Case Study #7: Doctor, my neck is killing me for no apparent reason!

June: Sally presented as a 33 year old executive who, while having had a recent broken foot and a terrible whiplash accident many years ago, was in great shape. She trains actively and regularly, is fairly young and had no recent precipitating accidents that would explain the debilitating neck pain she was feeling. After an exam, we took 2 radiographs of her neck. This is what we found in the lateral view: 

Notable is the neck tilting forward. To look at this young woman visually, you would never have guessed that her cervical spine was this far tilted. Note too a total lack of the normal lordosis, or half-moon arc curve that we should see in the neck. That curve bends forward normally. Here, upon closer inspection, the neck curves very slightly backwards.

Moral to the story: Long term faulty posture can lead to problems later in life. Often, it comes down to one day, one hour when your body finally says, "Enough, I can't take it anymore."  

The Good News: Sally has had three treatments thus far and her pain has been reduced by 80%.  She is modifying her habits such as elevating her computer screens at home and work. Elevating books she reads all so she can stop continuously looking down which breeds this kind of aberrant posture. She is sleeping on her back now with an orthopedic pillow which will help to slowly rehab her neck and over the course of years, start to put the normal curve back in. 

Where do we go from here?  Sally will probably be pain free in another week. Case closed? Hardly. If we were to re-take this same radiograph next week, would she look any different? No. Understand that people experience pain when the body gets to a specific tipping point and the nociceptors (pain receptors) in the back or wherever, are finally activated. We humans can undergo much deformation before we start to feel pain. I am going to recommend that Sally continue with us 1X/week for the next several months, long after her pain has gone; in an effort to help rehabilitate her spinal posture. Along with the ergonomic changes she is making, this should add up to the most full-filling health experience possible.