Causes of Neck Pain

Many of us are experiencing neck pain because we’re all hunched over our device to accommodate a small laptop on the couch, or the physical demands of your personal workspace. This also goes for all of our essential workers making sure our packages are delivered, and those stocking shelves; repetitive movement and awkward postures can do more damage than you think. 

So how do we address it?

It would be nice if there was a quick fix; maybe a massage or a medication that takes away the pain. But then you’re still left with the underlying condition that was never fixed  at the root (from the inside out). When patients come to Occupational Therapy, the first part of every session is an explanation of their diagnosis and an evaluation of daily habits/tasks to see where it might be stemming from. That, or understanding the traumatic event that caused the injury. I find that the more a person understands their condition, the more they are willing to do what’s necessary to rehabilitate. So the first step is, education. 

A little anatomy…

At the core, our neck consists of vertebrae (bone), nerve roots, and discs that are stacked up. The nerves that start out in the spine (neck) go out to your arms and hands. So many people with neck issues or injuries may have tingling, numbness, or pain in their upper extremities. Neck pain has also been linked with imbalance of scapular (shoulder) stabilizing muscles.

So in order to fix the pain, we have to fix our positioning during the day, and even at night. Most of the time, those awkward postures are because of weakness or imbalance in certain muscles and its exacerbated with adjusting to your repetitive activity during the day. 

Occupational Therapy provides manual techniques to assist healing, and exercises to improve posture; but it also comes with homework if you want to see results that last. We advise on sleeping positions, ergonomic evaluation for your workspace, and patient specific activity modifications to help heal. 

If you want to learn more, please feel free to reach out to us at smplytherapy@gmail.com

Let’s Talk About Tennis Elbow (Lateral Epicondylitis)

This isn’t just for tennis players. But if you’ve ever swung a tennis racket, you’ll understand the motion that limits people with this condition. It’s that back-swinging motion when your elbow straightens and the arm extends; aka a backhand

Usually it stems from overuse due to repetitive motion, and other trauma to the upper extremity; typically from the work setting. Ergonomics and physical demands of your workspace is highlighted on this topic because many of our injuries that are more insidious, are probably from micro-injuries over time. 

It’s one thing if you got into a bike accident and have pain from a traumatic event; that would be pretty clear on how/when you got injured. But many people have pain that come and go, with conditions that worsen over time and unsure exactly when it started. Lateral Epicondylitis is typically more like the latter set of symptoms. Hence, the nickname… tennis players have a very similar swing that repeats when playing, and the repetitive movement over time causes the appearance of the injury. 

However, not all those that play tennis get tennis elbow, and not all that have tennis elbow play tennis. For anyone like me who has never picked up a tennis racket, it probably stems from an activity that you spend a lot of time doing with repetitive motions, like working at a desk. 

If a person is experiencing pain in their elbow, they can contact their doctor who will then refer out to an Occupational Therapist. We do a series of assessments to evaluate how you’re affected by this condition functionally, strength, and pain severity. For treatment we will be giving a home program of exercises, provision of protective equipment or orthotics to facilitate healing, and clinic exercises/modalities. 

What I appreciate about the Occupational Therapy profession is that we treat the patient as a whole, and want to incorporate good habits to speed up your healing. We don’t just look at your strength and give rote exercise, and send you on your way. We will educate you on what is happening in your body, give suggestions for sleep positions, body mechanics for work to reduce strain on your body. We can also recommend pain management techniques without medication treatment. 

If you have questions, or may need Occupational Therapy Intervention contact us at (201) 777-0856 or book a free consult with us.