Neck Stiffness is No Joke!

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neck_muscles_tsThe neck is dense with anatomical structures. Bone, muscles, nerves, blood vessels, and lymph nodes compact into a contained space that connects the brain and sensory organs with the rest of the body.

When you have a stiff neck, the muscles contract and press against the many structures in this tunnel-like space, which may be the culprit behind your headaches, sinus congestion, ear pain, eye pain, TMJ, or numbness and tingling of the arms, hands, and fingers.

Just to give you a sense of just how much stuff is squeezed into your neck, we are listing its major anatomical components, with a bit of physiology to make some sense of it all. Keep in mind this is a partial list, with none of the ligaments or tendons listed. It’s hard to fathom, but there’s so much more than you see, below:

Bony Structure
In the sub-occipital region of the neck, directly adjacent to the skull, there is a pivot joint that enables the ability to rotate the head freely, made up of the atlas (C1) and the axis (C2). There are 5 additional cervical vertebrae, with the same structure as the upper and lower back. Other significant bony structures in the neck are the hyoid bone and cricoid cartilage.

Muscles at Back of Neck
Cervical multifidi, Levator scapulae, Longissimus capitis, Longus capitis, Longus colli, Obliquus capitus superior, Obliquus capitus inferior, Rectus capitis posterior minor, Rectus capitis posterior major, Rectus capitis posterior minor, Rectus capitis posterior major, Rotators, Spinalis capitis, Semispinalis capitis, Splenius capitis, Splenius cervicis, Sternocleidomastoid, Trapezius.

Muscles at Front of Neck
Digastric, Laryngeal, Myohyoid, Omohyoid, Platysma, Scalenes: anterior, middle, and posterior, Sternothyroid, Thyroidhyoid.

Nerves
The major nerves of the neck are the Greater Auricular, Greater Occipital, Lesser Occipital, the Cervical nerves of which there are 8 pairs, Transverse Cervical, Accessory, Brachial Plexus, Vagus, Phrenic, and the Laryngeal.

Arteries and Veins
The major blood vessels of the neck are the Brachiocephalic trunk artery, External and Internal Jugular veins, Internal Carotid and External arteries, Internal and External Carotid arteries, Right Common Carotid artery, Subclavian artery, Suprascapular artery, the Vertebral artery.

Physiological Structures are divided by function. 1. Alimentary: esophagus and pharynx. 2. Respiratory: larynx and trachea. 3. Endocrine: thyroid and parathyroid glands. 4. Lymph Nodes which run throughout the neck, jaw, and upper shoulder.

What to Do For a Stiff Neck
We commonly see stiff necks and shoulders in our practice. Add to the equation the repetitive physical strain of poor posture, daily work and personal stress, and the problem is compounded.

Acupuncture and exercises are the shortest distance between the two points between pain and relief: you have to take care of neck and shoulder pain and stiffness by being proactive. If you haven’t yet experienced acupuncture, it feels like a subtle massage to the inside of the muscles.

Acupuncture has over one hundred named acupuncture points in the head and neck. Balanced with body points, acupuncture treatment will bring relief for longer and longer periods of time with each subsequent session, until the “muscle memory” is knocked out. Exercises that stretch and strengthen the deep muscles of the neck reinforce the acupuncture treatment.

http://mountaintopacupuncture.com/neck-stiffness-is-no-joke

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have over 30 years experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice at The Highlands Ranch Medical Pavilion in Littleton, Colorado.

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

Filed Under: Conditions Treated, Stress Busters Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Keep Moving!

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millet_the_gleanersWhen I (Carol) took the Memorial Sloan Kettering online oncology course for acupuncturists, the recommendation for healthy people to exercise 30-60 minutes a day was the standout detail from the entire, 30+ hours of lectures.

That’s 30-60 minutes, seven days a week of formal exercise, not including the time you may spend traveling, changing, or cleaning up. And movement for our daily peregrinations, though better than nothing, doesn’t count.

Why, I wondered, did they advocate 30-60 minutes a day, and then it hit me: our DNA is programmed to move a lot more than we do in the 21st Century. It’s only been about 250 years since the Industrial Revolution, and many conveniences we take for granted didn’t exist before then. For our ancestors, chores and travel demanded constant physical effort; physiological evolution doesn’t change as quickly as our world has, so we have to accommodate our body’s needs by moving more.

Moving is one of the main ways to reduce your risk of getting cancer, because where there is blood flow, free radicals cannot pile up. When you regularly engage in steady, sustained movement, blood perfuses throughout your body.

Once I grasped this fact, I took up the challenge, and found it easy to justify the time spent, because being cancer-free is a compelling motivator. Viewed in this light, choosing to move is as simple as standing on one side of a line and stepping over it to the other side.

Regular exercise has many benefits, including leveling out the stresses encountered in a day.

If you are new to exercise, begin slowly and build up to it. You will find the body grows stronger exponentially, for it’s designed to do this. Expect some aches and pains as you make progress, but pay attention to the quality of pain to avoid injury (so you can continue working out!). If you overdo it, don’t give up, just take a break and get some acupuncture or a massage to speed the healing.

http://mountaintopacupuncture.com/keep-moving

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have over 30 years experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice at The Highlands Ranch Medical Pavilion in Littleton, Colorado.

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

Filed Under: All Things Exercise, Health Tips, Stress Busters, Theory, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Trigger Points

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Trigger Point

A trigger point is an area of the muscle where normal physiologic activity has become disrupted, causing local pain and sometimes in an adjacent area. I (Tom) frequently see that trigger points in the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle at the front of the neck responsible for causing headaches on the side of the head. Trigger points also can reduce the normal range of motion in a muscle or cause it to be weak.

Trigger points can be caused by overuse or continuous contraction of a muscle, poor posture, traumatic injury, and even emotional stress. Let’s say for example, that when you sit at your computer, you are continually gripping your mouse. The muscles involved in this action stay shortened an unnatural length of time, and this creates trigger points that may produce carpal tunnel syndrome.

The only diagnostic test for a trigger point is palpation. When examining through touch the muscles that might be involved, a nodule (tightly bound area) or taut band of tissue is found to be exquisitely tender, evoking a response of recognition- as in, “yes, right there.”

Anatomy of a Muscle
A muscle contains many muscle fibers or cells that runs from its origin to its insertion. A nerve axon is attached to each muscle fiber. The area of attachment is known as the motor endplate or motor point. Motor points are usually found in the body of the muscle. Normally, the neurotransmitter acetylcholine is released at one end of the motor endplate across the neuromuscular junction, to connect the muscle fibers, but where there is a trigger point, no acetylcholine is making the jump. Acupuncture with electrical stimulation invigorates this mechanism, effectively restarting it and knocking out the trigger points.

Most trigger points are usually found in the body of the muscle or at its origin or insertion. Every muscle has an origin and an insertion. The origin of a muscle attaches to a bone and does not move that bone. The area of insertion is where the muscle attaches to another bone, and when the muscle contracts, the insertion area moves closer to the origin. Muscles usually crosses a joint, this is what allows muscles movement.

Most trigger points are near motor points, and interestingly, a lot of acupuncture points are also located on or near motor points.

Trigger Point Types
There are two types of trigger points, active and latent. An active trigger point is the full manifestation of symptoms, from local and referred pain, to muscle weakness. A latent trigger point may show as loss of range of motion to a muscle, and may be accompanied by some local tenderness in the muscle.

Here’s where it gets tricky and why it’s important for an experienced practitioner to assess your problem: active trigger points can set off latent trigger points in the same area and become active, and this cascading effect can cause much discomfort. The aim is to knock them all out with treatment, not leave some behind!

Case Study
A patient came into my office complaining of sciatica pain down the back of her leg. I had her lay face down on the table, and proceeded to palpate her lower back and gluteal muscles. I found a taut band and exquisitely tender knots on her gluteus minimus muscle that elicited the pain that she had been feeling down the length of the leg. Based on experience, I knew it was a trigger point problem, and treated this muscle with acupuncture and electrical stimulation. The sciatic-like pain was gone after 3 treatments of releasing the trigger point and allowing her neural pathways to adjust.

Conclusion
Trigger points do affect the quality of our life in one way or another, but this does not have to be, for they can be treated easily and affectively with acupuncture. One way to prevent trigger points is through injurious habits. Be aware of repetitive movements at work and play that put unnecessary stress on muscles: this includes postural habits you may not be aware of.

It is important to see a western doctor for tests to rule out the origin of the pain, because trigger points sometimes mimic other conditions. Diagnostic tests for pinched nerves, slipped discs, or arthritis can determine if there is another underlying problem.

Why suffer with physical pain if you don’t have to? Put yourself on a pain-free path by taking care of you, through by proper exercising, diet, and receiving bodywork when needed. Be well!

Trigger Points

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have over 30 years experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice at The Highlands Ranch Medical Pavilion in Littleton, Colorado.

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

Filed Under: All Things Exercise, Health Tips, Integrative Medicine, Stress Busters Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The Inflammatory and Immune Response Systems, Part 1: Inflammation in a Nutshell

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courtesy of digital thermal imaging, showing back pain originating from inflammation in the (R) kidney

Large or small, inside or outside, wherever injury occurs the body’s defenses set off a cascade of players to deal with the tissue damage (inflammation system) and keep strangers out (immune system). Whether you bump your elbow, get a splinter, or have an autoimmune disorder, the same sequence unfolds, aimed to restore order and heal you, naturally.

This series will cover the major components present where injury to tissue occurs. It’s a fascinating, complex process, with a lot of moving parts in a rapid sequence of events. We begin with a discussion of inflammation, and move on to immunity, inflammatory conditions, health tips, and related topics in future posts.

Inflammation is characterized by four cardinal signs:
Redness
Pain
Heat
Swelling

The inflammatory response serves to stop bleeding and wall off the injured area to prevent further damage to the local tissue. This unfolds as a natural process beginning with acute-phase and transitioning into chronic-phase responses.

1. Acute-phase response has active two stages, the vascular stage and the cellular stage.

a. During the vascular stage, the blood vessels first respond by constricting, then rapidly dilate (enlarge). The blood vessels that supply the area also dilate to allow fluid and plasma proteins to move out of the vessels and into the surrounding (interstitial) spaces, causing the swelling, heat, pain, and redness associated with acute-phase inflammation.

b. During the cellular phase, the capillaries become permeable for the delivery of immune factors, nutrients, and blood-clotting factors.

Chemical mediators produce the signs and symptoms of inflammation at both the vascular and cellular stages. These mediators perform an array of functions that keep the intricate process moving forward step-by-step, with the ultimate purpose of stopping the damage and returning the system to homeostasis. We will cover some of these in future posts.

2. Chronic-phase responses can become long-lasting if not treated. Some chronic-phase injuries are local (shoulder pain) and some are systemic (autoimmune disease). Foreign substances, both living (viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites) and non-living (example: splinters) can also underlie chronic inflammation.

Chronic-phase responses put an additional demand on the body’s resources, hence the reason why we stress the importance of quality nutrition that supplies the raw material for all the body’s functions.

The Inflammatory and Immune Response Systems, Part 1: Inflammation in a Nutshell

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have over 30 years experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice at The Highlands Ranch Medical Pavilion in Littleton, Colorado.

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

Filed Under: All Things Exercise, All Things Food, Conditions Treated, Health Tips, Nourishing You, Stress Busters, You Are What You Eat Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Joint Pain in a Nutshell

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Joint Pain in a Nutshell

joint pain

Most people think of muscles when they think of being flexible, but our bones equally give us mobility. Without our bones, our muscles would enable us to move like worms, but with our bones we become erect and perform a myriad of functional activities. Our joints are the articulations between bones, and vary depending on what kind of movement is required.

Types of Joints

Joint structures allow range of motion and accentuate a specific movement. There are three basic types of articulations: fibrous, cartilaginous, and synovial joints.

1. Fibrous joints have no joint cavity so the two bones must form a tight fit, and this achieved with fibrous connective tissue, that holds the bones together. This type of joint allows for very little movement. Sutures that connect the cranial bones and allow enough movement for the pulsing of the cerebral spinal fluid is an example of a fibrous joint.

2. Cartilaginous joints don’t have a joint cavity either, and the bones are held together by cartilage. The vertebrae of the spinal column and the pubic symphysis are examples of cartilaginous joints.

3. The synovial joint has a joint cavity, which allows for greater movement. Protective tissue surrounds the bone to cushion it for a lifetime of wear-and-tear: hyaline cartilage, a wrapping of ligaments, bursa sacs, and synovial fluid inside the joint reduce friction and maintain proper range of motion. Synovial joints are in the major articulations of the body: the knee, elbow, hip, and shoulders.

Directions of Synovial Joint

 

The synovial joint can move in many directions.

Gliding back-and-forth (ankles, wrists)

Rotation turns bone along its axis (flip hand palm up palm down)

Circumduction (rotate whole arm)

Angular increases (i) or decreases (d) between the two bones involved:

Flexion- bends  (d)

Extension- straightens (i)

Abduction- away from midline (i)

Adduction- towards and crossing midline (d)

The Injury and Healing of Joints

High-quality nutrition and regular exercise are the key ingredients for healthy joints. Our joints are susceptible to normal wear-and-tear, with age and gravity adding further stress on the tissue. The ligaments, tendons, and cartilage in the joint spaces get little or no blood supply, and it is for this reason that injuries seem to linger.

Studies have shown that acupuncture can speed healing in a wide variety of joint problems, both chronic and acute. From a Chinese medicine perspective, joints are places where things can get stuck, creating the sensation of tightness and pain. Acupuncture and its modalities facilitate local activity at the site of injury.

It is our recommendation that to keep your joints healthy and pliable, eat the best possible nutrition, keep moving by including stretch  and strengthening qi gong exercises in your routine, and when needed, decompress the joints when possible, and finally get some acupuncture to correct the problem before it gets worse.

Joint Pain in a Nutshell

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have over 30 years experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice at The Highlands Ranch Medical Pavilion in Littleton, Colorado.

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

Filed Under: All Things Exercise, Conditions Treated, Health Tips, Integrative Medicine, Nourishing You, Stress Busters, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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