neck pain - Physical Therapy Articles & Insights

No Further Improvement Found With Dry Needling Compared To Usual Physical Therapy For Patients With Neck Pain

January 3, 2021

Neck pain is a common condition coming in just behind Low Back Pain in prevalence presenting to primary care physician and Physical Therapy practices. Neck pain is most effectively treated with a combination of manual therapy, including joint mobilization and spinal manipulation, as well as, mobility and strengthening exercises. Consistent with our musculoskeletal diagnoses manual...

climbing

How to Treat Belayer’s Neck

October 26, 2020

How many times have you seen someone whose posture looks like this while belaying? Neck pain is a common in rock climbers. Although climbing itself can lead to neck pain, the most common cause is spending prolonged periods belaying. We refer to this as “belayer’s neck”. Belayer’s neck is a colloquial term to describe a...

neck pain

Treating Trigger Points and Muscle Pain with Strength Training

September 30, 2020

A significant portion of musculoskeletal pain can be attributed to our muscles themselves. Many authors have described persistent muscular pain (myalgia), but Janet Travell and David Simon’s work on trigger points is most frequently referenced. These irritable, sensitive bands (knots) within a muscle are frequent targets of lacrosse balls, soft tissue workers, and Physical Therapy...

neck pain

Greatest Improvements In Neck Pain Found With Progressive Strength Training

June 29, 2020

Up to 70% of Americans will experience Neck pain in their life times. Despite its’ high incidence this region of the spine is consistently under exercised by clinicians. There are countless passive temporary remedies for neck pain including massage, spinal manipulation, and dry needling, but only high level exercise has been shown to improve the...

neck pain

How Many Times Should I Perform My Exercises To Relieve Neck Pain?

May 18, 2020

Neck pain remains one of the constants in life along with death, taxes, and low back pain. Thankfully, similar to low back pain, the vast majority of neck pain (although painful) is not serious in nature. Prior research has shown a Physical Therapy treatment program consisting of manual therapy and exercise helps accelerate a patient’s...

general physical therapy

If Our Spines And Discs Really Degenerate Why Do So Few Of Them Cause Pain?

March 5, 2020

Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD) is a commonly utilized “diagnostic” term given to patients frequently after neck and low back MRIs. It is hard to think of a more uninformed and harmful diagnosis in musculoskeletal medicine than DDD. Initially utilized to describe age related changes in the spinal structures secondary to aging, DDD continues to induce...

neck pain

Which Muscles Should I Strengthen For Neck Pain?

January 6, 2020

The muscles of the neck are responsible for movements of the head and shoulder blade, as well as, stabilization of the head on the neck during daily activities. These muscles must be capable of both low repetition, high force contractions as well as high repetition, low force contractions to accomplish these tasks. Patient’s with neck...

neck pain

Manual Therapy And Exercise Superior To Usual Care For Patients With Neck Pain

October 19, 2019

Neck pain will affect up to 70% of the population at some point in their lifetimes. Thankfully the vast majority of these cases are not serious in nature and will improve with conservative treatments including Physical Therapy. Within Physical Therapy, a manual therapy (mobilization and manipulation) and strengthening exercise approach has been shown to be...

general physical therapy

The Neck’s Impact On Recovery From Concussion

June 14, 2019

Concussions have received significant media and medical research attention over the last decade due to in part to the incidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) among former football athletes. This increase in attention to brain injuries has led to improved medical training and early recognition of concussion symptoms leading to improved care of athletes and...

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