Chiropractic and Chronic Mechanical Neck Pain

​Neck pain is a leading cause of disability in adults, and it is reported in up to 20% of adults. (1,2,3). When it becomes chronic, neck pain decreases the quality of life by having a negative effect on both private and professional life, and is also associated with a high level of morbidity (4). Do you or a loved one experience chronic neck pain? This is an important article that could make the world of difference to you.

“3 out of 10 neck pain patients will develop chronic symptoms that last more than 6 months, whereas 34% will show symptoms for more than 12 months” (5,6,7)
 
The origin of neck pain is usually from multiple sources, including poor posture during daily activities, physical activities relating to sports and work, and depression and anxiety (8).
Mechanical neck pain is usually defined as generalised neck pain and/or shoulder pain with mechanical features such as having symptoms aggravated by maintained neck posture, movement or palpation of the neck muscles (9). When neck pain has lasted more than 3 months it is considered chronic (10). Chronic mechanical neck pain can affect many things which may include neck muscle weakness, reduced endurance with neck muscles, reduced range of motion of neck and neck reposition error with patients also identifying balance disturbance and oculomotor (Eye) disturbances (11,12). So it’s important to get on top of chronic mechanical neck pain and not let it linger on, therefore it is imperative to seek some form of care for it.
 
In a recent research literature, where they looked at chiropractic treatment effect for chronic mechanical neck pain, 40 patients between the ages of 20-60 years were looked at, with one group receiving dry needling and another group receiving chiropractic care. In this small study it was found that chiropractic treatment was effective in terms of pain relief, increasing joint range of motion and decreasing the degree of neck disability among the patients (13). So chiropractic care may be a viable management plan for chronic mechanical neck pain, though further studies and a larger sample size would substantiate these findings to a better degree.
 
If you want to find out if chiropractic may help manage neck pain for you or your loved ones, have a chat with one of our chiropractors to see how they can assist.
 
 
“Making sure you are functioning optimally is vitally important for your overall health”

REFERENCES

1.Cohen SP. Epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of neck pain. Mayo Clin Proc 2015;90(2):284–99. doi: 10.1016/j.mayocp.2014.09.008.
2.Moradi-Lakeh M, Forouzanfar MH, Vollset SE, et al. Burden of musculoskeletal disorders in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, 1990–2013: Findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Ann Rheum Dis 2017;76(8):1365–73. doi: 10.1136/annrheumdis-2016-210146. 
3.Woodhouse A, Pape K, Romundstad PR, Vasseljen O. Health care contact following a new incident neck or low back pain episode in the general population; the HUNT study. BMC Health Serv Res 2016;16:81. doi: 10.1186/s12913-016-1326-5.
4. Vernon H, Humphreys BK (2008) Chronic mechani- cal neck pain in adults treated by manual therapy: a systematic review of change scores in randomized controlled trials of a single session. J Man Manip Ther 16(2):E42–E52
5. Bertozzi L, Gardenghi I, Turoni F, et al. Effect of therapeutic exercise on pain and disability in the management of chronic nonspecific neck pain: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials. Phys Ther. 2013;93(8):1026-1036.
6. Childs JD, Cleland JA, Elliott JM, et al. Neck pain: Clinical practice guidelines linked to the international classification of functioning, disability, and health form the orthopaedic sec- tion of the American Physical Therapy Association. J Orthop Sport Phys Ther. 2008;38(9):A1-A34.
7. Côté, P., Cassidy, J.D., Carroll, L.J. and Kristman, V., 2004. The annual incidence and course of neck pain in the general population: a population-based cohort study. Pain, 112(3), pp.267-273.
8. Heintz MM, Hegedus EJ. Multimodal management of mechanical neck pain using a treatment based classification system. J Man Manip Ther 2008;16:217-24.
9. Castaldo M, Ge HY, Chiarotto A, Villafane JH, Arendt-Nielsen L. Myofascial trigger points in patients with whiplashassociated disorders and mechanical neck pain. Pain Med 2014; 15:842-849.
10 . Ylinen J, Ha¨kkinen AH, Takala EP, et al. Effects of neck muscle training in women with chronic neck pain: one-year follow-up study. J Strength Cond Res 2006;20:6-13.
11. Lytras, D.E., Sykaras, E.I., Christoulas, K.I., Myrogiannis, I.S. and Kellis, E., 2020. Effects of Exercise and an Integrated Neuromuscular Inhibition Technique Program in the Management of Chronic Mechanical Neck Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics.
12. Cheever, K.M., Myrer, J.W., Johnson, A.W. and Fellingham, G.W., 2017. Understanding the complete pathophysiology of chronic mild to moderate neck pain: implications for the inclusion of a comprehensive sensorimotor evaluation. Journal of Back and Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation, 30(5), pp.991-997.
13. Aki, S., Özden, A.V., Alptekin, H.K. and Alptekin, J.Ö., 2020. Short-term effects of chiropractic application and dry needling treatment on chronic mechanical neck pain. Manuelle Medizin, 58(4), pp.237-245.