From sitting at the computer all day to gazing down at your digital devices for extended periods, one’s posture can suffer and neck pain is a common complaint that brings many into the practice.
As so many more people have been working from home during the pandemic they may not have their workstations set up in the most ergonomically friendly manner. We tend to lean our heads forward and round the upper back.
Over time, this poor postural position creates physical changes in the neck and upper back. It also increases the amount of strain placed on the neck to hold the head up and can cause pain that may seem to come on overnight but has actually been building up over time.
How PT Can Help
Physical therapy can help with immediate pain by helping decrease the overall tension and strain in that area, using manual therapy techniques. We will educate patients on things that they can do differently with their workstation, or potentially choosing a supportive pillow or optimal sleeping position.
We will provide exercises and stretches to help increase the range of motion and then help posturally so that they can change and even reverse some of the physiological changes that have happened over time.
What to Expect
During your first visit you would come in and sit down with our physical therapist and she would talk about how long your pain has been going on-specifically, where it hurts and what types of things make it hurt worse. She’ll also ask what types of things make it feel better and whether you’ve had any sort of treatment in the past.
If your neck pain seems to be work-related, we would talk about your workstation setup, making sure that we know what is aggravating it and what things you’re not able to do right now. We also want to find out what your goals are and where we want to get at the end.
After that subjective piece, we would have you go through some range of motion testing to see if there are any limitations or what is causing your pain. Your PT will then do strength testing for the neck and the shoulder because they tend to correlate.
The purpose of this testing is to rule out if there was an actual shoulder issue or if it’s truly neck-related. Then our PT would do some treatment which may include manual therapy techniques along with the use of Kinesio tape, which can help give more prolonged help throughout the week while you’re not at physical therapy. Our PT also will provide you with a few stretches and exercises to get started with.
“I also want to make sure that what I have heard and what’s in my notes are correct and see what has changed and get the patient’s input to make sure that I know what’s important to them,” said our PT.
Because each of our practitioners can share a patient’s medical records among themselves our team members can communicate more easily within the practice. Our physical therapist can tell Dr. Jake what she found and he can tell her what he found and coordinate care that way.
Our Multidisciplinary Clinic
As our practice is a multidisciplinary clinic we offer chiropractic, physical therapy and massage therapy, but anyone can come in for one, two or three types of therapies.
Get to Know Our PT Crystal Luxmore
Crystal earned a master’s degree in physical therapy from the College of St. Scholastica. Before joining the Family Chiropractic + Wellness team she worked in hospital settings, focusing on outpatient, but including some inpatient care. Crystal has spent several years doing pediatric care on an outpatient basis. The rest of her career has been in outpatient clinic settings focusing on orthopedic and neurological dysfunctions.
“My favorite part of working here is learning about the patients and building rapport with them. I want to determine what their specific goals are and how their pain or range of motion difficulty is affecting their functioning. I also want to know what it is they want to get back to being able to do,” said Crystal.
Contact Us
With chiropractic, physical therapy and massage therapy available in-house, we’re your center in the community for natural healing. Give us a call today to schedule an appointment!