Joints get stuck, they get sore. The small joints in your neck are designed to move. When there are restrictions in the way something moves, your muscular system will tighten and compensated. This will send signals to your brain to restrict the movement further to protect itself from further injury. There are seven cervical vertebra and number of muscles that attach to the base of the skull and can pull and create tension and pain. There are also a lot of nerve receptors and cells in this area creating pain in this area
Neck pain can be caused by disc herniation, cervical facet syndrome, arthritis, trauma, infection and whiplash.
We carry the weight of the world on our shoulders sometimes. Depression for example will change our posture and may create neck tension. Everything is connected.
Often time’s neck pain will be either be right sided or left sided. Or sometimes people wake up and they can’t move it at all.
You may experience referred pain down your arms, pain in-between your shoulder blades. Sometime neck pain will be accompanied by headaches; patients can experience numbness tingling sharp and shooting pain as well as it effecting grip and grip strength.
Improper posture and alignment may contribute but may not be the cause of your pain.
Postures you adopt for long periods of time might in fact be the problem. But its likely not the posture you held during that time. Its more likely the lack of motion that caused the problem. It’s a case of chicken and egg.
Have you ever woken up stiff first thing in the morning?
Sat down for a period of time and felt like you needed to stretch
Been stiff after a long car ride?
Here’s why!
The tissues in our body have these things called ACID SENSING ION CHANNELS (ASIC) these guys sense the local pH value and sense the tissue becoming more acidic. When we don’t move we alter the blood flow to nerves and muscle and this transduces a signal of pain and discomfort.
Yes! A sports chiropractor can check for alignment and posture
But my answer is probably going to be 1. Get Active 2. Get Strong 3. Get Moving.