Neck Pain

Most of this blog to date has focused on low back pain. In truth, more people suffer from low back pain than neck pain. Or at least that his been my experience and there is certainly statistical data that claims close to 80% of people suffer from back pain, or have suffered from back pain. That is certainly significant. However, neck pain is also very prevalent in today's society.

There is a reason that the cervical spine as well as the lumbar spine tend to break down. These are the two sections of the spine that are responsible for mobility. The low back allows you move the trunk froward, backwards and turning to either side. It allows your upper extremities more reaching mobility since the base can move around.

The neck is responsible for the mobility of the head. The ability to move your head from side to side and swivel around allows the versatility for the visual field. The mobility of the neck allows a significantly greater visual span.

As any other joint in the body increased mobility at a joint correlates with increased risk of joint wear and tear and potential for break down. In addition, we spend exponentially more time sitting. In general we spend a tremendous amount of time sitting in our cars, sitting in front of the computer, sitting in front of the television. All of these activities promote a posture of the shoulders rolling forward and the head jutting out, what we call forward head posture. This poor postural position puts extra strain on the nerve roots that exit the spinal column in the cervical spine leading to pain in the neck and can worsen to pain down the arms.

Ergonomics can make a big difference to neck pain in the work place. Most importantly to address neck pain is to make sure that you have good posture. So take a good look at your posture and see if you can work towards improving it today!

More to come on Posture on the next post.