Neck Pain

Neck Pain Treatment, Natural Cure Doctor, Costa Mesa, Orange County, California, Dr. Robert Janda, Chiropractor, Natural Healing, Traditional Naturopath, Naturopathic Healing, Fibromyalgia Treatment.

Almost all the structures in the neck can hurt if damaged or inflamed.  The most common causes include:

• Subluxation – malpositions of bones in the neck can lead to muscle tension, nerve irritation and joint inflammation. Subluxations can be caused by trauma or reflexive spasms from other stresses in the body (see section on subluxations).

• Joint degeneration – Prolonged subluxation or trauma usually leads to joint inflammation. This inflammation if left unresolved for long periods can cause deterioration of these joints and discs. The pain associated with the inflammation will cause splinting of the surrounding musculature and lead to further inflammation and deterioration.  Osteoarthritis is synonymies with Degenerate Joint Disease. This is a viscous cycle that is best interrupted by chiropractic therapy to prevent loss of function and motion of the cervical vertebrae.

Trauma – This most commonly is caused by athletic injury or auto accident as whiplash. Almost always this will lead to joint degeneration unless treated.

• Infection– We all know how stiff our necks become when we have the flu. Almost any local infection will cause stiffness and pain in the neck.
• Rheumatoid Arthritis – This dominant model of this disease is that it is a autoimmune disease that causes inflammation of the joints throughout the body and weakening of supporting ligaments.  However, this model has not lead to effective therapies. An alternative view, developed  by Thomas McPearson Brown, M.D., has hypothesized an infectious cause in which mycoplasms and other infectious agents imbed themselves in the joints and connective tissue causing the inflammation. The appearance of autoimmunity is due to the immune system trying to unearth the imbedded microbes leading to joint deterioration. Unlike the autoimmune theory, Dr. Brown treats this problems effectively as an infection. In my own practice I have found the infectious ideas of Dr. Brown more useful than the autoimmune model. Spinal manipulation of patients with this disease should be effected with great caution due to the weakened conditions of the supporting ligaments.
• Fibromyalgia– This is a condition with multiple causes that causes muscle soreness in the neck. Treatment involves unraveling the underlying causes which often involve infection, nutrition depletion and toxemia.
• Scoliosis – Due to righting reflexes in the eyes and ears, the head will always be on straight regardless of the distortion In the spine lower down. In Scoliosis the neck almost inevitably will be spastic and painful on one side.
• Other Causes– more rarely frank pathology can cause neck pain. This includes fracture, cancer and other diseases.