Looking up and down: People tend to hold their cellphones too low and situate their televisions too high. This can lead to looking up or down for extended periods of time, which can cause neck pain. Using the phone: While pinching your phone between your ear and your might be a convenient way to hold a conversation while keeping your hands free, this practice can put strain on your neck. Dehydration: The discs in your spine that separate your vertebrae need hydration. If your body is dehydrated, these spongy discs become less spongy, which can lead to neck pain.
Carrying heavy objects: Carrying too much weight in one hand, such as in a briefcase or purse, can put undue strain on your shoulders, back and neck.
Posture: Sitting in a slouched position with your head in front of your shoulders can put a greater strain on your neck. Talk to your doctor if you're interested in trying alternative treatments for your neck pain. Your doctor can discuss the benefits and risks. Alternative treatments include:. You might initially contact your family doctor about your neck pain, and he or she may refer you to:.
Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. This content does not have an English version. This content does not have an Arabic version. A neurosurgeon might perform surgery on the brain, the spinal cord, or on the spine itself.
While neurosurgeons do provide non-surgical management of back pain, in most cases, you'll be referred to one only after you've exhausted all your conservative care options. An osteopath is board-certified healthcare provider who, by oath, is bound to work in a patient-centric, holistic way. Becoming a Doctor of Osteopathy DO requires graduation from an accredited medical school, taking the same curriculum as an MD, plus to hours of study focusing on the musculoskeletal system.
After medical school, a DO then completes an internship and residency program usually alongside MDs , passes state licensing exams, and usually obtains certification in a specialty. Many osteopaths practice as primary care healthcare providers. While osteopaths are licensed to prescribe drugs and perform minor surgeries, they often look to the environment and lifestyle and perform hands-on manipulation when caring for patients. Another type of holistically minded provider, the physiatrist is a board-certified healthcare provider specializing in physical functioning.
This growing sub-specialty provides rehabilitation for all kinds of conditions and injuries from stroke to low back pain, athletic injuries and more. Quite often, the physiatrist will coordinate a patient's team of specialists, ensuring a treatment plan that effectively addresses your specific medical needs. You might understand a physiatrist as a physical therapy MD.
Chiropractic is a hands-on alternative medicine discipline that restores the body's physiological functioning by aligning the spine. To do this, chiropractors treat subluxations a term that means something different to the chiropractor than it does to a conventional medical healthcare provider. Chiropractors consider their work to be a combination of art and science. The goal of an adjustment of a subluxation is to improve overall health by removing interruptions to the normal flow of nerve transmission.
It's important to recognize that the strategy of most chiropractic adjustments is to loosen; in other words, to increase flexibility. Toning and tightening are not really what your chiropractor is going for when they adjust you. If you're loose-jointed, you have a connective tissue compromise or you have osteoporosis, chiropractic may possibly do more harm than good. Generally speaking, you should see a medical healthcare provider for back pain you know to be due to osteoarthritis or a herniated disc, or if you have a spinal abnormality.
A chiropractor may be fine for lumbar lower back pain , sciatica , and old sports injuries affecting the back. If you're certain you don't have a disc problem and you want to try conservative treatment before anything else, you might start with a chiropractor. Otherwise, consult with your general practitioner, who may send you to an orthopedist or other specialist depending on the particulars of your pain.
An epidural steroid injection ESI may be performed by several types of healthcare providers, including those who specialize in pain management, physiatrists, interventional radiologists, anesthesiologists, orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, and neurologists. Sign up for our Health Tip of the Day newsletter, and receive daily tips that will help you live your healthiest life. Bishop, P. Knowledge transfer in family physicians managing patients with acute low back pain: a prospective randomized control trial.
Spine Journal. May-June Acute pain typically goes away on its own without treatment after a few days or weeks. However, chronic pain lingers and persists for more than 12 weeks.
It can be constant or it can come and go, but it typically requires some type of treatment. A neurologist can help diagnose the source of your back pain, and recommend the best treatment approach, which may involve physical therapy, seeing a pain specialist, or consulting with a surgeon.
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