Struggling with Chronic Neck Pain? Discover Nonsurgical Treatments That Can Help

It’s hard to get through life without experiencing neck pain from time to time. Between 10% and 20% of adults in the United States are affected by neck pain at any given time. Unfortunately, many of these people suffer from chronic neck pain, which can have a very large impact on their lives.

If this sounds familiar and you’re on the hunt for neck pain solutions that don’t add to your pain, such as surgery, then we have good news for you: Relief can be nonsurgical.

As pain management experts, our specialists at Revive Spine and Pain Center are highly experienced in treating neck pain, and we’ve helped many patients find meaningful relief — without resorting to surgery.

Here, we look at causes of neck pain and five nonsurgical treatment options that have proven to be highly successful.

Common causes of neck pain

For such a small area, your neck is fairly complex. Neck pain can come from different sources, including:

Disc-related neck pain

A common way in which people develop neck pain is due to problems in the intervertebral discs in this active region of your spine. Conditions like herniated discs or degenerative disc disease are common and can lead to neck pain, as well as pain that shoots into your arms.

Muscle-related neck pain

If you strain the muscles in your neck and shoulders, it can lead to neck pain. Muscle-related neck pain can become chronic if you have a musculoskeletal issue in your cervical spine that throws it off balance, which can overtax the support muscles in your neck.

Stress

One of the more common roads to chronic pain is stress. Your neck and shoulders tend to carry stress most. If you consider that 75% of Americans report physical and emotional symptoms of stress, you can see why stress-related neck pain is so prevalent.

Wear-and-tear

Arthritis and other wear-and-tear damage in the structures of your neck can lead to ongoing neck pain.

Finding nonsurgical relief for your neck pain

Now let’s turn our attention to some nonsurgical solutions for neck pain. Obviously, the origin of your neck pain dictates our treatment recommendations, but we’ve found that the following are fairly universal in improving neck pain:

Quieting the nerves 

To quiet the nerves that are sending pain signals to your brain, we have several options, including epidural injections, nerve blocks, and radiofrequency ablation. Each of these works quickly to relieve the immediate pain and inflammation to allow you to take more sustainable steps.

Physical therapy

Once we relieve your immediate pain, one of the most effective weapons in the neck pain arsenal is physical therapy. Through targeted strengthening exercises and stretching, we can take the pressure off of damaged areas in your neck to relieve your pain.

Trigger point injections

If your neck pain is more muscular, trigger point therapy is an effective solution. With this approach, we locate trigger points in your fascia, which is the connective tissue that surrounds your muscles. Once we identify these hypersensitive muscle knots, we perform a myofascial release with medications or a dry needle.

Chiropractic care

A great complementary therapy for back pain is chiropractic care to realign the spine in your neck for better flow and function.

Relaxation techniques

Whether your neck pain is stress-related or not, neck pain can be a source of stress, so we’ve found that adding relaxation exercises into the treatment mix is highly effective. 

A good relaxation technique for neck pain comes in the form of medical acupuncture, which works to unblock your body to allow more relaxation and an improved flow of energy and resources.

As well, meditation and deep breathing exercises are simple ways to release the tension in your neck.

To figure out the best approach for your neck pain, the next step is to schedule a visit with one of our pain management experts. To get that ball rolling, contact us at one of our conveniently located offices in Marlton, Hamilton Township, Northfield, or East Brunswick, New Jersey, to schedule an appointment.