Not All Neck Injuries Are the Same

Neck injuries are really common and they can cause a variety of different symptoms. The most obvious is neck pain, but it can also be associated with headache, dizziness, visual problems, and autonomic problems as well.⁣
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Neck pain can come from a variety of injuries, and no two injuries are the same, even if it got injured the same way.⁣
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The tissues that are injured depend on how the neck was injured, how strong the neck was at baseline, genetic predisposition to inflammation degeneration, age, and history of previous injuries.⁣
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Because of that, different tissues can be injured even if the mechanism of injury is the same. These can include:⁣
• Muscles⁣
• Ligaments ⁣
• Discs⁣
• Joint capsule or joint cartilage ⁣
• Arthritis⁣
• Nerves⁣

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This isn’t even mentioning factors like psychological and social factors that contribute to persistent pain responses.⁣
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Patients frequently bring in test results from MRI or other imaging hoping that we might be able to help their specific case with upper cervical chiropractic care.⁣
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But many of these injuries may not even show up on an a standard MRI.⁣

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That’s why we should never take for granted how important it is to actually examine a patient thoroughly with our own eyes and hands.⁣
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While imaging may be an important piece of how we take care of someone, we always perform a thorough physical exam of the neck and assess for different neck injuries so we can treat it appropriately, but also know when to refer out.⁣