Re: Chronic Neck Pain won't go away

Hello uchiha:

Like you diagnosis of affliction arriving over time.

Granted the neck muscle tension:

Have you considered "Rolfing"? A good rolfing practioner may be able to work this one through.

Have not considered it, but have heard of it fixing problems like feet curved inwards back to normal after a few rolfing sessions - supposedly hurt like hell. Will look into it though, thanks for that idea.

What is posture like? Is there good use of the tonus while standing/sitting? What is the muscle alignment like? Is there any tension further down the spine or legs? Is there any mal-alignment of the spine?

Good questions. Posture has been gradually degrading from constant pain, I believe. The shoulders have been slowly rolling forward with the scapular gap increasing. The tonus is poor due to inability to strength train for very long, few minutes tops. I've had her using a stretch band to pull, like a row boat, and tone the scapular muscles. She's doing light neck exercises, including one that looks like a chicken to maintain better neck tone of the smaller stabilizer muscles. Any heavy strenuous exercise causes higher than normal injury, per her symptoms. Regardless of exercise, hunch-like posture persists with the shoulder blades farther apart than usual at rest. The rest of the spine has no tension, leg muscles also become easily injured with any strength training exercises for long periods of time. She feels like there's an inability to heal. There doesn't appear to be any malalignment of the spine per chiro, physician, and physical therapist, other than the shoulder blade distance. Observing the spine now, it looks like there's a slight forward posture of the head.

What are the feet like and is the gait balanced and rolling?

Feet look like they are in normal position, but the soles have excess callosity, especially the heels. Have not had gait analyzed. How would I go about doing that?

And lastly what is the teeth condition like?

One molar has cap, few fillings. Some excess spacing between lower teeth, potentially from prior wisdom tooth removal.

Are there hidden teeth issues?

Had whole mouth scan, no issues were found. However, there is tooth sensitivity. She uses sensitive teeth toothpaste. I've been encouraging moving away from common toothpastes to fluoride ion free versions.

All the best T2

You've brought up some good issues, questions, and ideas. I'll be looking much deeper into your implicit and explicit suggestions. Thank you.