1) Specific Chiropractic Care:  Restoring normal joint alignment and mobility can not only reduce symptoms, but also provide lasting relief if the dysfunction is spinal related.  

One of the most recent reviews of scientific literature found evidence that patients with chronic neck pain enrolled in clinical trials reported significant improvement following chiropractic spinal manipulation. As part of the literature review, published in the March/April 2007 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, the researchers reviewed nine previously published trials and found “high-quality evidence” that patients with chronic neck pain showed significant pain-level improvements following spinal manipulation. No trial group was reported as having remained unchanged, and all groups showed positive changes up to 12 weeks post-treatment.

2) Massage:  Massage of Muscle tissue improves blood flow, increases flexibility, and has been shown to decrease muscle tension as well.  There are many different types of massage, therefore it is critical to know the condition you have before trying a specific type.  Massage paired with Chiropractic has been shown to produce some of the BEST results for neck pain.

3) Trigger Point Therapy (TPT): TPT is a method that you can use in the comfort of your own home to improve neck pain and muscle tension.  It helps to break up adhesions within the muscle tissue. By simply placing pressure on trigger points in muscle tissue, you then hold the trigger point, and go through a range of motion while holding the pressure.  It helps to break up muscle adhesions, and and following application, will bring blood flow directly to the area. Use of a theracane makes this easy, and your able to do it by yourself.

4) Heat:  Heat has been shown in studies to improve blood flow and increase flexibility.  While it doesn’t truly “fix” anything, it can be a very beneficial tool in healing.  Use heat for 10-20 minutes at a time, multiple times per day.