As a chiropractor in Escondido, California, neck pain is one of the most common conditions we see in our clinic. 20% to 70% of American adults experience neck pain in their lives. Women suffer 1.5 times more often than men. 30% of people deal with persistent issues of chronic neck pain. You must address your neck pain as soon as humanly possible.
With the introduction of modern smartphones like the iPhone, humans have been sitting for longer periods and with poor posture, bending their head and neck forwards toward their devices. These terrible habits strain the neck musculature and supporting ligaments. This leads to discomfort and, eventually, chronic problems in the neck. Throw into the mix stress, aging, and old injuries, and we have the perfect recipe for the sudden increase in neck pain in Americans. Those of you who suffer know the considerable impact neck pain has on quality of life and productivity.
The neck should act like a gentle spring supporting the weight of your head. On average, it can weigh between 12 to 15 pounds. For every inch forward that your neck is in front of your shoulders, an additional 10 pounds of stress impacts the neck. So, if you have a 12-pound head and it’s two inches in front of your shoulders, your head actually feels like it weighs 32 pounds! Over time, this mechanical stress can lead to neck pain and eventually cause the joints in the neck to wear down and become arthritic.
Neck pain can include muscle strains, joint degeneration, and disc issues, like bulging or herniated discs, all causing pain in the neck in different ways. A cervical subluxation, a misalignment of the vertebrae in the neck, can also lead to pain, lack of movement, nerve irritation, and eventually systemic problems due to its impact on nerve conduction. We see many cases of patients with neck pain coming from a cervical subluxation that suffers from arm, forearm, and hand weakness along with numbness and tingling in the fingers.
The modern medical approach to treating neck pain typically starts with anti-inflammatory medication and muscle relaxers, physical therapy, and, eventually, surgery. All of these treatments focus primarily on the relief of the symptom. In contrast, corrective chiropractic care aims to correct the neck’s bone structure, addressing the root cause of the pain rather than just the symptoms. Corrective care chiropractors use specific spinal adjustments to correct cervical subluxation, releasing nerve pressure and improving the alignment of the spine. Very often, this specific and simple approach alleviates pain in the neck, restoring function and mobility, which is why so many seek chiropractic care as a primary option for correcting neck pain in a non-invasive and effective way.
At Corrective Spinal Care Of California, doctors must identify the cause of neck pain to treat it properly. The neck has many structures that can be injured, like the joints, muscles, ligaments, and even discs. All of these can cause different types of pain. Our goal is to figure out exactly what needs to be treated and fix that problem, eventually reducing or eliminating your neck pain.
Our doctors use the most advanced and specific chiropractic techniques available to correct problems that many other doctors and practitioners cannot.
$149 New Patient Special
Includes Private Consultation to discuss your needs & concerns, Gentle Chiropractic Examination to find out what’s wrong, Any necessary X-rays to understand your condition fully, Report of Findings.
How Our Better, Stronger, Healthier Plan Works
1. Better
Many people seek help from a chiropractor only when they are suffering from such intense pain that it is interfering with their daily life. Chiropractic classifies treatment in this period of intense pain as relief care. The chiropractor’s focus during this period is to alleviate your symptoms. Sometimes, this will require daily visits or two to three visits per week for some time.
2. Stronger
We regard eliminating your symptoms as the easiest part of a persons care. If we stop there it’s very likely that the underlying cause of the pain (disk problem, curved spine, limited range of motion, etc.)will cause a recurrence of the condition. If you repeat the process of treating only the pain, then over time your structural problem will only worsen leading to a chronic state of pain and suffering.
3. Healthier
Once the chiropractor determines that you have fully recovered from your injury you are ready for treatment in Stage 3 – Wellness. As strange as it may seem this might well be the most important part of the entire process. Most of the injuries that people suffer that lead them to chiropractors occur because their bodies aren’t really in overall good health.
How We Treat Neck Pain In Escondido, CA
Comprehensive Consultation and Exam
Before we can help your neck pain, we must understand the underlying problem. A physical examination will assess spinal alignment, mobility, postures, muscle tone, and nerve function. This exam is essential for a precise diagnosis, allowing us to tailor specific treatment plans that address your unique needs. Pain is a signal from the body, alerting us that something isn’t functioning correctly. When we pinpoint the cause of that pain signal, we can correct the problem to improve function and reduce pain.
Digital X-rays
Having a clear picture or blueprint of your spine is crucial to managing neck pain. We take standing digital X-rays to detect prior injuries, abnormalities, improper biomechanics, or degeneration that may be contributing to your neck pain. X-rays can even reveal conditions like osteoporosis, tumors, arthritis, spinal misalignments, and fractures. If your problem is not a chiropractic problem, we will refer you to the necessary specialist. Seeing your particular spinal mechanics is crucial for designing an effective treatment care plan specifically for you.
Modern digital X-ray technology uses tiny amounts of radiation. The diagnostic benefits of digital X-rays greatly outweigh the risks. X-ray technology is a safe and invaluable method for corrective care chiropractors to stop neck pain. With digital X-rays, we can decide the best treatment for your particular needs. When a corrective care plan is finished, we take additional digital X-rays and compare them to the initial set. Here, we corrected the underlying cause so that you don’t have to continue dealing with this for years to come.
Specific Chiropractic Care in Escondido, CA
New patients all say the same thing: our clinic’s treatment and care plans differ from those of other chiropractors and therapists they’ve been to. Specificity and science are crucial ingredients to our success. Most spinal issues are caused by a subluxation, where vertebrae in the spine have become misaligned and out of place and can’t move properly. When that happens, nerves can become irritated, which eventually leads to symptoms like neck pain, arm pain, muscle tension, and herniated discs.
Corrective chiropractic care removes subluxations to restore proper function to the spine. It is a slow process, depending on how long the misalignment has been present. Relieving nerve irritation not only restores function but also relieves pain symptoms, allowing you to heal.
Nutritional Supplementation
Your diet is critical to your body’s ability to heal and recover from injuries, including neck pain. With the quality of food playing a crucial role and how well we can absorb the nutrients necessary to reduce inflammation, strengthen bones, and promote healing, at Corrective Spinal Care Of California, we encourage anti-inflammatory diets, rich fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fatty meats, and healthy fats to help relieve neck pain. We recommend that patients avoid processed foods, processed sugars, and refined vegetable oils, which can make pain worse and increase inflammation.
We will recommend specific supplements like omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D3, and magnesium glycinate to help support recovery from neck pain. Omega-3 fatty acids are beneficial for decreasing the body’s inflammatory response. Vitamin D3 is crucial for so many amazing healing abilities in the body! Magnesium helps with proper muscle contraction and nerve function, often calming down severe muscle spasms that some patients have with chronic neck pain.
Custom Therapeutic Exercises
Neck pain is often due to an imbalance in the muscles that help support your shoulders and spine. We design specific stretches and exercises tailored to your condition based on your history, examination, posture, and x-rays. In your initial examination, we’ll figure out what is moving well and address areas that are not moving. Our plan will help you help yourself at home so that we can restore function as quickly as possible. By balancing muscles of the legs, back, and core muscles, we can help stabilize the spine, reducing the likelihood of further subluxations that can lead to discomfort.
When the muscles around your neck are imbalanced, poor posture can eventually lead to strains on the spine. Subluxations, or misalignment of the bones, can make these issues worse by irritating or pinching the adjacent nerves. Eventually, this will lead to muscle imbalances, pain, tightness, and reduced mobility.
So often, we hear how important posture is to our health. Good posture helps prevent subluxations by ensuring that the spine is in its proper position and that your weight is distributed evenly from side to side, front to back, and top to bottom. This evenly balanced posture helps minimize the stressors on the neck. Exercises such as head retractions, neck extension exercises, and gentle yoga stretches can help those suffering from neck pain. These exercises are designed to balance your core and back muscles, ultimately improving strength and alignment and promoting long-term stability and relief.
Common Causes of Neck Pain In Escondido, Ca
Bulging Cervical Discs
The spaces between the bones of the spine are called spinal discs. They act as shock absorbers and allow for spinal flexibility. The outside layer of the disc is made up of the strongest material in the body, fibrocartilage. The inside of the disc is a lot like the inside of a jelly donut. This inside jelly material is called the nucleus.
With wear and tear, whiplash from a car accident, or other trauma to your head and neck, the outside fibrocartilage begins to deteriorate. With a weakened exterior, the nucleus begins to press up against the outside wall, causing it to bulge. A disc bulge irritates the nearby nerves that travel down the spine into the arms and hands.
Herniated Discs
If a disc bulge does not heal, it can herniate. Eventually, the pressure on the disc’s fibrocartilage will be so great that it tears. The nucleus leaks through the outside of the disc and puts direct pressure on your nerves. Herniated discs tend to be more painful and cause even more pain. Eventually, the disc can rupture, causing intense shooting pain down into the arms and hands because that nucleus is outside the disc and sitting on the nerve.
Symptoms of a herniated disc can be sharp, stabbing pain in the neck, shooting pains in the neck, numbness in one or both arms or hands and weakness in the arm and hand muscles.
There are many methods for treating a herniated cervical disc. Recent research indicates that conservative methods such as rest, specific spinal adjustments, and exercises targeted to strengthen the neck muscles and improve flexibility are the most successful in relieving pressure caused by a herniated disc.
Your body‘s natural approach to treating a herniated disc is called phagocytosis. Your body recognizes the foreign materials of the nucleus outside of where it’s supposed to be, and it will send down a team of cells to help reabsorb the nucleus. This can take months and sometimes years to heal properly. Often, the pain is so severe that people eventually turn to their orthopedic surgeon for help. We have a lengthy history of success treating herniated discs naturally. Surgery should always be the last resort.
Tech Neck
Tech Neck is a term for postural issues caused by looking down at electronic devices and working behind a desk, staring at a computer for long periods of time. Since the invention of the iPhone, it has become more prominent. In fact, most Americans spend over four hours per day on their phones!
Tech Neck typically presents with a forward head posture, which increases stressors on the neck joints and muscles. Often, with forward head posture, we see the natural curve of the neck reduced and, in some cases, reversed. This can lead to chronic neck issues. At Corrective Spinal Care Of California, we specialize in helping people improve their posture and alleviate neck pain that comes from tech neck.
Whiplash
The most common injury from car accidents in Escondido is whiplash. The impact of a car accident throws the head sharply backward and then abruptly forward, putting intense strain on the muscles, ligaments, and joints in your neck. Many times, these injuries can lead to a lifetime of suffering as well as permanent ligament and disc damage.
Whiplash must be addressed as soon as possible as it quickly leads to chronic neck problems later in life. We see patients in our clinic with neck pain years, and sometimes decades, after a car accident. Corrective chiropractic care is a very effective way to minimize the injuries sustained during whiplash and restore normal function and movement in the neck.
Muscle Strains
Muscle strains or pulled muscles are the most common causes of neck pain. This can happen when the muscle fibers are stretched too far or torn. Usually, this occurs during physical activity like lifting weights, heavy yard work, and traumas from car accidents. This sort of overexertion injury can vary in severity.
Muscle strains typically heal on their own with the body’s natural inflammatory repair process. Over time, your body will repair the damaged area by creating new muscle fibers and connective tissue. We recommend rest, ice, compression, and elevation (R.I.C.E.) in the first 72 hours after a muscle strain. We often see muscle strains due to an imbalance in the body’s biomechanics. In a sedentary lifestyle, underusing one muscle group compared to overusing another can lead to muscle strain. Muscle strains usually correct within four to six weeks, and we encourage patients to address issues as soon as possible. At Corrective Spinal Care of California, we don’t chase symptoms for temporary relief. We focus on correcting the root cause of your problem.
Subluxation
The corrective care chiropractor practices the traditional philosophy of chiropractic, which focuses on the structural correction of subluxations in the spine. A subluxation is a misaligned vertebrae that interferes with the body’s nerve impulses. These electrical nerve impulses from the brain regulate all body functions and keep us alive. Subluxations often give patients symptoms such as neck pain, headaches, numbness, and tingling in their arms and hands.
Many times, neck pain is treated with exercises, stretches, and medication. However, no exercise or drug can correct the structural issues of a subluxation. Corrective care chiropractors are the only doctors trained to properly correct subluxations of the spine. Gentle, specific chiropractic adjustments often provide instant relief for neck pain caused by subluxations.
While we want to relieve your pain symptoms, our primary focus is removing nerve interference and restoring your spine to its most stable biomechanical position. This is done through rehabilitating chiropractic adjustments, postural awareness, gentle stretches, and spinal exercises.
We often explain subluxations to kids like this:
Imagine if I took the nerve from your brain to your heart and I cut it with scissors.
What would happen?
Of course, you would die!
Now, let’s say you took the nerve from the brain to your heart, and you choked it.
Would you be healthier or sicker?
Of course, you’d be sicker!
And if we stop choking that nerve?
You’d be healthier!
Subluxations choke the nerve impulses between your body and your brain. The whole goal is to ensure your body sends strong signals to your brain. Corrective care chiropractors make sure there’s no choking of your nerves.
At Corrective Spinal Care of California, we believe that everyone deserves to live a healthy, thriving life free from pain. Our experienced team is dedicated to providing natural, non-invasive treatments to help our patients achieve optimal health and wellness.
We understand that each patient’s pain is unique, which is why we take a personalized approach to every treatment plan. Our team of chiropractors uses a variety of techniques for the correction and stabilization of your spine pain problems, ensuring comprehensive neck pain relief.
Check Out Our Location Near You
330 W Felicita Ave Suite B-1, Escondido, CA 92025
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a chiropractor in Escondido, California, good for neck pain?
Corrective Spinal Care Of California should be your first call when it comes to neck pain. We have helped tens of thousands of people with all different types of neck pain, utilizing custom-tailored care and advanced chiropractic techniques.
When should you see a chiropractor for neck pain?
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.
The best time to see a chiropractor when you suffer from neck pain is as quickly as possible. Usually, when you experience neck pain, the problem has already existed for some time. It is crucial to address neck problems before they become more severe issues later on.
Is it OK to pop my own neck?
So often, we see people who have been popping their own necks for years and decades. Eventually, this practice can lead to loosening of the ligaments that help support and keep the bones together. We don’t want the bones in your spine moving more than they’re supposed to, so you should not pop your neck. Corrective care chiropractors are the only doctors specifically trained to gently adjust specific bones in the neck to alleviate neck pain.
Is massage or Chiropractic better for neck pain?
Our doctors can determine which treatment is right for you. Oftentimes, neck pain is due to alignment issues, and the muscles in response contract and tighten up. In some cases, it is necessary to combine massage and Chiropractic. However, if you’re only rubbing the muscles and relaxing them without correcting the neck’s alignment issues, the muscles will inevitably tighten up again. So often, our patients have described seeing lots of other doctors, chiropractors, and therapists only to have the neck pain return.
How should I sleep with neck pain?
The best sleeping posture is on your back in a neutral position. Sleeping on your back with a pillow that helps support the neck, not the head, is ideal. Sleeping on your stomach with your head turned to the side is not recommended.
Are chiropractors covered by insurance for neck pain?
Coverage for Chiropractic care varies depending on the insurance plan, but many do cover chiropractic services for neck pain.
How can you tell if your neck is out of alignment?
The simplest way to tell if your neck is out of alignment is by looking in the mirror and seeing the alignment of your head.
First, look at your ears. Are they level?
Now look at your shoulders. Is one side higher than the other?
These partial misalignments usually indicate underlying problems in the spine that can cause neck pain, headaches, and lack of movement in the head and neck.
$149 New Patient Special
Includes Private Consultation to discuss your needs & concerns, Gentle Chiropractic Examination to find out what’s wrong, Any necessary X-rays to understand your condition fully, Report of Findings.
