Neck Pain

Factors that Contribute to Neck Pain

Most people don’t seek treatment for neck pain until it begins to interfere with their daily activities. By then, structural shifts have likely taken place that affect – and are affected by – other areas of the body.

Common factors that contribute to neck pain include:

• Poor posture: Modern lifestyles often involve staring at a screen for hours on end, putting you in a head-forward position. Many cases of neck pain arise from “tech neck” that forces the C-spine out of alignment, compressing nerves and causing pain.
• Excessive sitting: Good posture begins from the ground up, but sitting for extended periods causes muscle imbalances that misalign the joints, all the way up the kinetic chain to the neck.
• Fascial densifications and myofascial trigger points: Fascia is a special type of connective tissue found throughout your body that encases and connects the body’s structures, enabling them to glide without friction. Fascia provides elastic tension – biotensegrity – that holds the body’s structures in place during movement. Damaged fascia can become dense and sticky, interfering with muscle action, compressing nerves, and causing pain.
• Repetitive overuse from sports, exercise or occupation: Many physical activities overload or compress the neck and surrounding structures, causing muscle imbalances and generating pain.
• Traumatic events and whiplash: Trauma from car accidents, diving incidents, or sports can cause damage to the neck’s tissues and structures.
• Stress and anxiety: People tend to tense up the muscles of the neck and upper back when stressed or anxious, putting pressure on nerves and causing pain.
• Degenerative disc disorders: Over time, chronic inflammation, poor posture and weak muscles can cause the cervical spine to degenerate, compressing discs and nerves.
• Loss of biotensegrity due to chronic inflammation, poor posture and weak muscles.
• Fraying and tears of the cervical (nuchal) ligament system and its interconnecting fascial expansions.
• Entrapment of the nerves in the brachial plexus, including the scalene, subclavicular, and isolated nerves roots – very common in the cervical plexus and associated with cervicogenic headaches.

Disc Herniation: Cause or Symptom?

It is common knowledge among medical practitioners – and backed by extensive scientific evidence – that most back and neck pain is NOT caused by disc herniations/protrusions. Yet conventional medical treatment zeros in on the locus of pain, often treating a bulging disc with epidural steroid injections (ESIs), with the end goal of eliminating pain, enhancing functional mobility, and shrinking the protruding disc.

However, research indicates that while ESIs may provide some short-term relief, the effect is not maintained in the long run. In fact, the disc itself is rarely the primary pain generator, and even when it is (in less than 15% of cases) treatment needs to be applied to the entire upper body, since neck pain is multifactorial and requires a holistic approach.

Spinal surgeries are even less effective, with potential horrific side effects that lead to adjacent segment disease (ASD) – a condition that arises after spinal fusion surgery where degenerative changes occur in the discs and vertebrae above and below the surgery site – leading to even more surgeries.

Strategies for Preventing Neck Pain

• Be mindful of your posture, especially when using computers or electronic devices. A head-forward posture with shoulders rounded is a major cause of neck pain.
• Get regular exercise to promote and maintain balanced muscle tension.
• Drink plenty of plain water. Fascia and muscles need lots of water to function properly.
• Avoid sugar, a major cause of fascial densification and dysfunction.
• Eat ample amounts of animal protein to support your tissues. Muscles, nerves and fascia all need protein to maintain cellular integrity and support mitochondrial function. Opt for grass-fed, pasture-raised and wild caught protein sources, and avoid factory farmed options.
• Manage stress. The tendency to tense up neck muscles when edgy or anxious can place pressure on nerves and cause pain.
• Take time to stretch daily. The tissues that support your head and neck need to be both strong and flexible.
• Invest in a supportive pillow that holds your cervical spine in alignment while you sleep.
• Seek early treatment – when treated in the early stages of persistent neck pain, you can prevent it from getting worse and affecting other tissues and structures.