What causes neck pain?

Neck pain is commonly accompanied by headaches and pain in the shoulder or upper back, less often you can experience referred pain, pins and needles and numbness in the arm and hand.

Neck pain can be caused a number of ways. Muscle tension and strain can occur through prolonged poor workplace postures, repetitive hobbies or home chores and overuse. Traumatic injuries on the sports field, falls or car accidents (whiplash injuries), where the vulnerable neck muscles are suddenly forced outside their normal range of motion, can also adversely affect the neck and cause injury to ligaments, small joints (facet joints) and intervertebral discs in the neck.

There are more severe causes of neck pain but thankfully, they are rare and our physios are trained to identify these ‘red flags’ during our assessment process. Physiosouth has strong links with local GPs and specialists and where necessary can quickly refer you if there are valid concerns.

How Physiosouth treats neck pain

• Take down a detailed history – this includes your past medical history while establishing how the injury occurred and the pain severity
• Assess your neck to see how this fits with your history and to assess whether further investigations (x-rays, ultrasounds or MRI scans) are needed
• Choose which hands-on treatments (mobilisation, joint manipulation, acupuncture or soft tissue massage) will restore your range of motion and reduce pain
• Provide postural re-education; your physio traces the consequences of the injury to the cause and corrects the affected muscles along the way
• Prescribe a home exercise programme to reinforce the in-clinic treatment, as doing things for yourself is highly important in the rehabilitation process

Outcome of treatment

Physiosouth’s clinicians pride themselves on a holistic approach to patient care. Our comprehensive assessment process ensures that you will receive the best advice, diagnosis and treatment by our physios – and further referral within our professional network when needed – to relieve your pain and increase your knowledge of how to avoid reoccurring injury from everyday activities. Our aim is to make a positive impact as we strive to ensure that each patient has the ability to repair, perform and thrive.