Tech Neck

If you continuously suffer from neck pain, then you are certainly not alone. Harvard Medical School estimates that seven in ten people at some point experience neck pain and one in ten people are in pain at any given day. Between 50 to 85% of adults with neck pain will experience a recurrence of the pain within five years. The leading cause of neck pain remains to be weak back and neck posture, especially when we sit too long on our computers or text on our smartphones.

The solution to the neck pain problem is not a quick fix. Pain management and pain relief for neck pain involve a variety of therapies that include chiropractic care and rehabilitation therapy, medication, self-help techniques and, in some cases, surgery. Patients today play a crucial role in their recovery by participating in strengthening and stretching exercises, as well as mind and body therapy.

First, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” There is a significant difference in the cost of fixing a problem versus preventing it. Strengthening your neck and correcting poor postural habits could save you down the road.

The tech neck syndrome is a term that refers to a condition caused by hunching over your phone, tablet or any hand-held device for extended periods with rounded shoulders, a hunched back and forward bent neck. Medically explained, tech neck is a repetitive stress injury caused by bending your head down and forward for long periods. When you hold your head this way, a lot of tension is generated deep in the neck muscles and across the shoulders, which causes acute as well as chronic pain.

According to the Spine Hospital at the Neurological Institute of New York, bending your head 15 degrees forward is as if the head weighed 27 pounds. This is approximately 2.5 times the weight of the average adult head, which weighs 11 pounds. The problem is not simply bending the head forward, but that you bend it forward daily as you scroll on your smartphone.

Symptoms of tech neck appear in any area where pressure is applied to the muscles, nerves and joints. This leads to chronic back pain, which ranges from mild to very severe and regularly pinched nerves. After bending the neck for far too long, you can get tension headaches. A chronic joint strain may also cause an early onset of arthritis, as this stress causes inflammation.

A text neck can also lead to an increased spine curvature, or lead to an upper thoracic deformity called dowager’s hump, which results in bone structure altering of the vertebrae in this area.

Fortunately, there are simple exercises and therapies you can do to prevent or relieve the symptoms of tech neck. If you are concerned about your posture or are experiencing upper back pain, shoulder pain, neck pain and/or headaches contact a healthcare professional to discuss treatment options and therapies. Pro-Motion Chiropractic offers neck strengthening tools to help those suffering from a whiplash injury as well as those preparing to compete in MMA competitions and supplement these tools with therapies designed to relieve your headaches, muscle pain and limited neck motion, so if you need some help, don’t hesitate.

5 Tips for Staying Active at Work

Don’t Let Your Job Stand in the Way of Physical Fitness

Sitting for hours every day at work can take its toll on your health and fitness. Taking stretch breaks at your desk is one way to help stay active and improve your physical fitness at the office.
We all know the importance of physical fitness, and many of us would love to spend more time at the gym, or workout and play more in the beautiful summer weather. But for so many of us, our jobs get in the way, especially when home demands and commuting time are added to the hours spent actually making a living.
For those whose jobs require long hours sitting at a desk or workbench, fitness is a particular concern, especially in light of recent studies showing the dangers of being sedentary for too many hours a day.
A research review by the University Health Network in Canada that appeared in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that sitting for long periods every day increases your risk for heart disease, cancer, diabetes and death.
Sitting with bad posture can do a number on your health, too. Slouching, slumping the shoulders, and tipping the neck forward place excess weight on the spine, causing joint pain and disc injuries that can lead to chronic back pain.
If we can’t just quit our jobs to get more active, what can we do during work hours to get moving and improve our physical fitness?

1) Don’t Sit Still

Limit sitting as much as you can. Consider getting a standing desk. If you must sit at your desk, take breaks every 20 - 30 minutes. Stand when you can stand instead of sitting, for instance when taking phone calls. Walk when you can walk instead of standing — instead of sending an email, walk to a colleague’s office to deliver a message.

2) Exercise at the Office

Beyond these changes, there are workouts you can integrate into your workday that include stretching, aerobics, resistance, and isometric exercise. Here are a few examples of exercises you can do at the office:

• Stretch at your desk. Try stretching your arms above your head, tilting your ears to your shoulders, and putting your hand on the back of your chair and twisting your torso.

• Find an open office or step outside for a quick cardio workout. Jogging in place, taking a lap around the parking lot, jumping jacks, lunges and squats are just a few ideas for quick exercises that won’t get you too sweaty and in need of a change of clothes.

• For increasing muscular strength, you can use dumbbells, resistance bands or tubes at your desk or body weight exercises. They tone muscles by using the resistance of gravity, as well as isometric, or squeezing, exercises.

3) Walk or Bike to Work

If you live close enough to your office, try walking or biking to work instead of driving or taking public transportation. In addition, the physical fitness benefits, walking to work can also help get you in the right mindset for a productive work day. If walking or biking to work isn’t feasible, force yourself to walk more by parking farther away or taking the stairs rather than the elevator.

4) Get Active During Lunch

With a busy work schedule, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of dropping into a nearby restaurant or fast food joint or ordering delivery. This usually means an unhealthy meal and a lunch break without any extra time for yourself. Bringing lunch to work will not only make for a more nutritious meal, but it will also save you the time of waiting in line and ordering food. Use that time to go for a walk or even to the gym.

5) Challenge Yourself

Last but not least, don’t forget to set goals, whether that means walking a specific number of steps a day, doing desk exercises for a set number of minutes, or even bringing your lunch a certain number of days a week. It’s easy to get lost in the status quo of your work day. Challenge yourself to be active as much as possible, and set realistic goals to hold yourself accountable.
You’ll be glad you did.

Central Sensitisation

I often have people come into my office who have been dealing with pain for a long time. These people suffering from chronic pain are often frustrated, depressed and anxious. Anything they do may set off their pain, they’ve tried “everything” and sometimes they feel there is no hope and that they just have to “live with it”. In the article “Where pain lives” the author discusses how science is learning that chronic pain isn’t just “acute pain that goes on and on”.

There are several possible mechanisms of how chronic pain starts, propagates and persists, but they all take into account that pain doesn’t equal tissue damage. Meaning that patients with chronic pain no longer have injured or damaged tissue (muscles, ligaments, discs, nerves) that might’ve have long ago been a mechanism for pain, but suffer from the brain creating “circuits” that constant re-live the pain or becoming hypersensitive to any form of stimuli, known as “central sensitisation”.

It is important for people living with chronic pain to understand what they are going through and the specific brain changes that have allowed their pain to continue and then take steps to rehab and strengthen their body knowing that “hurt does not typically mean harm”. There are no pharmaceutical means to treat this type of pain yet but there has been a lot of success using “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy” and graded “non-pain contingent” exercises. I have always said that my “ideal” practice includes a pain psychologist for this reason.

This article contains a lot more detailed information and deserves a read. I hope you will take the time and learn something from it and if you have more questions please feel free to contact me at Pro-Motion Chiropractic.

https://aeon.co/essays/to-treat-back-pain-look-to-the-brain-not-the-spine

Whiplash

Now that the snow is starting to fall, soon the roads will become a bit more dangerous. There’s nothing like the helpless feeling of sliding towards the car in front of you as your anti-lock brakes shutter and try to gain a grip on the ice beneath you. Whiplash is the most common injury following a car accident and can occur even at very low speeds. Here are some interesting statistics about whiplash that may surprise you.

Whiplash Statistics

• Most injuries occur when traveling less than 12 mph
• A read-end collision generally causes more damage to the cervical spine than side or frontal collisions do
• Whiplash injuries are more severe in women and children because their necks are smaller
• Whiplash injuries occur 5 times more often in women than men
• Symptoms of whiplash can often appear weeks or months after an accident
• In 75% of patients, symptoms of whiplash can last 6 months or longer
• Victims of whiplash lose approximately 8 weeks of work
• Whiplash injuries occur more often in people 30 to 50 years of age
• A whiplash injury can increase your chances of chronic shoulder and neck pain
• People suffering from chronic pain due to whiplash injuries often have abnormal psychological profiles
• More than 60% of people who have whiplash injuries require long-term medical follow-up
• More than 50% of those who have whiplash injuries will still have chronic pain 20 years after the injury
• Pre-existing health conditions such as arthritis will lead to greater severity of injury and greater pain

Signs of a Whiplash Injury

After an accident, you are likely to feel some pain and limited ranges of motion. Even if the pain is minimal, it could worsen hours after the crash. Some signs of whiplash can include:

• Pain when moving your head side to side
• Tenderness
• Headaches at the base of the skull
• Fatigue
• Dizziness
• Difficulty sleeping
• Memory problems
• Tingling or numbness in the arms

Signs and symptoms of whiplash usually develop within 24 hours of the accident, which is why it is crucial to seek medical treatment immediately. If you’ve had an accident please let a professional make sure you are ok. You don’t want to be one of the 50% who has chronic pain 20 years after the injury.