Neck pain is a common problem that can be caused by a variety of factors, including poor posture, incorrect sleeping habits, and stress. If you are experiencing neck pain, you may be looking for relief. Thankfully, there are many effective treatments available, including physical therapy. Physical therapy can help to reduce pain, improve range of motion, and get you through your day pain free. In this blog post, we will discuss the benefits of manual therapy and corrective exercises for treating neck pain.
If you are like most people, you stretch your neck, do some self massage, and move your head all around trying to get relief. Most times this helps with some short term relief but the pain and tightness in the neck keep coming back.
Some common activities that cause neck pain include:
Working at a laptop computer
Texting
Driving
Sitting on the couch
Doing tasks related to your job
Neck pain and tightness are one of the most common conditions plaguing people today. This is especially true since the COVID pandemic and changes to where people are working and the amount of time we spend in front of screens.
Luckily, through experience we have been able to refine the treatment of neck pain to make it simple and effective.
Manual therapy is a type of physical therapy that involves using the hands to manipulate the muscles, joints, and connective tissues. Manual therapy techniques can help to reduce pain, improve range of motion, and increase blood flow to the area. Common manual therapy techniques include massage, stretching, and trigger point release. Manual therapy will help to improve mobility of the neck to that you can more effectively perform the exercises and stretches.
We know through research of treating neck pain that if we combine manual therapy techniques with exercises we get the best results.
Corrective exercises are another important part of physical therapy for neck pain. Corrective exercises can help to strengthen the muscles that support the spine and improve posture. Common corrective exercises include scalene and levator scapulae stretching, scapular strengthening, and foam rolling.
Some key areas of treatment to reduce neck pain include:
Mid back (thoracic) mobility
Neck muscle lengthening (stretching)
Shoulder blade (scapula) strengthening
Work place posture and desk set up
If you are experiencing neck pain, we encourage you contact your local physical therapist about whether physical therapy may be right for you. At HIDEF Physical Therapy Bellevue, our team of experienced physical have helped hundreds of people eliminate neck pain and get back to their life.
We offer a free consultation to discuss your problem and how we can help. Please contact us today to schedule your free consultation and see why we are the physical therapy Bellevue doctors choose for their patients.