June 2023 Healthy News from Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre Benefit of Chiropractic for Neck Pain Relief and of Breathing and Physical Exercise

image of chiropractic Cox® Technic for Neck Pain

RELIEF FOR LIFESTYLE-CONNECTED NECK PAIN VIA NERVOUS SYSTEM CALMING

Chronic neck pain is very common today with lifestyle issues like cellphone use, stress, and teleworking. A meta-analysis of published randomized clinical trials regarding the effectiveness of manual manipulative therapy reported that it has been explained as and demonstrated to be a safe, less painful, and customary way to reduce chronic neck pain and related neck disabilities. (1) And a paper that just came out on June 1, 2023, stated that long-standing neck pain treated with manual therapy was statistically significant at improving and reducing heart rate variability consistent with decreased sympathetic tone (a good outcome!) and patient-perceived pain. (2) Sympathetic tone is the ‘fight or flight’ response to stressful (like long-standing, chronic neck pain) or unsafe situations and is part of the autonomic nervous system (the system of functions you don’t have to think about controlling like blood pressure, heart rate, digestion, sweating, urination, etc.). These autonomic signals begin in the spinal cord and extend out throughout the body. Calming sympathetic tone can go a long way in managing neck pain. The chiropractic treatment technique we use at Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre termed Cox® Technic spinal manipulation has been well-studied and documented to manage neck pain, too. It has been shown to lessen intradiscal disc pressures which are seen with neck pain. (3) NIH and HRSA funded studies have demonstrated clinician proficiency in mastering proper Cox® protocols after training. (4,5,6) Further, case studies have been published displaying decrease in pain and disability with Cox® Technic like one case of severe neck and arm pain that was relieved in 15 visits in 10 weeks and another with 10 treatments in 4 weeks. (7,8) Let us calm your nerves and ease your neck pain! They’re all spine connected!

TIP OF THE MONTH: Add Breathing Exercise with Physical Exercise

Do you think about breathing? How about when you are exercising? Most of us don’t. Breathing just happens. As mentioned in the above article, breathing is part of the autonomic nervous system that makes sure these kinds of functions continue without our thinking. A study studied how chronic neck pain patients breathed and if better breathing exercise could help. 68 chronic neck pain patients were put into one of 2 groups: one with breathing re-education exercise or routine physical therapy. The breathing group showed significant improvement in neck flexibility, extension, endurance, and strength of neck flexors and extensors. (9) Since this breath work seems to help neck pain patients, studies are now in the works for chronic low back pain patients. One that will study how conscious connected breathing may help highlighted how closely connected the respiratory system is throughout the body and “bidirectionally related” to emotion, stress, and pain. (10) Another study will have back pain patients do exercise with specific breathing techniques and without and assess outcomes related to pain, disability, anxiety, sleep, quality of life, health status, and more. (11) Breathing more consciously and exercising appears to be an up-and-coming benefit for the treatment plan of chronic back and neck pain adn good additions to Toronto chiropractic care!

Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Lee Hazen and Cheri Hazen on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as they described their combined efforts in helping back pain patients realize less pain and improved function with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management and breath coaching.

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