Physiotherapists in Wimborne treat many different conditions including the issues profiled below.

Chronic Neck Pain

The risk of long term neck pain and disability has been the subject of much investigation to try and stop this disabling, painful and costly condition developing. The warning signs which indicate a risk of developing this condition are known as yellow flags and are mostly to do with our understanding and emotional state. Physical factors are much less important unless they are very high levels of pain after an injury. Yellow flags include believing that the neck pain is due to serious injury or damage to the neck tissues; avoiding activity or movement due to fear of causing damage; resting excessively; waiting for a cure for the pain instead of working on it themselves; developing depression and becoming withdrawn; not improving over a couple of weeks; believing that hurt equals harm and that disability is likely.

These symptoms and attitudes can sneak up on someone so it is important to work at getting mobile and back to normal as soon as possible after injury or an episode of neck pain. It is useful to analyse how the recovery is going and take steps to fix any of the problems that the patient or an adviser identifies as relevant.

Exercise for Neck Pain

Exercise is a good choice to manage neck pain and is a safe way to treat the neck. Simple neck exercises are useful and help reduce pain and maintain the ranges of motion of the joints. It is important to stretch out the muscles, joints and other structures in the neck which might be tight and stiff. A degree of discomfort and soreness is to be expected after beginning to exercise and this should not be a cause of concern. Concentration on repeating the movements until full range is achieved is the key and with this a reduction in pain is likely.

No particular exercise suits everybody.s neck problems so a bit of experimentation is often necessary to find the right combination for any individual. Neck exercises should be performed slowly and steadily to get the right result as quick movements may cause injury or aggravate the pain. All exercises should be performed to the end of the range of movement available with a steady push to go a bit further held for a few seconds each time. The neck itself is an obvious choice for exercises but the shoulder and the shoulder girdle are involved in the function of the area and should also be included.