how chiropractic treatment can relieve headaches

Severe neck pain can be caused by motor vehicle accidents, sports injuries, poor posture, sleeping positions, and even viral and bacterial infections. While prescription pain medications can help temporarily ease your discomfort, they can cause side effects such as dizziness, constipation, blurred vision, nausea, and extreme drowsiness. If you are seeking alternative treatment options to manage your severe neck pain, consider the following chiropractic care interventions.

Manual Spinal Manipulation

Various types of severe neck pain can be caused by nerve, muscle, joint, or tendon inflammation. When these structures are inflamed, they can put pressure on other parts of the neck and shoulders, resulting in pain, limited mobility, and reduced range of motion. Your chiropractor can perform manual spinal manipulation to help move the inflamed structures out of the way so that pressure is removed from other parts of the body.

Chiropractic patients often notice an improvement in their symptoms after the first spinal adjustment, however, some people may require multiple manipulation treatments before complete pain relief is achieved.

To help promote healing and to augment the pain relief benefits of spinal manipulation treatments, your chiropractor may advise you to wear a soft neck collar to help prevent excessive movement and to prevent reinjury to the affected area. 

Dietary Counseling

In addition to spinal manipulation and therapeutic chiropractic massage, chiropractors also offer nutritional counseling to patients who are experiencing severe neck pain. For example, if your chiropractic examination reveals inflammation as the source of your severe neck pain, then your chiropractor may recommend increasing your intake of omega-3 fatty acids. These substances are abundant in certain types of fish such as mackerel, tuna, and salmon.

Omega-3 fatty acids contain powerful anti-inflammatory properties that can help reduce both systemic inflammation and local inflammation. Once the inflammation has decreased, your neck pain may subside and you may enjoy better mobility and improved posture.

In addition to omega-3 fatty acids, your chiropractic physician may recommend increasing your magnesium intake. Like omega-3s, magnesium helps decrease inflammation. It also helps relieve muscle pain and promotes sleep, which is often disrupted in those suffering from severe neck pain. To increase your magnesium intake consider eating foods such as almonds, pumpkin seeds, spinach, kale, and dark chocolate.

If you suffer from severe neck pain, see your doctor to determine the cause. Once the cause has been determined, your healthcare provider will then recommend a treatment plan to relieve your symptoms and promote optimal healing.