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The most common presentation that we have at Ilkley Chiropractic Clinic, is the patient who presents with musculoskeletal pain, who, when questioned, has had the pain, intermittently for a long period of time, sometime years.

Patients state that the reason that they have not presented before is because they “thought the pain would go away, as it had done every time in the passed.” Thus the patient consequently believes that the problem has been miraculously solved.

The reality is that the problem does not go away. What actually happens is that the body compensates for the condition, by subtly amending the patient’s posture, thus temporarily reducing the level of discomfort.

The body does not wish the patient to be in pain, and thus it will subconsciously alter the dynamics of the body to minimise the pain. Often this will take the level of discomfort below the level that the body informs one’s conscience.

Unless one has experienced a particular trauma, most problems we see are as a result of persistent poor posture, or regular abusive muscular skeleton activity. This means that the level of discomfort and dysfunction increases over time.

Over time the compensations that the body sets up to alleviate the initial pain and discomfort, become compromised themselves, leading to addition levels of discomfort and pain. The consequence being that, on presentation, the patient is always in a lot more pain than had they listened to the pain initially and made an appointment to have their condition treated at the outset of the awareness of the problem.

The fundamental thing to comprehend, is that the body does not waste its time needlessly “informing” you of the existence of pain. When you are in pain, it is the body telling you that you need assistance and should seek it.

People seek assistance very rapidly when they have a toothache, but presume that they can ignore the pain that is musculoskeletal pain. To do so only creates greater issues further down the line.

So listen to your body, listen to your pain, and contact Ilkley Chiropractic Clinic, as soon as your symptoms present. Then you will be relieved of your pain quicker, be in pain for a shorter period overall, and be returning to your activities of daily life much earlier, and more positively.

Earlier this week I was contacted by a lady who had woken up with a very stiff and painful neck.

On presentation her neck was twisted so that her chin was looking to the left of her left hip.

Acute Torticollis is when one of the major muscles of the anterior part of the neck, the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) goes into an acute spasm and pulls the chin out of line.

Onset may arise due to travelling a long distance in a car with the window open, or sleeping awkwardly in bed.

For those who have never experienced it, it can be very unnerving, and some people even believe that they have had a mild stroke.

Treatment requires the relaxation of the SCM by massage and stretching and mobilisation and manipulation of the joint in the neck that are affected by the acute torsion that the SCM has created in the neck.

Due to the eccentric way that the head is held, it regularly causes muscular spasm and joint restriction in the upper and mid back areas between the shoulder blades, which consequently needs to be treated alongside the work to the neck and the SCM.

Usually, approximately 4-6 treatments can resolve the problem satisfactorily.

Chiropractic Treatment will assist to relax the SCM and also the secondary areas that have been compromised.