Your Amazing Incredible Neck

Inside your neck are your neck bones (cervical vertebrae), spinal and cranial nerves, spinal chord, blood vessels, glands (including the thyroid and parathyroids), voice box (larynx), esophagus, trachea, brain stem, and many muscles, ligaments and other structures. With all that, it's still able to gracefully balance your head and turn, tilt and bend without damaging its vital "occupants." That's amazing because if your neck's functions are interrupted for even a few seconds you'd lose consciousness and begin to die.   

The Cervical Spine

Cervix is the Latin word for neck, meaning a constricted area (the uterus and urinary bladders have a neck or cervix too). Your seven small neck bones are called cervical vertebrae, numbered C-1 to C-7.  

Inside your cervical vertabrae lies your spinal cord, a continuation of your brain down to your neck and back. Protection of the spinal cord is extremely important because an injury to it can result in instant paralysis or death.  

Your vertabrae are connected to each other by discs, ligaments and tendons that help give the neck its shape (the cervical curve). Between the vertebrae are openings where nerves, blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, fat and connective tissues are found.  

Neck Problems

With all of the neck's complexity it should come as no surprise that neck problems are common. They may develop from a trauma such as whiplash or fall, or slowly as a result of spinal imbalance, vertebral subluxations, emotional stress or bad posture. Damaged or irritated neck nerves can cause more than neck pain. Pain in the face, shoulder, arm, wrist, hand and fingers as well as reduces neck motion may also occur. Other neck problems include headaches, vision difficulties, dizziness, ringing in the ears, decreased attention span, learning and memory impairments, nasal problems, tongue and throat problems. The most serious neck problems - such as fracture, dislocation or severe tissue damage - can be fatal if not given emergency medical care. Most other neck problems, however, although not life-threatening, can impair your health if not corrected.  

Neck Pain

Pain in the neck can be caused by irritation, inflammation, injury or infection. Pain in the neck, shoulder, arm, hand or head "most frequently results from irritation or cervical nerve roots in the region of the intervertebral foramen, encroachment of the vascular supply as it courses through the vertebral canal, or invasion of the cord in the spinal canal."  

Disc Degeneration & Herniation

Disc herniation (or rupture) is relatively rare but can be the source of intense pain. Sometimes surgery is needed in this instance, especially when it's due to trauma. However, in many cases, chiropractic techniques can re-establish the integrity of the disc and prevent the need for neck surgery. This should be explored if possible.  

Disc degeneration is a more common cause of pain, nerve root and spinal cord irritation. Although many doctors tell their patients that the cause of disc degeneration is age, age alone cannot be blamed for the condition because it can be found even in young children. The most common causes of disc degeneration are years of spinal imbalance, spinal subluxations, physical trauma or emotional stress.  

Spinal Imbalance - Cause Of Neck Stress

Let us suppose that one day you carried a bowling ball around for the entire day, but instead of carrying it closely at your side, you held it a little distance from your body. You'd get tired very fast! It's the same with your head. If it's properly balanced that's fine, but if it's held even a little off center you will start to suffer from fatigue as well as stress on your neck.  

Arthritis

If unhealthy, your neck's normal forward curve may reduce, become straight or "military" or even reverse its curve. Over time arthritic changes in the vertebrae such as lipping or spurring (bony growths); disc thinning or degeneration; or deterioration of muscles, ligaments and other structures may occur. In spite of all these changes, however, there may or may not be pain. In fact, studies show little or no correlation between the degree of pain felt in the neck and arthritic changes found on X-rays and MRI.  

Lipping, spurring and other irregularities (osteoarthritis) do not in themselves constitute a disease but are rather defense mechanisms that arise to stabilize an off-balance spine. Recent research has shown that chiropractic care can even reverse some of the effects of osteoarthritis - something that had previously been considered impossible.  

The Orthodox Medical Approach

The standard medical approach to neck pain is painkillers, muscle relaxers and/or tranquilizers. If the pain doesn't subside, an orthopedic surgeon may be consulted and more drastic treatment - cortisone or other injections - may be administered. When should the physician resort to surgery? As a last resort. Clearly, a patient should not consent to anything as drastic as neck surgery without first consulting another healer - in particular, a chiropractor!  

Chiropractic & Neck Surgery

Since most medical doctors and physical therapists are not trained to locate and correct vertebral subluxations, and accident victim will leave the emergency room with as many subluxations as they had when they entered. Without chiropractic spinal care, a neck injury might continue to cause silent damage for decades before the problem is recognized; by that time it may be too late for a complete recovery.