Head and Neck
Headaches and Migraine
Many people suffer unnecessarily from headaches on a daily basis. What a lot of people don't know is that many headaches are a symptom of a neck problem. Some people know they have a stiff and aching neck but other people may have no symptoms in their necks at all, just headaches.
Rear view of the cervico-thoracic spine.
Headaches can be improved enormously with some gentle mobilisation of the upper neck. This treatment, combined with advice on posture and sleeping positions or pillows, can make a huge difference to many people, eliminating a debilitating, energy-sapping problem.
Disc problems
Many people often associated 'slipped discs' with the lower back or lumbar spine. What you may not realise is that it is possible to have a disc problem in the neck or middle back.
Side view of the cervico-thoracic spine, showing the discs.
The symptoms you may feel in your neck if you have a disc problem can be as simple as a dull ache across your shoulder blade and upper neck. This can also be an acute sudden attack, which can produce pain or numbness down the arm, sometimes as far as the fingers. Some people may experience burning or even a 'cold, dead' feeling where the arm feels weak. There are many things we can do to alleviate this type of problem if you are experiencing these symptoms.
As you grow older, changes occur within the joints in the neck, which can cause stiffness and aching generally across the neck and shoulders. People often begin to find specific actions like turning to reverse the car difficult to do. Some people can hear clicking, grinding or crunching when they move their head. On X-ray this is normally diagnosed as spondylosis and people are told by their GP that they have 'wear and tear'.
Physiotherapy can help people who have been diagnosed with this or who suspect that they have 'wear and tear'. By gently moving the individual joints in the spine we can help you regain some of the loss of movement, which will in turn ease the discomfort. There will be exercises for you to do at home to help keep the neck from stiffening up again. Some people find that by coming for one 'top up' session every few weeks they can improve posture and remain symptom free.
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