Causes of Neck and Shoulder Pain
Neck and shoulder pain may stem from many different health issues. It can vary from muscle strains, restricted joints, nerve pinching, infections, tumors, and even organ dysfunction. Some of the causes are more common than others. While rare, tumors and infections need to be ruled out before proceeding with any solution. This is why we always do a thorough examination before we deem a person is safe to be adjusted.
Remember, all your healing and bodily functions begin at the brain and run down the spinal cord, out through your nerves to every cell, tissue, and organ. From your fingertips to your toes, every part of your body is controlled by your brain and requires a proper connection to self-heal and self-regulate.
Your neck is the first area that your spinal cords run through. Your cervical spine (neck) consists of seven vertebrae C1-C7. The nerves that control your upper back, shoulder, elbow, and wrist originate in your brain and run through your cervical spine (neck), they exit out from your lower cervicals (C4-C7). These parts of your body rely on your lower cervical nerves to relay vital information in order to carry out proper function. In order for these areas to be healthy, the structures of the neck and upper back, the bones, joints, tendons, ligaments, and muscles all need to work harmoniously within their normal range of motion to create balance and relaxed state for your nerves to carry normal signals without interference.
When we have dysfunction with any piece of this amazing puzzle, our structures become compromised and begin to compress nerves by varying degrees, disrupting the nerve supply to corresponding parts of your body. This leads to many secondary conditions, such as pain, sick cells, bone and joint deformation, herniated discs, nerve damage, muscle weakness, and even reduced organ function. The way most folks consciously experience this impingement in their lower cervical spine is via neck/ shoulder pain, tightness, elbow problems, wrist issues, and carpal tunnel complaints. People usually think it’s just chronic muscle tension or knots between the shoulder blades. They stretch, do massage, Physical Therapy, and even medication and corticosteroid injections, but the problem never gets resolved. These treatments all have pro’s and con’s. However, none of them address a Neuro-Structural Shift.
We only feel 10% of our body, and it takes about 40% of nerve pressure before we “feel” any kind of symptoms. Now imagine if you have 20-30% nerve pressure without “feeling it” for years until one day you start to notice pain, tingling, numbness, and weakness in the neck and shoulder. Usually, this problem has been there for years before we start feeling it, which is why it requires a comprehensive solution starting with restoring normal mobility and function to the joints and nerves. Reducing daily chronic stress of repetitive postures and movements, enhancing the essential nutrients needed to heal and the most forgotten principle of TIME.
Since our focus is in Neuro-structural correction, our approach is to find a structural, biomechanical issue and or neurological issue that is a primary condition that leads to many different secondary conditions. When we correct the underlying Neurostructural dysfunction, many secondary conditions tend to go away.