For such a small area, neck pain can certainly cast a long shadow. Think about it — every time you turn your head to hear or see something, or any time you use your shoulders and arms to move something, it’s all coming back to your neck. And if that neck is painful, these everyday movements can become painful too.
Neck pain is a global issue that affects millions. In 2020, researchers found that neck pain affects 203 million people worldwide, and they predict that number will jump to 269 million by 2050.
Given that neck pain is a growing problem worldwide and in the United States, the team of pain management experts at Johnston Pain Management wants to highlight one of the most effective solutions for chronic neck pain — trigger point injections.
To save you time, we want to first point out that trigger point injections are an effective protocol for a specific type of neck pain — muscular.
Your neck is a hard-working area that supports your head and allows for a wide range of movement. Providing this support and mobility are muscle groups in your neck, your shoulders, and your back that all pitch in together.
So, if you develop a trigger point, which is another term for a muscle knot or spasm, in any of these muscle groups, it can very much lead to neck pain.
Muscular neck pain is fast becoming a leading contributor to the overall burden, thanks to:
If you’re reading this on your phone, tablet, or laptop and your head is angled down to do so, you’re illustrating our first point about muscular neck pain. Called tech neck, medical researchers are referring to this issue as an epidemic, which makes sense given the numbers — nearly 65% of people who work from home report neck or back pain.
Staring down at screens places enormous strain on the muscles in your neck, shoulders, and upper back, which can lead to muscle spasms.
Along the same lines, if you have poor sitting or standing posture — your shoulders are hunched, and your head isn’t held up, it places the same pressure in your neck that we described above.
If you have neck issues, such as a herniated disc, the supporting muscles can take on more stress as you try to avoid placing too much pressure on the disc. As a result, you can strain the muscles, leading to painful knots.
Many people carry stress in their necks and shoulders — you might not even notice it, but if you take a deep breath and relax your shoulders, you might realize just how tense they are. This stress-related tension can very much lead to painful trigger points.
If we find that you have muscle knots or spasms that are causing or contributing to your chronic neck pain, trigger point injections are an excellent therapy.
As the name suggests, we stick a needle into the trigger point to release its grip on your muscles and fascia, collectively known as myofascia.
In some cases, we inject the trigger point with a local anesthetic, but we can also perform dry needling — we insert the needle, but there’s no injection.
Just the act of inserting the needle into these areas of hypersensitivity and tension can make all the difference, helping your muscles release the tension. With chronic neck pain, especially, your muscles can get stuck in a state of contraction, and the insertion of a needle can, in a way, get your muscles to snap out of it.
So, if you want to determine whether trigger point injections would work for your chronic neck pain, we invite you to contact us at one of our three conveniently located offices in Jacksonville, Hampstead, or New Bern, North Carolina, to schedule a consultation.
