Chronic neck pain can be one of the most difficult types of orthopedic issues to address. This type of pain frequently extends beyond the localized area of the neck that is injured. Impingement of the nerves in your cervical spine can cause far more reaching effects. Your upper back, shoulders, arms, and even your hands can also feel extremely painful. Before you resort to surgical intervention, it’s important to explore other types of pain management options to treat your condition.
Work with a Physical Therapist
Working one-on-one with a physical therapist can help you improve your strength and mitigate the toll that your neck pain is having on your muscles. If you’re in severe pain, you should attend physical therapy sessions once to twice per week. Including osteopathic manipulative therapy as a part of a comprehensive physical therapy regimen can offer substantial short-term and long-term benefits.
Consult a Pain Management Physician
When you search online for a pain doctor near me, don’t go right for the nearest location. Choose a pain management physician whose website describes a variety of services and treatment options. In addition to medication, you may want to consider trying several types of injections to help treat your pain locally. Trigger point injections, facet joint injections, or epidural injections may help to alleviate chronic pain resulting from uninterrupted nerve root compression.
Explore Natural Remedies
Natural forms of medicine such as medical marijuana and other cannabis products including CBD oil can offer significant relief from chronic neck pain. These natural remedies are far preferable to excessive reliance on opiates. Medical marijuana can help individuals suffering from neck pain to reduce fascial tension and minimize the symbiotic relationship associated with pain and stress.
Try Electric Stimulation Therapy
An electric stimulation machine, also called an E-Stim machine, uses low voltage electricity applied directly to your muscles. This helps interrupt spasmodic pain and interrupt the synaptic chain of radiculopathy pain. You may be able to try this therapy with your physical therapist, and if you find it to be successful in helping your pain, you can get one for in-home use. These machines are relatively inexpensive, and they may be covered by some types of insurance such as Medicare.
When you’ve been experiencing neck pain for a continuous period of time, you may feel pessimistic about improving the condition. However, you need to stay engaged in fighting pain. When pain is interfering with your quality of life, you owe it to yourself to continue exploring new treatment options.
