@kilh Thank you for your question. I have had neck pain for years too. I would never use a chiropractor for my spine. I know that it was so easy to rupture a bulging disc because I did that simply by turning my head. With degenerative discs, you never really know how weakened the disc has become. Injuries such as a whiplash cause small cracks in the outer fibrous layer and over time with aging, the discs dry out a bit and the cracks can separate and open up. If it ruptures, it spills out the jelly like nucleus inside, and the inflammation from that causes bone growth. In my case, that was bone spurs that were pressing into my spinal cord. I was stretching when the disc gave way and suddenly it turned my head farther than my range of motion and I heard it pop. That was not anywhere near the force that can be exerted by a person cracking your neck making "adjustments".

I was working with my physical therapist who also does myofascial release. The tension exerted by overly tight fascia can cause a lot of body misalignment. My PT would evaluate me every time I came in looking at total spine and pelvic alignment, head position, scapula position, legs, etc and find my pattern of tightness, and then hold a manual stretch on me with her hands until it released. That is how MFR works. It is gentle. I have had my jaw become misaligned and I have one side of my neck that is too tight that can throw it all off. I think most of this is caused by the TOS (thoracic outlet syndrome.) Muscles have to work in opposition to each other. For example, if the triceps on the back of the upper arm didn't exist, you'd probably punch yourself in the face trying to eat something. The triceps oppose and control the action of the biceps that bend the elbow.

Muscles connecting the spine, head and scapula work in similar ways. Often my PT could release one side of my neck or direct me to do something like turn my head while she is releasing something and it got me back to normal alignment gently and without excess force.

I can easily overexert myself and kick up my neck, and for the most part, I can do some self treatment because I have learned the techniques from my PT. Stress affects my neck by bringing on muscle spasms that cause pain and headaches, and also working to overcome the emotional responses helps a lot and understanding how the stress hormone cortisol affects me. I know my own pattern that changes things, and I self treat to overcome it when I feel a change coming on. For some things, I may need to go back to my PT because I can't get my hands or any other tool in the right position to be effective. I have to be careful how I sleep and have my neck fully supported or I can wake up with a neck spasm and pain. For the most part, I am pain free, but I can have a stiff neck sometimes. I don't have any spine related pain referred to other parts of my body as in numbness, tingling and pain, etc, but I can get some arm pain or fatigue from TOS related nerve entrapment under the collar bone. If I maintain good posture, I am pain free. I need to add that I had a cervical fusion of C5/C6 that calmed my neck down a lot, and the surgical scar does periodically get tight and needs to be stretched out so that doesn't link into the left sided pattern of tightness that I already had prior to spine surgery. I had spinal cord compression due to cervical stenosis, and surgery resolved all of that and I have not had any vertigo since my spine surgery.

Here is our discussion where you can learn about myofascial release. There is a provider search at http://mfrtherapists.com/

Have you heard of MFR therapy before?