As much as the holiday season brings joy, for some it’s a pain in the neck. We’re here to help! Chiropractic care at our clinic is gentle, effective, and proven to be relieving in a relatively short timeframe. Non-specific neck pain patients reported that they felt improvement in their neck disability after one cervical spine manipulation treatment. (1) Even for more difficult cases (like the following), The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management delivers pain-relieving results. A patient with cervical spine foraminal narrowing and radiating arm pain due to a C6-C7 disc herniation reported reduced pain and improved function in 10 visits in 4 weeks. The patient was pain-free and fully functional 8 months later. (2) Another patient with a post-surgical C6-7 fusion experiencing neck pain and back pain reported reduced pain (from 8/10 to 3/10) in 12 visits in 3 months with Cox® treatment. (3) A review of published studies on the effectiveness of manual therapy for chronic neck pain, described as a safe and less painful method to ease chronic neck pain, concluded that manipulative therapy reduces the degree of chronic neck pain and neck disability. (4) And most patients don’t have to continue care ‘forever’. A new study documented that chiropractors don’t recommend continued care except for certain types of neck pain patients: only 39% of patients were recommended for care beyond 4 weeks with long duration of neck pain being the strongest indicator for continued care. (5) Our Cox® Technic treatment is gentle and effective for neck pain whether it’s acute or chronic, radiating into the shoulder or arm or centralized to the neck. This time of year, neck pain patients walk in our door every day! We are ready to help.Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Hilary Murray on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson about her pain-relieving treatment plan via The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management for a male patient dealing with neck and shoulder pain. 

TIP OF THE MONTH: Exercise those Neck Muscles!

Cervical spine pain patients who want pain relief – relief that lasts – often get it when they add exercise. A simple elastic band exercise program proved effective for non-specific neck pain reduction and better strength of cervical spine flexor and extensor muscles as well as scapular. (6) To improve neck pain and disability effects, a study found that isometric exercises significantly lowered neck disability index scores after 4 weeks for cervical spondylosis patients. (7) These are simple exercises that don’t take long to do or to have a positive effect on neck pain. So good!

Be sure you have your next chiropractic visit scheduled in your holiday plans!

Happy Holidays!

References for HEALTHY NEWS – December 2023

Serra-Añó P, Venegas W, Page A, Inglés de la Torre M, Aguilar-Rodríguez M, Espí-López G. Immediate Effects of a Single Session of Cervical Spine Manipulation on Cervical Movement Patterns in People With Nonspecific Neck Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2023 Jan;46(1):17-26. doi: 10.1016/j.jmpt.2023.05.006. Epub 2023 Jul 7. PMID: 37422751.Manison AM. Chiropractic management using Cox cervical flexion-distraction technique for a disk herniation with left foraminal narrowing in a 64-year-old man. J Chiropr Med. 2011 Dec;10(4):316-21. doi: 10.1016/j.jcm.2011.04.004. PMID: 22654692; PMCID: PMC3315856.Joachim GC. Cox decompression manipulation and guided rehabilitation of a patient with a post surgical c6-c7 fusion with spondylotic myelopathy and concurrent L5-s1 radiculopathy. J Chiropr Med. 2014 Jun;13(2):110-5. doi: 10.1016/j.jcm.2014.06.005. PMID: 25685119; PMCID: PMC4322019.Liu Z, Shi J, Huang Y, Zhou X, Huang H, Wu H, Lv L, Lv Z. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of manipulative therapy for patients with chronic neck pain. Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2023 Aug;52:101751. doi: 10.1016/j.ctcp.2023.101751. Epub 2023 Apr 7. PMID: 37084588.Myhrvold BL, Vøllestad NK, Irgens P, Robinson HS, Axén I. Clinical indicators for recommending continued care to patients with neck pain in chiropractic practice: a cohort study. Chiropr Man Therap. 2023 Aug 31;31(1):33. doi: 10.1186/s12998-023-00507-y. PMID: 37653398; PMCID: PMC10472687.Hernandez-Lucas P, Leirós-Rodríguez R, Lopez-Barreiro J, García-Soidán JL. Effects of exercise therapy using elastic bands on strength and pain in women with non-specific neck pain: A randomised controlled trial. Heliyon. 2023 Nov 14;9(11):e22237. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22237. PMID: 38058646; PMCID: PMC10695995.Sadeghi A, Rostami M, Ameri S, Karimi Moghaddam A, Karimi Moghaddam Z, Zeraatchi A. Effectiveness of isometric exercises on disability and pain of cervical spondylosis: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Sports Sci Med Rehabil. 2022 Jun 16;14(1):108. doi: 10.1186/s13102-022-00500-7. PMID: 35710510; PMCID: PMC9205102.