Did you know that 90 percent of neurologically injured whiplash patients don’t recover and potentially have neck muscle dysfunction for up to one year after the date of the motor vehicle collision? That is if they don’t seek treatment or do any neck pain exercises in Lacey.
This information is practically alarming. Researchers think that these ongoing issues are the result of the body’s initial response to injury to the brachial plexus. The brachial plexus is the network of intersecting nerves that give rise to three main nerves that travel down the arm to the hand. The superficial muscles to the side of the injury is able to become more active and take on a classic shrugged position in order to protect and ease tension on the brachial plexus. This shrugged position is a common posture seen in neck pain exercise Lacey patients.
This protective mechanism can weaken the deep neck muscles over time. These muscles are important in maintaining a healthy posture and alignment. Because of this, there may be secondary injury and long term issues in WAD patients, even after the injury to the brachial plexus has been taken care of.
A study was done that involved 171 chronic WAD patients with arm pain and signs of neurological deficit. The researchers found that the participants that performed neck specific exercises for 12 weeks strengthened their deep neck muscles and therefore improved their pain levels. The participants who were assigned general physical activities did not experience the same improvements of the neck pain specific exercises.
A couple of the authors from this study did a similar experiment. They concluded that patients who did neck specific exercises were much more satisfied with the approach rather than the patients in the general exercise group.
Both of these studies show that by exercising the specific deep neck muscles, the results are amazing, including neurological recovery. Our neck pain exercises Lacey can help you with these specific exercise approaches so that you can recover in the best way possible. Check some of them out here.
Remember though, if you’re suffering in pain, come in and see us. We are walk in friendly but also have the option for you to make an appointment if you wish.
