Life has taken a different turn in the year 2020, with the lock down bringing about a change in the workstyle for most people all over the world, the number of neck pain complaints have gone up. My observations are work from home has its side effects in the form of poor sitting posture, uncomfortable working posture, excessive house work all building upto neck pain.
Have u heard of Upper Cross Syndrome?
Well lets explore a physio take on this neck pain problems. in my clinical practice 90% of the clients have something called as “upper cross syndrome“.
these can be people experiencing Neck pain, Shoulder pain or sometimes even wrist pain. The usual routine is getting an x-ray done, being diagnosed as cervical spondylosis by a physician/ an orthopod and then referral for physio treatment. ocassionally clients directly contact me and yes!!! physio can be offered without any medicine referral in cases of neck pain.
How did u get this?
Think about it!! with modern day increased usage of computers/ laptop/mobile phones for work/ leisure and even for that matter for learning skills…… the kind of neck pain you may be suffering ….is all going to fall in the diagnosis of Upper Cross Syndrome
So what is this Upper Cross Syndrome?
Upper cross syndrome occurs when there is an imbalance between the muscles of neck , shoulder and chest as a result of poor posture. It is commonly seen in individuals who have long sitting hours with head pushed forward leading to faulty posture.
This imbalance of the muscles creates a joint dysfunction leading to symptoms like neck stiffness, unilateral headaches, tension and soreness along the slope of the shoulder or the front of shoulder. Ocassionally, it may also cause tingling and numbness along the arms, forearms and fingers as well.
Our routine examination for this problem!!
We first try to understand how the pain developed and what lifestyle factors cause the pain. This is followed by detailed examination of posture & current symptoms as well as identification of the weak and tight muscles around the neck shoulder and chest area. If required, certain specific movement control tests are performed. This process helps with diagnosis and designing a customised rehab program.
Correcting the muscle imbalance via physio treatment and making ergonomic/lifestyle changes usually reduces the symptoms.
An important part of physiocure’s treatment is focused on stretching out the tight muscles and retraining the lengthened muscles.
Rehab plan at Physiocure would include:-
A combination of manual therapy, soft tissue mobilization, neck kinetic control exercises, Kinesiotaping for posture correction along with electrotherapy treatment. if there is an existing shoulder problem then that is adressed as well. it is our obligation to not treat just the problem but help the person holistically
if you are currently facing neck pain and want to do something to help yourslef. then try these simple axercises to recduce neck pain.
Does the neck collar /posture correction brace help in solving this problem?
Neck collar is usually used as an external support to provide rest to the neck muscles. If it is a purely muscular imbalance leading to upper crossed syndrome, neck collar is not required. However, in few individuals, posture correction brace along with exercises has helped improve the outcome.
How long does this problem take to resolve?
Some clients improve in 5 sessions and few clientswho took 6 months over follow ups to improve. there are number of factors influencing number of sessions required; like how serious is the pain, what are the other adjacent problems, are u a complaint client, is your pain chronic. all these decide the numebr of sessions required.
Here are a few tips to prevent neck pain
