While the design of the spine is most splendid, it is also very susceptible to the knocks, bumps, and jolts of everyday living. This is particularly true of the neck portion of the spine, that graceful body part between the head and shoulders called the cervical spine.

There you'll find a highly complex arrangement of muscles, ligaments, cartilages, blood vessels, nerves, spinal discs, and spinal bones (vertebras), along with the voice box, the wind-pipe, and the gullet, all fitting snugly into an area about the length of one's hand.

NECK PAIN COMMON
Normally, neck tissues work together harmoniously in performing their various functions including supporting the head while allowing it to tilt, nod, and turn. Often, however, the neck area, perhaps more than any other spinal section, becomes the site of considerable pain and stiffness which limits the range of motion of the neck and head and severely limits one's enjoyment of life.

Sometimes neck pain goes away by itself, but more often than not, untreated neck problems slowly get worse as time goes by. Indeed, the progression of neck pain and stiffness may be so slow and subtle that the victim forgets how wonderful having a freely-moving, pain-free neck used to be.

Most pain, stiffness, and "cricks" in the neck are associated with biomechanical derangements in the back and neck including muscle spasms, disc protrusions, vertebral fixations, and vertebral subluxations that impinge nerves. Occasionally, there are other causes of neck pain including tumor which may be revealed by X-ray.

MISALIGNED VERTEBRAS PINCH NERVES
Still, the great majority of neck pain cases originate with misaligned spinal bones known as subluxations. Even a slight misalignment of one vertebra in relation to an adjacent vertebra may painfully pinch spinal nerves or in other ways alter the neck's biomechanical dynamics and bring on pain and stiffness.

Keep in mind that neck pain which comes on without warning or apparent cause may be the result of untreated or improperly treated injury (including whiplash) that happened months or even years before. Without proper treatment at that time, the spinal structures may have healed in the wrong position and may now require a series of chiropractic treatments to correct the problem. That's why chiropractic doctors urge accident victims to seek chiropractic care immediately after an accident.

GET A CHIROPRACTIC EVALUATION
Beyond that, anytime you feel neck pain and stiffness that doesn't go away after a few days, a chiropractic evaluation is in order. Untreated neck problems often lead to serious conditions including the following:

• Headaches
• Chronic neck pain
• Disc degeneration
• Ongoing soft tissue degeneration
• Adhesions
• Hardening of the muscles
• Limited range of motion

Chiropractic doctors are well trained and experienced in treating such biomechanical problems associated with neck pain.


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