THE NEWSLETTER ABOUT YOUR HEALTH AND CARING FOR YOUR BODY Health Tips Newsletter
PROPERLY MANAGING YOUR NECK PAIN AND STRESS
INSIDE : • A Message From CEO Kristin Mullen • Coupon Corner!
• Exercise Of The Month • Patient Success Spotlight
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a plan of care including neck stretching, strengthening of postural muscles, and ergonomic assessment of aggravating activities can be implemented to begin your recovery. At Excel, we value manual therapy such as Graston techniques, joint mobilization, and manual stretching to decrease soft tissue restrictions and spinal stiffness to decrease your pain. Your PT will be able to teach you exercises to reduce your pain throughout the day and during stressful situations. Frequent stretching of your upper trapezius and other cervical musculature are all effective treatments of neck pain due to stress. In order to stretch your upper trapezius, you can stand or sit while tilting your ear to your shoulder. If the stretch is pain-free, hold for 15-30 seconds and perform as needed to decrease pain and tightness. For a deeper stretch, place one arm behind your back and your other arm on top of your head to further increase the tilting motion of your neck. Through physical therapy treatment, an Excel physical therapist can improve your posture, decrease cervical tightness, and decrease those infamous “knots” that seem like they will never go away. We want to provide you with the tools to help reduce and prevent this neck pain from occurring no matter what life throws your way!
While these symptoms are increasingly common, neck pain that arises from stress can be treated and managed with physical therapy. Increased stress levels and prolonged stress are contributing factors to both acute and chronic neck pain. With increased stress, we can experience poor postures, over-activation of larger cervical and scapular musculature, and tightening and weakness of important postural muscles that help keep us in good positions throughout the day. Research has shown that over-activation of upper trapezius muscles occurs in individuals during work activities and in people with neck pain. Your upper trapezius muscles typically need to be re-educated on how to turn off again during lifting, sitting, typing, and other activities that increase postural demands. Once those muscles can relax, the correct postural muscles can be strengthened to better support you, and your neck pain will decrease. At your initial evaluation, a physical therapist will discuss and assess personal and professional factors contributing to your increased stress levels and neck pain. Once specific impairments are found through range of motion, strength, flexibility and endurance testing,
Lundberg, U., Dohns, I. E., Melin, B., Sandsjö, L., Palmerud, G., Kadefors, R., ... & Parr, D. (1999). Psychophysiological stress responses, muscle tension, and neck and shoulder pain among supermarket cashiers. Journal of occupational health psychology, 4(3), 245.
HAVE YOU FOUND YOURSELF STRUGGLING WITH ACHES & PAINS WHILE WORKING FROM HOME? NO REFERRAL NEEDED - CALL EXCEL PT TODAY! WE CAN HELP EASE YOUR PAIN!
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