand. When the discs in your cervical spine become damaged or misaligned, they can impinge on nerves that you can feel in several places. You can attain relief by alleviating pressure on your nerves. Stretching, traction, physical therapy exercises can help to minimize this strain. Inversion therapy on a table that uses gravity to relieve the pressure has also been reported to be very effective.