During hectic or emotionally taxing weeks, do you notice increased pain and discomfort, especially in your neck and upper shoulder area? Do you struggle to turn your head, shrug your shoulders, or lift items because of your achy neck? Is your pain getting into your nerves and making you feel worse about yourself?
Unknown to many, emotional stress can also significantly impact the muscle fibers on various body parts, especially the upper neck and shoulders. Many people who seek help from a neck pain chiropractor in Fort Myers note feelings of frustration, anger, anxiety, and irritation as part of why they experience worse neck pain.
It's easy to dismiss strong negative feelings as a trigger of neck pain. However, if you take a closer look at the impact of stress on your body, specifically your muscles, connective tissues, and nerve roots, you will find it helpful to be more conscious of how you process your feelings.
When under extreme stress, your muscles and connective tissues can get distorted, causing a tightening sensation around areas like the neck. Consequently, the tensed muscles can affect your posture and wreak havoc on your nervous system because bones and muscles can potentially compress or irritate nerve roots and the spinal cord. Studies note that stress can also affect your pain perception and make you more sensitive to even the slightest pressure on your neck.
To learn more about the connection between head and neck injuries and neck pain, download our complimentary e-book by clicking the image below.
Emotional stress can result from many factors, like dealing with the death of a beloved family member, receiving a termination letter from one's employer, and coping with the terrible news on the radio or TV. It can also worsen when you struggle to keep a positive outlook due to recurring health concerns.
If you currently have emotional stress-associated neck pain, we suggest following the tips below so you can gradually diminish the discomfort you experience:
Nothing beats emotional stress like a good old meditation and yoga session. Studies have proven that both relaxation techniques are pretty handy in rewiring the brain and boosting the release of hormones needed to fight off chronic health concerns.
Exercise is a powerful tool to keep the body in tip-top condition and to stimulate natural pain-relievers like endorphins. Additionally, committing to a regular fitness routine help maintain or boost the flexibility of your joints and strengthen the bones and muscle fibers. Simple stretching exercises, cardio, and core-strengthening activities will make an excellent addition to your everyday routine, no matter what your age or fitness level.
Sometimes, emotional stress can result from feeling weary about health concerns like chronic pain. That's why it pays to retrace the root cause of your discomfort. Often, we remind our patients to look into their past and identify events that might have caused trauma to the head or upper cervical spine.
After all, injuries that affected the body several years or months ago always leave "undetectable" damages, such as worn and torn ligaments on the neck and misaligned atlas and axis bones. These can worsen over time and lead to problems worse than the aching you currently feel on your neck and upper shoulders.
A thorough assessment of your neck will help reveal how badly your previous neck and head injuries from contact sports, recreational activities, physical abuse, and car accidents have affected your posture. It will also help your Upper Cervical Chiropractor, the Corrective Spinal Care of Florida, tailor-fit a care plan to restore your atlas and axis bone alignment and ease the pressure on your nerves, muscles, and connective tissues.
Upper Cervical Care has been one of the best sources of neck pain relief among patients in Fort Myers and other nearby cities and towns in Florida. It's a gentle method that applies to a broad spectrum of patients, so you should give it a try so you don't go back and forth dealing with an achy neck and suffering from mild to severe emotional turmoil.
Book your appointment with our cervical chiropractic practice today to learn more about how we can help.
To schedule a consultation with Corrective Spinal Care of Florida, call our Fort Myers office at 239-688-3831. You can also click the button below.
If you are outside of the local area, you can find an Upper Cervical Doctor near you at www.uppercervicalawareness.com.
