Rarely are shoulder and neck pain symptoms of a more severe condition. Pain in your shoulder or neck usually results from a bad posture or overexertion and the pain will resolve on its own without medical interventions. However, you should not ignore the symptoms if the pain is accompanied by muscle weakness or shooting pain in your arms, making it impossible to move your arms. Your Studio City pain management specialists specialize in providing the best chiropractic treatments to resolve joint, neck, and back pain.
Table of Contents
Neck pain
Your neck is the least protected part of your spine. As a result, it is prone to conditions that could cause you severe pain. Neck pain can make your life very unbearable and lower your productivity. You are likely to experience neck pain because of various reasons including an injury, overuse, or inflammation.
The most common neck pain symptoms you are likely to have include:
- Pain and stiffness
- Numbness or tingling sensations
- Clicking or grating noises
- Muscle spasms
- Fatigue and dizziness
- Difficulty swallowing
Your neck pain treatment extensively depends on your diagnosis. Your treatment plan includes:
- Non-surgical options. Neck pain is not life-threatening. Therefore, it may resolve over time with conservative treatment. Determining your type of treatment will depend on your location and cause of pain. Your doctor may recommend prescription medication to minimize inflammation and muscle relaxants to reduce pain and allow healing to happen. The experts will also advise you to minimize your physical activities or wear a cervical collar to support your spine, minimize pain and reduce mobility. Apart from medications, your doctor could also suggest injecting pain-relievers into the affected nerves or joints.
- Chiropractic care. Your chiropractor could use cervical manipulations to help minimize your neck pain. The expert could also employ several other techniques to reduce misalignments and reduce joint restrictions to improve your neck functions and alleviate pain.
- Surgery. When the conservative treatments fail to offer relief, your doctor will recommend a surgical procedure. Your surgical procedure will depend on your condition’s specifics. The expert could either suggest a spinal fusion or decompression.
Frozen shoulder
Your shoulder’s ball-and-socket joint comprises three bones, humerus, scapula (shoulder blade), and the clavicle (collarbone). The joint also has a shoulder capsule that holds it in position. When you have a frozen shoulder, the capsule tightens and thickens, making it hard for you to move your arm.
During treatment, your doctor could prescribe over-the-counter anti-inflammatory drugs to minimize the inflammation and pain in your affected shoulder. A combination of medication and other therapies will also help speed up your recovery. They include:
- Physical therapy. Your doctor will use physical therapies to help your shoulder joint regain its lost mobility. However, if you fail to notice changes after the exercises, your doctor will advance to other treatment options.
- Homecare. Your therapist will instruct you on the types of exercises to do, how often and when to push harder to stretch the joint.
- Surgery. If a frozen joint fails to improve with therapy, your doctor could recommend a surgical procedure. An option like arthroscopic surgery under general anesthesia will efficiently restore your shoulder joint’s motion.
A debilitating shoulder and neck pain can destabilize your life and prohibit you from participating in your favorite hobbies. Book a chiropractic appointment for your pain and let the experts restore your joint function.