I was attending an unnamed chiropractor earlier this year twice weekly – $40/session/5 minute alignment – but have found that since ceasing what I interpreted as quite costly care that my neck pain has gotten much worse. I find I am cracking my neck several times a day in an attempt to ease the stiffness and pain.
Has anyone had experience in Canberra with alternative therapies or massage? I am an office worker and have definitely found that sitting in front of a computer all day has exacerbated the problem however I can’t do much to change these circumstances. At only 21 I am quite concerned that this may develop into a long term issue and would love to get this fixed soon.
Any suggestions for practitioners or advice are welcome 🙂
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I agree with adamr, Om Shanti College in Griffith is the best I’ve found. Or anyone trained by them.
The best massage clinic I’ve found is at Om Shanti College in Griffith Shops (near Manuka). Professional, therapeutic and cost effective. All of the therapists are excellent. They teach massage there so the standard is extremely high.
Hope this helps, bone crunching has never been a fave of mine.
Good for knees (and ankles and other such bits) is a physio at Kingston called Craig Wisdom. Very sound, very effective.
I can highly recommend Michael or Robyn at ‘Adjust for Health’ (chiro/osteopath) in North Lyneham.
Friendly and professional, they both do a great job and explain to you whats happening and help you work to fixing the problem, not just the pain. Also quite good cost for service.
A kiss and a bandaid?
Any suggestions for a hurty knee?
Thanks so much for all your comments and advice. It seems there are several tracks I can pursue to try and get this fixed up. I’m going to speak with my manager today about getting a workstation assessment and concentrate more on my posture and loosening my shoulder/neck muscles. I think that some regular exercise/stretching might help in this case too – I haven’t been doing too much over winter and it’s probably about time to start with the weather getting better by the day 🙂
I have had the same problem, recurring throughout my life. I’m 21 also.
I found that acupuncture and massage eased the problem temporarily but it always came back.
I find that after sitting at my desk all day, nervous tension tends to build up in my back and neck muscles and the only way to expel it is to get some decent exercise.
Although, I also discovered that too much caffeine makes it much, much worse so I am off the coffee and onto some stuff called Muscle Eaze which is like a vitamin powder which contains lots of magnesium. You can pick it up from the Health Food store.
It worked very well for me, although I presume, that as with most vitamin supplements it will work on some people, not on others, and just be a placebo on some.
I’m an office worker and have had a similar condition for over 20 years (brought on initially by a rugby accident). I’ve found the best permanent cure is to work on one’s posture. Sitting at a computer one’s head tends to jut forward with the chin out and the back of the neck compressed, making the cartilage cushion between the vertabrae thinner, causing the clamping down on nerves in your spine.
Imagine a thread suspending your body from the top of your head – this is how you need to carry your spine, in a hanging-from-head alignment.
Chin in and down (yes, even though it exacerbates double-chins – it’s worth it), back of head lifted up forming a straight vertical line down to the spine. Also, don’t lean your elbows on arm rests, at the desk or in the car. Don’t lean your forearms/wrists on your desk when typing or most particularly using your mouse. Let your arms hang from your shoulder sockets, allowing the muscles from your neck across the top of your shoulders to remain in a relaxed, elongated position.
So now you ask “If this works, why have you had the problem for over 20 years?”. The answer is when I stop doing the above and fall back into bad postural habits. Good posture needs to be constantly maintained, with a concious checking of how you are sitting, standing, or whatever. It is a lifetime task, but one well worth doing.
Regular exercise within your current fitness/strength/flexibility level assists with posture, as well as so many other things (circulation of blood and lymph improving immunity, moving metabolic byproducts, stimulating the production of important hormones and enzymes, stimulating bowel movement, time to let the mind wander and recharge, etc).
thanks astrojax – I’m enrolling! I’ve been looking for something like that for ages.
ooh, that said, i can also second adrian rumore – he was a boon when i moved to canberra having had a fantastic blind physio in sydney after a couple whiplash injuries as a young’un.
http://www.pandf.com.au/
not just ya achy neck – but all you achiness… this is an astounding practice and one you’ll never regret – for life.
sepi said :
No, Adrian Rumore. He is a physio who also offers a range of other therapies. He will certainly emphasise stretches and appropriate strengthening exercises. He has helped me enormously over the years with a bad neck and upper back as a result of OOS. Highly recommended by me.
Gentle swimming using a variety of strokes for 20 minutes a day, two or three times a week is great for neck pain.
Back in Balance at Pearce Shops is great. They don’t condone twice weekly visits as that would indicate something more serious. After a few months of ongoing pain, mine referred me to get x-rays which ended up showing I had curvature of the spine (bizarre). The diagnosis helped with treatment. They also do alternative therapies there.
Where can I get someone to fix my achey breaky heart??
Cervical manipulation is cervical manipulation, regardless of who performs it. Most of the literature (and my anecdotal evidence) points towards chiropractors as the main perpetrators (unsurprisingly, given that they likely perform it the most, statistically speaking), although others (including physios, doctors, homeopaths etc) have also been documented as causing the same injury via the same mechanism.
How about an Osteopath, Gun Street Girl? Have you seen similar injuries as result of their neck manipulations?
I’ve never admitted or cared for a vertebral artery dissection who’s sustained the injury from the hairdresser’s washing sink (although yes, agreed – the mechanism would theoretically put you at risk). The same can’t be said for chiropractor neck manipulation patients.
gun street girl said :