What is Wry Neck? Wry neck is a complaint where you develop neck pain and stiffness, which is often accompanied by spasm of the surrounding neck muscles. This causes neck pain and an inability to turn your neck through its full range of motion. Wry neck can also be referred to as acute wry neck since the onset is sudden - or acute! Wry neck is an extremely common condition, which can be quite disabling as the sufferer experiences constant severe pain with simple neck movements. Luckily wry neck treatment is normally very successful in a short-period of time! Wry Neck CausesWry neck can have several causes. However, it is the thought that the pain and reduction in range of motion results mainly from two mechanisms. Either Facet Wry Neck caused by a locked facet joint or Discogenic Wry Neck caused by a cervical disc injury. What is Facet Wry Neck? The most common cause of acute wry neck is a locked facet joint. Facet joints are located at the back of your spinal column. These facet joints allow, guide and limit the movements of your neck. Your facet joints are intended to allow smooth gliding movements between the adjacent vertebra. Occasionally your facet joints can become either stiff through traumatic injury or arthritis or simply get stuck at at extreme of movement. A common reported history for the wry neck patient is to wake with a stiff and painful neck. Onset of the wry neck is usually sudden. The cause may have included a restless night sleep, uncomfortable pillow, waking suddenly in the night (eg a noise) or simply unknown. Let's face it, who knows what we exactly get up to in our sleep! Wry neck pain is due to the numerous nerve endings that are located in the facet joint itself and in the tissues adjacent to the facet joint. Facet wry neck is most common in younger populations, ranging from young children to people in their thirties. Older facet wry neck sufferers tend to have a more gradual onset with the facet joints becoming "rusty" over time. Signs and Symptoms of Facet Wry NeckPain – generally located in the middle or side of the neck that is affected. The onset of pain is sudden. The pain experienced does not extend beyond the shoulder joint. Loss of Movement – your neck is generally fixed in an abnormal position – most commonly flexed forward and rotated away from the side of pain. All movements aggravate the pain, as the joint is fixed and movement triggers irritation to the joint and thus pain. Muscle Spasm – this is a tightening of the associated neck muscles that further limit movement. Acute Wry Neck TreatmentAfter your physiotherapist assessed your neck and confirms which joint or joints are locked, they will utilise a range of low risk joint treatment techniques and soft tissue massage to normalise your facet joint function. While the joint can almost always be immediately unlocked, you will have some residual muscle spasm and swelling in the region due to the trauma. Think how a sprained ankle swells! Neck joints will also swell, but it won't be as visible. How Long is Recovery?Read full article: Wry Neck Helpful Products for Wry Neck Related Injuries |
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Wry Neck. What is the Best Treatment?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment