Dr. Brian Helland

NECK OR BACK PAIN? BE SEEN NOW! NO LONG TERM CONTRACTS OR EXTENDED TREATMENT PLANS- I treat you until you are feeling better, then maintenance is up to you. You will never be pressured into extended care. MY NECK HURTS, WHAT CAN I DO AT HOME? This is a very common question from patients and there are 3 main areas to address. Prevention, support, and exercise. (DISCLAIMER, THIS IS NOT INTENDED AS MEDICAL ADVISE, IF YOU ARE EXPERIENCING NECK PAIN, PLEASE CALL TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT TO HAVE YOUR ISSUE EVALUATED, THIS INFORMATION IS INTENDED AS SUPPORT FOR PATIENTS WHO ARE UNDERGOING TREATMENT) 1- Prevention – QUIT LOOKING DOWN ALL THE TIME! I know this is hard, but do you suffer from CTS (Chronic Texting Syndrome)? So much of our work and play involve hunching over and looking down. My previous e-mail talked about proper body positioning and reread it if you need to. Also, LOOKING UP FOR EXTENDED PERIODS of time is a problem. This is usually more common with the trades people, and again this may be impossible to avoid. So, what can you do if you just can't avoid the above 2 problems? Then your going to have to use ice as a preventative measure. Every night, get an ice pack and dish towel. Wrap the ice pack in the dish towel (so you don't frost bite yourself, and yes this does happen), and put the pack on your upper thoracic (top of shoulder area) to your lower cervical area. Keep the pack in the CENTER of your spine. This is where the disc and nerve roots are located. Ice in 20 minute increments. 20 on, 20 off, 20 on, etc. 2- Support- I'm thinking of cervical pillows here. The problem I've run into with cervical pillows is that what works great for one person, doesn't work for the other person. I usually try to have a demo pillow available for patients to take home and try. This is not an option for most pillows, so, what I want you to ask yourself when evaluating a pillow is: Is this pillow keeping my head in a neutral position in ALL angles? This means square from your shoulders and when you're on your back, it should not be allowing your head to tip up above your chest. 3- Exercise - For pretty much any spine issue you're going to hear me say, core and mid back. Your core is mainly your ab muscles and provides support all the way up through your neck. Your mid back helps you hold your head up above your shoulders. So, crunchies on an exercised ball and rowing exercises are a good place to start. Now there is something called ISOMETRIC exercises. This is where you push your head against your hand and contract your neck muslces, but do NOT move your neck. This is typically a safe way to strengthen your neck muscles and can be done in all directions If you have any questions on these, please don't hesitate to contact me or stop by the office.