What a way to start the morning. You’ve been snug in your bed all night, slept great, and are ready to tackle the day with renewed vigor. You go to get up and – GAK! A searing shot of pain runs down the side of your neck. It hurts to move, and even if you wanted to, your neck is so stiff!
Many will be quick to blame one of two muscles for this phenomenon; the levator scapulae or the upper trapezius. After all, they exist in the same area that the pain is, and also play a role in your ability to turn your neck, which is probably one of the major things that you’re unable to do.
While there are stretches and tools such as heat that can help to loosen up these muscles, it’s quite possible that they actually aren’t the root cause of your morning misery.
You see, most people interpret pain as being what we call somatic. That means that when you feel a pain in an area of your body such as your arm, for example, you’ll automatically figure that the thing causing your pain is in your arm. It’s a very logical way of interpreting what your body is telling you.
However, pain can also be referred, which is where things become more confusing. Because of the way that nerves provide our bodies with feeling, it’s entirely possible that that previously mentioned arm pain could be caused by irritation in another part of the body. Fortunately, science has come a long way in showing us how referred pain can manifest - it’s not a free for all, and the body’s ability to refer pain has been well mapped out over the years. It just so happens that one of the most common places that your cervical or upper thoracic spine can refer pain to is the side of your neck. The pain could stay only in that spot, but may also run all the way down into your shoulder blade, too.
With any ache or pain, getting the fastest and most effective relief depends heavily on being able to determine what the real origin point of that symptom is. Without that figured out, you may be working on treating the entirely wrong part of the body! This can lead to a lot of wasted time and frustration, and nobody wants that.
The good news is that a thorough movement assessment is very effective for telling us where exactly a symptom is originating from. Muscles, joints, nerves, and other anatomical structures are going to all behave differently when tested. Having a symptom’s origin pinned down will allow us to develop an effective treatment plan to address your current problem and reduce the likelihood of it returning in the future.
Do you experience pain or tightness around your neck or shoulder blade? If so, we would love to hear from you to see how we can help! Give us a call at (239) 232-8155, or send us an email at Contact@serendipityPTW.com.
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