Sumner - Neck Check: Chronic Neck Pain Relief Once and For All

Neck Check: Chronic Neck Pain Relief Once and For All

Sean Sumner

Disclaimer

The information in this book is intended for educational and informational purposes. It is not meant to, and should not be used to diagnose or substitute for medical treatment. You should discuss any new exercises, medications, or other treatments with your doctor before trying them. For diagnosis and treatment of a medical problem you should see your physician. The publisher and author are not responsible for any specific health needs that may require medical supervision, and are not liable for negative consequences from actions resulting from reading or following the information in this book. Any links to outside resources are not under the control of the publisher or author and may change at any time.

Copyright

Copyright 2015 Sean Sumner All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Introduction

Living with neck pain makes life a chore instead of a joy. It affects everything you do, including computer work, getting in and out of your car, or even simply washing the dishes.

When your neck hurts, your movements become more difficult and stressed, causing more tension and pain. It is a nasty cycle that keeps you from ever truly getting pain free and healthy.

Dealing with pain can be scary and it's hard to know what to do without making time to see a doctor, physical therapist, or chiropractor for advice. And even when you make the decision to get professional help, should you see a specialist or not?

How many times have you wanted to try something but were scared, not knowing if it would help the pain or make things worse? Should you use ice, heat, or alternate between the two? Should you get a massage or will that make things worse?

I have seen first-hand the devastating toll that neck pain can have. My mother had a major sports-related accident involving her neck when I was still in grade school that caused her significant pain for many years. She ended up having what I now know to be a large disc herniation, but at the time all I knew was that she was in a lot of pain and nobody seemed to know how to help her.

Not only did she have neck pain and headaches, but she also had pain and weakness down her arm. She was unable to work and the pain impacted almost every part of her life. She is now recovered and doing well, but I will always remember that time period when her neck pain was almost too much for her to bear.

Even paid professionals still have difficulty understanding what to do to help relieve neck pain. When I finished college and graduated with a degree in Physical Therapy, which included multiple anatomy and physiology classes, I still felt uncomfortable working with clients who had neck pain. At one point early in my career, I was even so confused about how to help people with neck pain that when a colleague asked me to join a great outpatient group I actually told him I would only work there if I didn't have to see anyone with a neck problem.

Fast-forward 8-10 years and now I am considered an expert on neck pain. I work as the lead therapist in a clinic devoted to spine care, alongside physicians, surgeons, acupuncturists, physiatrists, pain management doctors, and many other team members. I have even gone on to get certified as an Orthopedic Clinical Specialist, and now I give lectures to other physical therapists, physicians, and medical students on how to treat patients with back and neck pain.

I share all this with you to show that I understand how hard it can be to find the answer to your pain. My mother couldn't find it for a long time, and even as a practicing physical therapist in the start of my career I did not know how to help patients with neck pain. But after making this my passion for the majority of my career, studying the neck, working with other professionals, and treating hundreds of patients, I have learned what works and what doesn't.

My goal is that by the end of this book you will have the knowledge and confidence you need to start making a difference today. I also encourage you not just to rely on the information in this book, but to use it as a guide and continue to learn more.

My mother eventually had surgery on her neck, and at that point it was the best thing for her. Even for some of the people I work with in my clinic, surgery, medication, or injections may end up being the right path for them, but there are less invasive and less expensive alternatives well explore as well.

In this book I will share what I have learned from over a decade of treating all types of patients with neck pain. Whether you are an office worker who sits at a desk all day, an electrician who relies on his neck to be able to look up, or even if you are retired and starting to experience arthritic pain from simple wear and tear over the years, this book will show you that there are things you can do to keep your neck healthy and pain free.

The information and advice that I share in this book is the same that I tell my patients each day when they come into my clinic. It is not meant to give you a miracle cure for your pain, but rather to give you simple, tested strategies that you can apply on a daily basis to improve your pain and the health of your neck.

I will cover topics such as how and when to use heat or cold, which stretches work best, how to calm a muscle spasm, how to setup your desk and workplace, and more.

These strategies are not just one-time actions that will only give relief for a brief moment, but things that you can repeat and make a routine out of for ongoing long-term changes.

Don't waste any more time and energy dealing with neck pain without a plan. Don't wait for someone to come along with the magical cure or continue to rely on medications. Make a plan that you can follow with specific steps that have been repeated with success by hundreds of other people like you.

You do not have to keep living with neck pain.

Take action today to bring back the joy of life and get your neck in better shape for the future.

Section One

You do not have to be in pain!

In this section I am going to show you how to decrease and even get rid of your pain with proven strategies that you can start today. I will show you the best ways to get rid of the pain on and for all.

You will learn how to use heat, massage, decompression and more. I will also show you the top 3 stretches that you can do anywhere to decrease the pain.

I will also share with you the exact equipment that I use in my clinic, and how you can get that same equipment at home.

Remember that pain does not have to control you, its time for you to take control of your pain.

Heat is my #1 secret weapon when clients come into my clinic with neck pain.

It doesn't matter your age, fitness level, or how long you have been in pain, applying heat to the muscles around the neck seems to always help. It may not be a long-term fix, but it definitely helps in the short-term. Even though most people say they have tried heat in the past, most have not used a really good hot pack and done it right. My clinic has special hot packs that are made to conform to the neck, filled with mud, and heated in a hot water bath (doesn't that sound good already?). But even without a fancy hot pack, any heat feels good to a muscle that is tense or spasming, and if you are having neck pain then I can just about guarantee that the muscles in the area are tense and probably spasming at times.