Neck pain

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My friend recently has been facing a lot of neck pain. Its not because of table tennis because he doesn't play sports. He's a gamer. He finds it really hard to turn his neck and that when the pain occurs. Any idea of any excercisles that he could use so he could do to get rid of it. I thought someone here could help.
 
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A quick tip would be to watch how high he has his shoulders. They need to be relaxed and low. If they're not, it will lead to tensing of the traps, most likely causing neck pain.

That's one way to prevent it, and it helped me.

Somewhat unrelated, but related, if he plays FPS or RTS, tell him to learn to keep his wrist relaxed. When I still played competitively, I would sometimes stress my wrist heavily from the time pressure and needing to aim precisely. He needs to learn to aim precisely and move the mouse fast without tensing his wrist: just like table tennis!

If you tense the wrist, there is a tendency to tense the arm, and raise the shoulder.


Sources: Personal experience, take with grain of salt
 
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He went to a doctor all they gave is pain killers. Then he went to a different doctor and he gave some excercise and he tried them for a month still no relieve. So now he is going to try acupuncture which is really expensive....$80 per day. :(
I don't know how bad it is, but he needs to also work on prevention. As a gamer, he most likely has a lot of very bad sitting habits.
 
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I'm with Archosaurus, long sitting is bad for your health. Reduce the inflammatory foods he eats (grains,sugar,dairy,nuts). Eat high amounts of protein to rebuild. start slow with rehab, try to improve flexability and mobility by stretching and exercise. STAY HYDRATED!!!
 
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I have some knowledge of this, as I work in Physical Medicine and Rehab, and I also had Cervical Radiculopathy.

First, the phenomenon that he is most likely experiencing is “Text neck.” It’s something that is so prevalent now, due to gaming and smartphones. It’s entirely postural, and it could be that he has some anatomical issues going on in his neck at this point. I was just told by our rehab peds doctor that text neck is becoming alarmingly common in children, and they are developing issues (arthritis, buldging discs, pinched nerves) as a result. If you have cervical neck arthritis as a child, you are likely doomed to surgery before you are 30 without intervention.


Have him ensure he has good posture. His head should not be leaning forward, and he should stop looking down at devices. This includes bringing the smartphone or device to EYE LEVEL! Next, all monitors, including TV, should be brought up to eye level. He should consider a standing desk for his keyboard and mouse should be slightly below the level of his elbows. Laptops are bad if they are indeed on your laps or even on a table. They too should be raised to eye level.

In nursing, there is an acronym called “ADPIE” (Assessment, Diagnosis, Planning, Implementation/Intervention, and Evaluation)

Assess/ Diagnosis
Go to the doctor and get assessed, and receive a clear diagnosis. They need to figure out EXACTLY what is wrong (Herniated disc, bulging disc, pinched nerve, mass, fracture, etc). Intervention without diagnosis could lead to greater injury. You must get imaging to ensure that there isn’t something more sinister than poor posture or cervical disc degeneration. Did he get imaging?

Planning
Plan on making changes to your lifestyle (posture, exercises, lose weight, etc). Reduce gaming time, or change posture during gaming as I mentioned above. There is a great app called “Lumo Lift” which uses your smartphone and a small device to monitor and coach you into proper position. It alerts you when your posture is bad.
Plan on physical therapy.
Plan on doing prescribed PT exercises.
Set an alarm to do said exercises.

Intervention
PT is the best intervention. If you don’t have access to adequate healthcare do to money/insurance, then go to youtube or google and look for “Cervical Exercises” “Neck Pain Exercises” “Mackenzie Exercises.” There is a lot of content and video out there for you to choose from. Remember; get your doctor or PT to sign off on these exercises first! You don’t want to do more damage!
These exercises are designed to add flexibility to the WHOLE spine (not just the neck) as well as to strengthen accessory muscles for better alignment. The flexibility and mobility of your spine only happens with a “wet” or hydrated spine and the discs are getting proper blood flow. When someone has a “dry” spine due to poor mobility or poor poster and thus a straightening of the spine (leaning the head forward, looking down, and sedentary lifestyle) they will develop arthritis and disc degeneration or a bulging/herniated disc. Remember, the entire spine needs hydrating and mobility. One level effects all the levels so likely you will have to do exercises for your lumbar and thoracic regions as well.
I literally set an alarm on my smartphone to remind myself to do my exercises every day.
You mentioned that exercises he was given did not work, however these things take time. It's not a over-night cure, and may not resolve for weeks or months. He has to be patient. Also, the exercises are only as good as the patient doing them.

I would recommend he actually go to a PT.

Evaluation
Monitor how he is doing with the interventions and exercises. If something is painful (and it’s not expected) stop the exercise. If the exercises are not working, make sure you follow up with your doctor.

In parting…I do NOT recommend a Chiropractor unless you are recommended one by a physician. Some chiropractors are great, some are dangerous. In the US, a DO (Doctor of Osteopathy) is the same level of practitioner as an MD, but with additional schooling in chiropractic and physical medicine and that would be your best option. Acupuncture might help, but PTs can do dry needling as well.

Best of luck to your friend.
 
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I have some knowledge of this, as I work in Physical Medicine and Rehab, and I also had Cervical Radiculopathy.

First, the phenomenon that he is most likely experiencing is “Text neck.” It’s something that is so prevalent now, due to gaming and smartphones. It’s entirely postural, and it could be that he has some anatomical issues going on in his neck at this point. I was just told by our rehab peds doctor that text neck is becoming alarmingly common in children, and they are developing issues (arthritis, buldging discs, pinched nerves) as a result. If you have cervical neck arthritis as a child, you are likely doomed to surgery before you are 30 without intervention.


Have him ensure he has good posture. His head should not be leaning forward, and he should stop looking down at devices. This includes bringing the smartphone or device to EYE LEVEL! Next, all monitors, including TV, should be brought up to eye level. He should consider a standing desk for his keyboard and mouse should be slightly below the level of his elbows. Laptops are bad if they are indeed on your laps or even on a table. They too should be raised to eye level.

In nursing, there is an acronym called “ADPIE” (Assessment, Diagnosis, Planning, Implementation/Intervention, and Evaluation)

Assess/ Diagnosis
Go to the doctor and get assessed, and receive a clear diagnosis. They need to figure out EXACTLY what is wrong (Herniated disc, bulging disc, pinched nerve, mass, fracture, etc). Intervention without diagnosis could lead to greater injury. You must get imaging to ensure that there isn’t something more sinister than poor posture or cervical disc degeneration. Did he get imaging?

Planning
Plan on making changes to your lifestyle (posture, exercises, lose weight, etc). Reduce gaming time, or change posture during gaming as I mentioned above. There is a great app called “Lumo Lift” which uses your smartphone and a small device to monitor and coach you into proper position. It alerts you when your posture is bad.
Plan on physical therapy.
Plan on doing prescribed PT exercises.
Set an alarm to do said exercises.

Intervention
PT is the best intervention. If you don’t have access to adequate healthcare do to money/insurance, then go to youtube or google and look for “Cervical Exercises” “Neck Pain Exercises” “Mackenzie Exercises.” There is a lot of content and video out there for you to choose from. Remember; get your doctor or PT to sign off on these exercises first! You don’t want to do more damage!
These exercises are designed to add flexibility to the WHOLE spine (not just the neck) as well as to strengthen accessory muscles for better alignment. The flexibility and mobility of your spine only happens with a “wet” or hydrated spine and the discs are getting proper blood flow. When someone has a “dry” spine due to poor mobility or poor poster and thus a straightening of the spine (leaning the head forward, looking down, and sedentary lifestyle) they will develop arthritis and disc degeneration or a bulging/herniated disc. Remember, the entire spine needs hydrating and mobility. One level effects all the levels so likely you will have to do exercises for your lumbar and thoracic regions as well.
I literally set an alarm on my smartphone to remind myself to do my exercises every day.
You mentioned that exercises he was given did not work, however these things take time. It's not a over-night cure, and may not resolve for weeks or months. He has to be patient. Also, the exercises are only as good as the patient doing them.

I would recommend he actually go to a PT.

Evaluation
Monitor how he is doing with the interventions and exercises. If something is painful (and it’s not expected) stop the exercise. If the exercises are not working, make sure you follow up with your doctor.

In parting…I do NOT recommend a Chiropractor unless you are recommended one by a physician. Some chiropractors are great, some are dangerous. In the US, a DO (Doctor of Osteopathy) is the same level of practitioner as an MD, but with additional schooling in chiropractic and physical medicine and that would be your best option. Acupuncture might help, but PTs can do dry needling as well.

Best of luck to your friend.

Allright guys. You all should start pounding the like button. I've been to busy to respond and all the prior responses lacked the understanding that something like this needs an accurate diagnosis and appropriate application of treatment on an individual basis.

All the info you need is contained in Nuke's excellent post.


Sent from Deep Space by Abacus
 
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nuke's info is perfect, but he forgot diet.

Explain why you think diet is part of a neck problem and what makes you think that this particular person's diet is part of the problem.

Besides: he actually didn't really leave that out. During an assessment from a qualified physician, if diet was deemed to be part of the problem or if a specific diet was recommended as part of the recovery, that would be covered. In this sentence: "Go to a doctor and get assessed, and receive a clear diagnosis," this would be covered if diet was a real part of the solution.

Now, we all could probably eat a more healthy diet. But the "high amounts of protein to rebuild," that you recommended may have nothing to do with the actual issue of what kind of diet would help with repair to cartilage in disks and the ligaments and tendons that support neck function.

But Nuke really addressed the issue of how the tissues of the spine get the nutrition they need quite directly when he explained about a "'wet' or hydrated spine," even if you didn't fully understand what he said.

The spinal movements that Nuke was talking about which hydrate the spine are how the spine gets the nutrition it needs to repair tissue.

So, again, hit the LIKE button on Nuke's post. He did a great job and was very thorough and accurate.



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chill out carl, i didn't see the point in writing a book on how to help him. he's been to 2 docs. sorry i didn't read all 10 paragraphs. sue me. protein every 3 hours help maintain your bcaa's :)

BCCAs are good for helping muscle strengthen faster. They don't do much for disks, ligaments, tendons, cartilage or posture. Without an actual assessment of the person, we cannot tell what needs to be take care of. But it is most likely not muscle mass in the guy's neck. And it is more likely to be some of those things I just listed.

So extra protein might be good for some things and BCCA supplements are awesome for during and after intensive play or any kind of working out.

But it is more than likely that they don't have too much to do with this specific guy's neck issues.

And Nuke really did address everything necessary.

There is nothing wrong with improving your diet. There is nothing wrong with adding supplements like BCCAs to help you get stronger faster. But those things probably have little to do with the issue in this thread.


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DO (Doctor of Osteopathy) are hard to locate in some States. When I lived in Chicago, they had a school there. I have neck issues from a fall, wish I could locate a DO in Virginia.

Nukes reply was excellent.
ChuckJordan,

Funny you posted that. I'm in DC, live in Fairfax VA. The Medstar National Rehabilitation Hospital is where I work, and quite literally about 50% of the doctors I work with are DOs. Are you in Northern VA? Because up here there are quite a few. Or are you more central or southern? I could do a quick query to find you a DO. Well worth it for both non-invasive and surgical musculoskeletal intervention. Of course, a DO's standard is to provide the least invasive therapy as possible, whereas I find MD Surgeons to be of the philosophy: "The whole world is made of nails and I am a hammer."
 
Allright guys. You all should start pounding the like button. I've been to busy to respond and all the prior responses lacked the understanding that something like this needs an accurate diagnosis and appropriate application of treatment on an individual basis.

All the info you need is contained in Nuke's excellent post.


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Thanks for the props Carl, I hope this helps people. Proper healthcare is a passion of mine.
 
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BCCAs are good for helping muscle strengthen faster. They don't do much for disks, ligaments, tendons, cartilage or posture. Without an actual assessment of the person, we cannot tell what needs to be take care of. But it is most likely not muscle mass in the guy's neck. And it is more likely to be some of those things I just listed.

So extra protein might be good for some things and BCCA supplements are awesome for during and after intensive play or any kind of working out.

But it is more than likely that they don't have too much to do with this specific guy's neck issues.

And Nuke really did address everything necessary.

There is nothing wrong with improving your diet. There is nothing wrong with adding supplements like BCCAs to help you get stronger faster. But those things probably have little to do with the issue in this thread.


Sent from Deep Space by Abacus

Good food heals the body. Supplements are worthless in my opinion.

I agree, nukes advise is great. 100% respect.
 
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It is a general opinion, revert back to metal, plastic or wooden Chairs with some good engineering to support the back. I threw away my cushion chair and my back and neck is much straighter than before.

When posture is bad, it messes up our entire well being.

We can live whatever way we want but at the end we are all chimps evolved in certain ways. You can't mess up certain things and posture is one for sure.
 
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Acu Puncture is costly and unscientific much like Homeopathy. May be there is some authentic knowledge somewhere in the foothills of Harbin. Hence, in general Unreliable. My mom suffered from Varicose Vein and decided to visit Acu Punturist for almost an year and finally it became worse. Experience is the best teacher.

Some Tai Chi warm up, Specific Yoga Postures and Modern Physical Therapy backed by Science should definitely solve it in like 10 days. We may be suffering for some diseases for many years and it takes like 10 days to rectify it provided finding the right source of treatment. Acu puntcure is never sure for one.

P.S. By 10 days, i mean it would get better soon than expected.
 
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