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

Stress and Neck Pain

Neck pain causes problems in life, reducing our ability to do things, interrupting comfortable postures and interfering with our concentration. This causes stress and anxiety , a very typical response, and which can increase muscle tension and increase pain. The tension caused by stresses can increase the contraction levels in neck muscles and this spasm contributes towards muscle pain in all the overactive muscles. Figuring out what the stresses are and taking action to reduce them at this stage is very important and may help recovery. Mindfulness, controlled breathing and relaxation techniques may all be useful.

Mindfulness is a technique of placing yourself in the here and now with yourself and not judging yourself and the situation you are in, you just accept and experience it. Relaxation techniques are often practised lying down with a pillow under the knees to relax the low back area. Contracting each set of muscles from the feet up and then letting them go will provide a relaxation, with a guide from a relaxation CD or tape a useful adjunct. Controlled breathing by allowing the abdomen to rise as the diaphragm is used to inhale air in a slow rhythm can also be very relaxing.

Simple Neck Exercises

Neck problems are very common with neck, head, upper back, shoulder and arm pain all possibly referred from the cervical spine discs, joints, ligaments and muscles. The cervical spine is a long column with a heavy weight (the head) balanced at one end, a process that demands good movements and strong muscular control to achieve effectively without pain. Neck pain is commonly secondary to poor posture over a long period of time such as working at an office desk or kitchen worktop, where the neck has to maintain one posture for much longer than is helpful.

It can be helpful to perform simple neck exercises every day to maintain the ranges of motion of all the cervical joints and other structures within normal limits. Different parts of the cervical spine are specialised for different movements and it is important to make sure that the specific movements for each joint are practised daily. The upper neck vertebrae are specialised for rotation as moving the head round to look at something is a very important ability, and there is a small amount of a nodding movement here also. Further down the neck the focus is more on forward and back movements functionally adapted for looking up and down.