Dr. Horowitz’s Personal Story of Neck Pain:

When patients seek me out for relief of their neck pain, I often share my own story of how a neck adjustment I received at age 17 from a local Toronto Chiropractor, gave me unexpected and amazing relief.

From the time I was 11 years old, I experienced severely painful neck spasms a few times a year. When the spasms occurred, I would be in agony for 7-10 days, not able to move my neck without excruciatingly sharp pain. For anyone who has had a neck spasm, they know what I mean.

At my father’s suggestion, I decided to go to a Chiropractor to see if I could get some help. Within one day after having my neck adjusted, I felt 80% better and within 3 days, I was 100% free of pain plus I could move my neck fully! From that time on, I have received regular adjustments on a preventive basis. In fact, I have checked all of my children’s spines from the time they were days old.

What I learned is that we only have one spine throughout our lives and just like the teeth and gums need preventive checkups and treatment to keep them healthy, so does the spine require care throughout our lives.

What Are the Causes of Neck Pain?

I like to explain the causes of neck pain as falling under three main categories of stressors: Physical, Emotional and Spiritual.

Take note of some of the stressors below and see if you can correct them. If correcting them does not cure your neck pain, then DO NOT suffer for days and months on end. Book an appointment with Dr. Horowitz for the quickest relief.

Physical Causes of Neck Pain:

A whiplash injury from a car accident or being hit by a car or vehicle
Poor posture while standing and sitting
Sitting at a computer for hours a day
Reading or looking down for many hours at a time
Sleeping mainly on the stomach
Not using a supportive pillow during sleep
Sports Injuries involving impact or extreme neck positions
Slipping on ice
Fall down the stairs
Using exercise equipment improperly or lifting weights that are too heavy
Resting a telephone in between the neck and shoulder repeatedly
A cold breeze/fan blowing on the neck or scrunching the shoulders up to the neck in the wintertime
Repetitive typing at work /school
Studying for hours on end for tests
Making an abrupt or awkward neck turn or being frightened by someone
Having a cold/allergies and sneezing and coughing a lot

Emotional Causes of Neck Pain:

Dysfunctional thinking patterns that lead to:
Anxiety- having thoughts (that may or not be based on truth or reality) that things will not work out in an important area and that you lack the skills or ability to get something that is important to you done or taken care of
Inability to feel and/or to express sadness and grief, causing these emotions to wreak havoc in the body
Fear-of being or continuing to be harmed in some way – that is reality-based
Frustrations that remain in the body when we are unable to express our frustrations to others in a socially acceptable, respectful and assertive way or when we do not know how to resolve a situation
Anger including when others that you have to deal with refuse to respect your boundaries or to hear your frustrations and feelings or refuse to work together
Sadness, grief or feeling lonely
Inability to reframe how we think about a situation
Lacking beliefs of faith and trust in our ability to cope and be resilient
Fear/Inability to put our trust in another person because we have been hurt/taken advantage of or disappointed in the past

Spiritual Causes of Neck Pain:

Lacking belief, faith and trust in G-d, a higher power or spirituality that we will find the help we need
Feeling alone in the world
Seeing yourself only as a body rather than as a soul
Lack of family support
Lack of community and friends
Living life without meaning
Living life without a clear purpose
Not living with the knowledge of what makes you unique and special
Not living according to your strengths
Living life as a taker but not giving to others
Absence of prayer and or meditation

The Cervical Spine and Neck Pain:

Cervical is the name of the spine between the head and the chest/upper back area. The cervical spine is comprised of:

bones (vertebrae that give the spine it’s shape and strength)
discs (that are like jelly donuts between bones that absorb shock)
ligaments (that joint bones together)
tendons (that are the extensions of muscles that attach onto bones)
joints (where one bone meets another bone to glide over one another so that a person can move their neck in all the required directions (flexion, extension, rotation and side-bending).

The spine houses the spinal cord (which runs through the middle of the bones) and the spinal cord is the master control system of the body.

There are pairs of nerves that exit from between each vertebra and these nerves carry both motor supply to the muscles/organs as well as sensory information gathered from the skin and other sensory organs in the above-mentioned tissues.

In order for your muscles and organs to function optimally, no interference can compress the nerves that exit from the spine.

How Stress Affects Spinal Tissues and Causes Neck Pain:

When a person sustains a whiplash injury to the neck, the vertebrae can be forced out of alignment and discs can become damaged. Joints and nerves can become inflamed and muscles can tear and/or go into spasm or become very tight. When nerves become inflamed, pain, numbness/tingling can be referred into the head, upper back and arm. Research has shown that people who have a significant whiplash injury develop spinal degeneration/arthritis in the neck more quickly. Early treatment is very important.

Only Doctors of Chiropractic undergo 4 years of specialized training to learn how to palpate/feel the motion of the joints. When joints become misaligned and dysfunctional due to trauma and arthritic changes, no amount of massage therapy will get the joints to become re-aligned and moving normally again.

A Proper Diagnosis Leads to Proper Treatment of Neck Pain:

As a Chiropractor, Dr. Horowitz has the expertise and experience to diagnose conditions of the spine. When appropriate, she is highly skilled in adjusting specific bones in the correct direction and in the most gentle and safest way possible.

Call My Toronto Chiropractor Clinic at (647) 349-4909 or to ask Dr. Leslie Horowitz a question, complete the form below: