At Pro-Holistic Care, located in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Chicago, IL, one of the most common reasons patients visit is for neck pain. It is estimated that 80% of people will experience neck pain at some point in their lives. Around 30 to 50% of people suffer from neck pain in any given year, and neck pain is the fourth leading cause of disability worldwide.
In general, women tend to have higher rates of neck pain than men, and the prevalence of neck pain usually peaks around age 45. Several factors can increase a person’s likelihood of experiencing neck pain, which is why it is so common. Some of those include: stress, anxiety, depression, having a sedentary lifestyle, sleep disorders, and physical trauma, such as car accidents, slips and falls, and whiplash.
More recently, people have been complaining about neck pain stemming from long hours spent sitting at a desk in front of a computer and a significant amount of time spent looking at their phones. Studies have shown that chiropractic care is highly effective in alleviating and reducing neck pain. These studies also demonstrate that chiropractic neck adjustments are more effective than medications for relieving both acute and chronic neck pain and improving neck function. Functional improvements after chiropractic care include increased neck range of motion and decreased tension in the muscles of the head and neck.
$49 New Patient Special
Includes Consultation, Evaluation, X-rays if needed & Doctor’s report of findings
How Our Care Plan Works
1. Finally Be
Listened To
You know your body best, and we want to hear your story in detail. When you sit down with our doctors, we’ll take the time to listen, ask the right questions, and fully understand your health concerns so we can guide your care with confidence.
2. Understand Exactly What Your Problem Is
Our doctors perform a comprehensive evaluation of your health, which may include a physical exam, strength and stability testing, bloodwork, or x-rays. Whatever is needed, we’ll uncover the root cause and design a personalized plan to move you forward.
3. Get Back To A Happy, Healthy, Fun Life
Every patient receives a customized care plan designed to fit their unique needs. By combining the therapies best suited for you, we promote faster, more effective healing while providing a clear roadmap to correction and lasting success in your health.
How We Treat Neck Pain In Lincoln Square, IL
Comprehensive Consultation and Exam
Every new patient at Pro-Holistic Care begins their healing journey with us with a comprehensive consultation and examination. During the consultation, you will meet with one of our doctors. We will take time and actually listen to what’s been happening. We’re going to get all the information we need to make sure we truly understand what’s happening in your neck, how it all began, what symptoms you’re having, what may have contributed to these problems, like accidents or injuries, what you’ve already done to treat the problem, and how the issue is affecting your life. All of this information will help our doctors identify the root cause of the pain. Following the consultation, we will conduct a thorough examination. We will use neurologic and orthopedic testing to check the nerves, muscles, discs, and bones in the neck. We will check the range of motion in the neck, muscle strength, and nerve health.
Digital X-Rays
After your exam, many patients will be getting digital X-rays. We use a technique called motion study X-rays. This type of X-ray allows us not only to visualize and see the structures in the neck and what may be causing the pain, but also to observe how the neck functions. Taking digital X-rays enables us to pinpoint the exact location of the problem, allowing us to create a treatment plan tailored specifically to each patient’s needs.
Specific Chiropractic Care in Lincoln Square, IL
Once our doctors have identified the root cause of your neck pain, they will provide a personalized treatment plan to not only alleviate symptoms but also correct the underlying structures that are causing the problem.
At Pro-Holistic Care in Chicago, Illinois, we offer a range of treatment modalities to ensure our patients achieve excellent results. The most important treatment we use at Pro-Holistic Care is the Chiropractic adjustment. The chiropractic adjustment is used to correct spinal subluxations identified during our exam and on our digital X-rays. Subluxation in the neck can cause neck pain, headaches, arm pain, shoulder pain, numbness and tingling in the arms and hands, weakness in the arms and hands, and tension and strain on the neck muscles. A chiropractic adjustment is a gentle, specific, and manipulative therapy designed to restore normal motion and positioning of each bone in the spine, including the cervical spine.
We offer several types of chiropractic adjustments at Pro-Holistic Care. The first type of adjustment we use is a manual chiropractic adjustment. This is what most people envision when picturing a chiropractic adjustment. We use our hands to manipulate the bone, restoring mobility and proper alignment. These are small, gentle movements that help relieve pressure on the nerve caused by limited mobility or improper bone positioning.
Cox Flexion Distraction
We also utilize three other types of spinal manipulation. The first is called Cox flexion distraction. A convenient, gentle form of disc decompression. This is a specialized technique that utilizes a non-force adjusting protocol, which has been shown to significantly reduce pressure on nerves, restore normal mobility, alleviate neck pain, and even help treat disc issues. As mentioned above, this is our primary treatment for neck disc injuries.
Cox flexion distraction is also an excellent treatment for patients who are suffering from degenerative disc disease, bulging or herniated discs, as well as arthritis and other problems in the neck. Some patients are not good candidates for traditional manual Chiropractic adjustment due to specific neck issues. In these cases, cox flexion distraction is a great alternative, yielding excellent outcomes for patients with neck pain. With flexion distraction, we achieve remarkable results, including decreased and often eliminated neck pain, reduced numbness and tingling in hands, arms, or shoulders, and restoration of normal movement.
Activator Technique
For patients with significant neck degeneration and/or severe osteoarthritis or osteoporosis, we can also use a very gentle, non-forced technique called the activator technique. This uses a small tool to stimulate the joint and nerves, helping restore normal neck motion. With these three chiropractic techniques, we can treat all patients with neck pain, regardless of their medical history or contraindications to traditional chiropractic adjustments. Conventional medical care, which often involves anti-inflammatory medications, muscle relaxers, or steroids, may provide symptomatic relief but does not address the underlying structural problems in the neck. The chiropractic adjustment addresses the root cause and structural problem in the neck, leading to long-term correction, pain relief, and an increased quality of life.
Soft Tissue Work
At Pro-Holistic Care, our patients’ treatment plans will also include soft tissue work for the muscles, ligaments, and tendons that may be affecting the neck. If we don’t address the soft tissues surrounding the spine, these structures can continue to tighten and pull on the bones, leading to subluxation. The doctors at Pro-Holistic Care will use various modalities to help alleviate soft-tissue tension and pain. Some options we have for soft tissue care include muscle stimulation and infrared therapy. A deep tissue therapy called Guasha which helps break up adhesions in muscle fibers that cause tight muscles. We also use acupuncture and dry needling to release trigger points (knots) in the muscles and reduce inflammation in tendons and ligaments. Every individual is different, so when creating your treatment plan, we will determine which soft tissue techniques will benefit you the most.
Custom Therapeutic Exercise Plan
Another essential part of the treatment plan for neck pain is therapeutic exercises. Almost every patient with neck pain has postural issues in the spine. Very often, we see a decrease or reversal of the neck curve. As mentioned above, this curve is crucial to maintaining neck health. We also see a decrease in the overall range of motion of the neck and in the mobility of each bone. Therapeutic exercises are a crucial part of the treatment plan. These exercises help restore normal curvature and posture, improve range of motion, and enhance mobility of the bones in the neck.
Every treatment plan at Pro-Holistic Care is carefully crafted to address the root cause of symptoms, correct structural issues, and enhance our patients’ quality of life.
Common Causes of Neck Pain in Lincoln Square, IL
When considering why people experience neck pain, it is essential to understand the neck’s structure and its importance. Our neck consists of seven vertebral bones. Inside these bones is the spinal cord, and the spinal nerve roots lie in the space between them. In between the bones are the intervertebral discs. We want to see three essential things when examining a healthy neck.
- We want to see a curve in the neck that curves forward
- Square bones with nice, smooth, rounded edges
- A nice, thick disk that is even all the way around between each bone
Muscle Strain
The neck is also composed of numerous muscles, tendons, and ligaments. All of these structures are crucial for maintaining a healthy neck free of pain. The neck houses the top of the spinal cord, which means that every nerve that travels to the entire body passes through the neck. For this reason, problems in the neck can not only cause neck problems, but also issues below the neck.
Many people wonder where the neck pain is coming from. Pain can originate from any of the structures in the neck. Many people lose the natural curvature in their neck due to conditions such as whiplash, slips and falls, or prolonged periods of sitting hunched over at a computer. If you lose neck curvature, you put more pressure on the nerves between the bones, which can cause pain. Over time, if we’ve lost the curve in our neck, we can also start to change the shape of the bone, leading to sharp, jagged edges, which is the beginning of osteoarthritis.
Additionally, when we lose the neck curve, the weight of the head exerts significantly more pressure on the disc because the curve acts as a shock absorber. If there’s increased pressure on the discs, they’ll start to degenerate and shrink. The discs create the space for the spinal nerve roots to exit the spinal cord. If they aren’t thick enough, we will experience nerve compression, causing neck pain, headaches, numbness and tingling in the arms and hands, and pain lower in the body. The muscles, ligaments, and tendons in the neck can also cause pain. Many of us have muscles that are way too tight for way too long. These tight muscles are sore and painful and can also pull on the spine’s bones, causing further compression of the nerves.
Subluxation
One of the primary things chiropractors look for in an assessment and try to correct is a condition called spinal subluxation. A subluxation occurs when a spinal bone is either out of alignment or not moving correctly. A subluxation can put pressure on the nerve, causing pain. Subluxations in the neck can lead to neck pain, headaches, numbness and tingling in the arms and hands, as well as weakness in the arms and hands.
Conventional medicine typically treats neck pain with anti-inflammatory medications, muscle relaxers, and, in some cases, steroids if a disc problem is affecting the nerve. Often, these medications reduce a patient’s symptoms; however, they never address the physical or structural problem in the neck.
Another conventional medical treatment for neck pain is physical therapy. Physical therapy helps to address functional things like range of motion and muscle tension, but cannot correct subluxation in the neck. At Pro-Holistic Care, we combine physical therapy with chiropractic adjustments to achieve the best possible results. Our holistic approach at Pro-Holistic Care focuses on addressing the root cause of neck pain, rather than merely managing its symptoms. We take a holistic approach and utilize several modalities not only to reduce and eliminate neck pain, but also to correct underlying structural problems so that the neck pain does not return.
Disc Injury
Another primary source of neck pain and radiating arm and hand pain is the intervertebral discs in the neck. As we mentioned, these discs sit between the bones and create space for the nerves to exit the spinal cord. There are different severities of injury to the disc. The mildest form of disc injury is a bulging disc. An intervertebral disc consists of a soft, gelatinous inner portion surrounded by a hard, fibrous ring.
A bulging disc occurs when the soft, gelatinous portion of the disc protrudes outward onto the fibrous ring, causing it to bulge. This bulge can put pressure on the nerves exiting the spine or on the spinal cord itself. A bulge can cause neck pain, which may eventually lead to numbness, tingling, and discomfort in the shoulders, arms, and hands. The next level of injury is a herniation.
In a herniation, the gelatinous center protrudes through the fibrous ring, increasing pressure on the nerves and spinal cord. Even more severely, the gelatinous tissue can break through the fibrous tissue and directly press against the nerve or spinal cord. This is called a disc extrusion. All of these injuries, even the mildest bulge, can cause severe pain, numbness and tingling, weakness in the arms and hands, and significantly affect a person’s quality of life. At Pro-Holistic Care, we use a gentle form of disc decompression, known as Cox Flexion Distraction, to treat the disc, alleviate the patient’s symptoms, and improve disc health.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should you see a chiropractor for neck pain?
If you have experienced pain for more than a few days, it is advisable to consult a chiropractor for a thorough examination of your neck. Pain that does not quickly clear up on its own is usually due to a structural problem in the neck. If this is the case, the situation can worsen significantly over time and become increasingly difficult to treat. Identifying the root cause of the problem and addressing it promptly can help prevent chronic pain and future complications.
Is it okay to “pop” my own neck?
We strongly suggest you avoid popping your own neck. A chiropractor trains for many years to deliver specific, gentle manipulations to the spine. These manipulations are performed with particular speeds and directions to restore proper alignment safely and effectively. Popping your own neck does not restore proper alignment and can, in fact, injure your neck if done with too much force or in the wrong direction. Even the doctors at Pro-Holistic Care do not pop their own necks!!
How should I sleep with neck pain?
The best positions for sleeping with neck pain are either on your side or on your back. Sleeping on your stomach must be avoided as much as possible! The goal of sleeping on your side or back is to maintain a straight spine position. To achieve this, use pillows of the appropriate size. A pillow that is too thick or too skinny will leave your neck propped up too high or flopping down too low. Both of which can increase pain.
Does insurance cover chiropractors for neck pain?
Many insurance plans offer chiropractic coverage. Pro-Holistic Care is in-network with several PPO providers and offers discounts and payment plans for individuals with low or no coverage.
How can you tell if your neck is out of alignment?
There are several signs that your neck may be misaligned. A feeling of pain or tension in one or both sides of the neck. Pain at the base of the skull that radiates up to the head. Pain that shoots into the trap, shoulder, or arm. A general feeling of discomfort in the neck. Decreased mobility when turning the neck or looking up or down.
$49 New Patient Special
Includes Consultation, Evaluation, X-rays if needed & Doctor’s report of findings
