The pain with neck pain

Hello Newcastle! Welcome to the first of many blog posts from us at Ripple Acupuncture. in todays blog we will be going over the topic of neck pain, its causes how you at home can treat it, and the healing benifits that accupuncture can bring to the table.

Neck pain is one of the common presentations in health clinics. Muscle strain or osteoarthritis are the most common diagnoses for neck pain. Poor posture is a likely reason beyond most neck pain in modern society. Screen time for digital devices has significantly increased, not just during work hours but also during your restful time. Typical problematic posture for looking at the screen involves rounded shoulders. Your head naturally falls forward with rounded shoulders. To keep your eye level to the screen, your head needs to be lifted by many neck muscles. Your neck muscles are constantly stressed to perform the ‘right’ adjustment. This process requires optimal circulation to carry nutritions to those muscles. However, with slouched posture the network of circulation is not so fast highways. Your neck muscles become over

worked with poor recovery that manifests as pain.

Things you can do to ease neck pain

• Maintain ‘good posture’ during screen time: sit up straight comfortably and adjust the height of the chair or screen accordingly.

• Have a regular break from the screen and perform neck stretches (gently bending & turning neck side to side; bending forward).

• Stretching chest muscles is very important. The rounded shoulder will prevent your neck pain from getting better.

• Strengthening back muscles in the long term. Strong back muscles will hold your posture better and reserve more nutritions to your neck muscles when needed.

Acupuncture can improve your overall circulation. For neck pain presentation, the treatment will target the circulations more to your fatigued neck muscle. Your muscle will relax more with good circulation (equals good feeds) which in turn allows more circulation.

Reference

Physiopedia, 2023. What is Text Neck? , viewed 15 March 2023, <https://www.physio-pedia.com/Text_Neck>