Your neck and shoulders ache a lot more. You may feel a knot, stiffness, or severe pain in your neck. The pain may spread to your shoulders, upper back, or arms. You may get a headache. You may not be able to move or turn your head and neck easily. If there is pressure on a spinal nerve root , you might have pain that shoots down your arm . You may also have numbness, tingling, or weakness in your arm.
How is Neck & Shoulder Pain treated?
The type of treatment you need will depend on whether your neck and shoulder pain is caused by activities, an injury, or another medical condition.
Dr. Mathew Tung is a specialist in the management of acute and chronic neck pain.
Dr. Mathew Tung’s neck pain clinic in Singapore specialises in the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic neck pain. He provides non-invasive and effective treatment to patients throughout Singapore.
What Causes Neck Pain?
Many people suffer with acute or chronic neck pain. A modern lifestyle where too much time is spent in poor posture, using tablet, or smartphone is one of the most common causes of neck pain. This poor posture leads to misalignment and subluxation throughout the spine, which causes not only neck pain but often radiant pain throughout the body including the shoulders and arms.
Whiplash and other injuries sustained in car accidents are another major cause to the development of neck pain.
Osteoarthritis, degenerative diseases, and abnormalities in the bones and joints can also contribute to neck pain.
Patients should seek immediate medical attention if their neck pain is accompanied by shooting pain, numbness, or loss of strength in arms or hands.
How is neck pain diagnosed?
Dr. Tung performs comprehensive manual examinations of the neck and spine. He takes a holistic approach to health and wellbeing so will also ask questions about the patient’s lifestyle, general health, and any possible accidents or activities that could contribute to the neck pain.
In many cases, Dr. Tung finds that the patient is suffering from “text neck” which is an unnatural forward positioning of the cervical spine. This forward position leads to misalignment and nerve compression.
If a patient has been in an accident, he or she should seek assessment and care as soon as possible, even if there are no symptoms. Often the adrenaline surge following an accident masks any painful symptoms for several days. Dr. Tung will be able to diagnose any issues even if there isn’t any pain.
How does Dr. Mathew Tung treats neck pain?
Dr. Tung provides his patients with expert pain control methods:
Physical Methods: Physiotherapy.
Oral Medication: To reduce inflammation to the neck area.
The gluteus medius is one of the main buttock muscles that are responsible for holding the pelvis stable and supporting your body on your legs when standing, walking, or running. It also helps control the sideways movement of your legs. If the gluteus medius is strained in some way, it can become tender and tight and less able to function normally.
Causes for Gluteus Medius Dysfunction
Stress or tension alone, if it continues with some intensity over a long period of time, can make your gluteus medius tighten up. Apart from the pain this causes, the muscles may become shortened and less flexible. In addition, referred pain from the spine or hip can cause dysfunction in the muscle. However, the most common cause of injury to the gluteus medius is overworking or stretching them beyond their normal range. Athletes, particularly runners, hurdlers, and long jumpers, frequently overuse their gluteus medius and soometimes cause them to tear from failing to adequately stretch or warm up before any activity, particularly in cold weather. A less common cause of gluteus medius trauma is a direct impact, such as a heavy fall onto the buttocks, which usually leads to bruising and irritation of the underlying bursa (a protective fluid-filled sac).
Symptoms and Diagnosis for Gluteus Medius Dysfunction
Apart from buttock and hip pain on one or both sides of your body, and possibly leg pain, you may feel stiff, be slightly unstable when standing, and find moving your hip awkward. Your doctor will carry out a physical examination to establish the cause of your problems.
Risks and Recovery for Gluteus Medius Dysfunction
Minor strains and bruises will usually heal on their own within a few weeks, but if action is not taken fairly promptly to rehabilitate overtight or stretched muscles, recovery may be slower. Muscles held in a state of tension for too long will fail to regain their former range of movement and response.
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Pain or soreness occurring in and around the coccyx – the three to five fused vertebrae at the base of the spine that are often referred to as the tail bone – can vary from general discomfort to bouts of sudden sharp or nagging pain. Also known as coccygeal pain, this condition tends to be brought on or made worse by sitting down.
Causes for Coccydydynia
A number of very different sets of circumstances appear to be responsible for trigger episodes of tenderness and pain in and around the coccyx region. Muscle spasms that have been brought on by prolonged tension and stress might be a trigger, for example, as might a damaged ligament that has been caused by a heavy blow or fall. In a large number of cases, coccydynia is he result of sitting in more or less one position for a very long period of time. Many women also suffer bouts of pain around the coccyx after giving birth. It is always important to have these symptoms checked by a doctor.
Symptoms and Diagnosis for Coccydynia
You will find it uncomfortable and often very painful to sit down, with the pain getting worse the longer you stay in one position. There may also be some inflammation and bruising in the coccyx area. Occasionally, bowel movements can be painful. Your doctor will make a diagnosis by performing a physical examination, and may order X-rays if he suspects you have broken bones.
Risks and Recovery for Coccydynia
Coccyx pain can be difficult to treat, so it needs an expert eye and awareness of the full range of related conditions that can occur; as such, the main risks stem from inadequate treatment. If your pain persists for several months and is consistently severe enough to make daily life difficult, a local injection of cortisone may reduce any inflammation and alleviate your symptoms. In extreme cases, where a fall or blow has damaged the coccyx, you may need surgery to remove any loose bone fragments and possibly the last few segments of the coccyx, but this is usually a last resort.
Pain often occurs when one of the facet joints that link the vertbrae in your spinal column is suddenly twisted or jerked. A joint that is damaged in this way may stick or “lock”, making movement difficult as well as painful. Facet joint strain can occur throughout your spine.
Causes for Facet Joint Strain
Awkward twisting or bending of your neck or back can injure the ligaments, muscles, or the capsule of a facet joint. Whiplash from a car accident is a good example of this type of injury, but it can also result from failure to warm up before exercising or playing sport, or from lifting heavy objects. Even simply turning over in bed or sleeping awkwardly can have the same effect. Your muscles may then go into an uncontrollable spasm, making the joint stiff and immobile. Facet joints are more vulnerable to strains from middle age onwards, when osteoarthritis may flare up, the discs in your spine have degenerated significantly, and the ligaments that are supporting the joints become more slack.
Symptoms and Diagnosis of Facet Joint Strain
In the early stages, disabling pain in you neck or back is often accompanied by restricted movement. Pain from facet joint strain in your lower back may also radiate into your buttocks, hips, lower abdomen, and thighs. Movement may be limited for only a few weeks; however, it can last for months, and in some cases years, unless you receive appropriate treatment, which usually involves manipulation or, in chronic cases, an injection. Facet joint strain in your neck may extend down to your shoulders, making it difficult to bend your neck or turn your head. Your doctor will make a diagnosis by giving you a physical examination.
Risks and Recovery for Facet Joint Strain
There is no serious risk from facet joint strain, but failure to relieve pain or inflammation can lead to permanently stiff joints. Joint strain in the middle of your back, although the least common, may cause pain to radiate around your chest, making it painful and difficult to breathe, especially if the joints between the ribs and thoracic vertebrae become “locked”.