Tailoring Treatment To Your Needs
TMJ treatment can be very effective in relieving painful symptoms, including headaches and neck and shoulder pain. The key is to have treatment as early as possible, before inflammation in the jaw joint becomes severe. And its also very important to select a treatment thats tailored to whats causing joint irritation in the first place.
As a neuromuscular dentist, Dr. Scott Young is skilled in diagnosing the underlying cause of TMJ and in creating custom treatment plans focused on achieving optimal results. Many patients benefit from a custom-fit mouth guard thats worn at night to prevent jaw strain caused by clenching and grinding habits. The guard provides a cushion for your teeth so stress on the muscles is relieved, and it also protects the surfaces of your teeth so grinding and clenching wont damage them. For most TMJ patients, Dr. Young recommends a special mouth guard used to treat migraines. Because the guard only covers the front teeth, its more comfortable than larger mouth guards commonly used in TMJ treatment, but its just as effective. Fitting and fabrication of the guard can be completed in a single office visit.
Other treatment options include physical therapy and gentle stretching to relieve inflammation and muscle stress, nerve stimulation to relax the jaw muscles, and biofeedback therapy to help reduce stress. If your teeth are badly damaged or very poorly aligned, other treatments may be recommended to help restore a normal bite balance.
Get Head Neck And Shoulder Pain Relief At The World Frozen Shoulder
Frozen shoulder is still not fully understood by much of the medical community, so many doctors, physical therapists, and other medical practitioners will suggest a myriad of treatment options that arent necessarily always the right choice.
How is our treatment different? We dont just treat frozen shoulder, we cure frozen shoulder.
In just one hour, you can say goodbye to crippling shoulder pain, and some of your other conditions like neck pain and headaches can disappear as well. Dr. Oolo-Austin pioneered the groundbreaking manual capsular dissection procedure that is non-invasive.
Improve your quality of life today by booking an appointment!
How Are Neck And Shoulder Pain Diagnosed
- X-rays: Plain X-rays can reveal narrowing of the space between two spinal bones, arthritis-like diseases, tumors, slipped discs, narrowing of the spinal canal, fractures and instability of the spinal column.
- MRI: Magnetic resonance imaging is a noninvasive procedure that can reveal the detail of neural elements, as well as problems with the tendons and ligaments.
- Myelography/CT scanning: This is sometimes used as an alternative to MRI.
- Electrodiagnostic studies: Electromyography and nerve conduction velocity are sometimes used to diagnose neck and shoulder pain, arm pain, numbness and tingling.
Also Check: Stomach Cramping Early Pregnancy
Is Your Shoulder Pain Causing You Headache
Theres nothing worse than waking up to shoulder pain and headache in the middle of the night. Shoulder problems can cause headaches and neck pains. Our shoulders engage in a wide variety of movements daily. So, if something goes wrong inside the shoulder area, then our body becomes more prone to pain.
How To Relieve Tightness In The Levator Scapulae
A similar stretch to above can be done to target the levator scapulae. Starting in the same position sitting on a chair, holding on to the edge and leaning away, you then look down towards the opposite shoulder instead of tilting your head.
These two stretches can be done repeatedly, holding for 15-30s each time to help relieve migraine and headache related tension in the neck and shoulder.
Watch the video below to see a demonstration of the above exercises by our Director Bertrand Doeuk!
Also Check: Iv Lidocaine Side Effects
Torticollis Or Wry Neck:
Torticollis from the Latin, tortus = twisted, column = neck. There are a variety of reasons for torticollis. The condition usually involves the sternocleidomastoid muscle, which runs from the sternum to the mastoid process, the bony area just behind the ear. This condition can be present from birth or can develop later in life. This condition can sometimes be helped with osteopathy, but the severity of the condition can limit the prognosis.
Headache Neck And Shoulder Pain
Muscle tension can be bad enough on its own, but experiencing this tension in your neck, shoulders or upper back can also be linked to issues with your vision. These tense muscles press on the eye nerves located on the back of your neck, and the flow of blood to your eyes becomes restricted. This results in frequent headaches or migraines, as well as throbbing around your temples, nausea, vomiting and blurred vision.
Read Also: Lidocaine Cream For Nerve Pain
Invest In Proper Footwear
When you have arthritis, your shoes are either going to help you or hurt you, says Jackie Sutera, DPM, a podiatric surgeon in New York City. Proper fit is a key factor in how foot-friendly shoes are. Besides having to accommodate an arthritic joint that may have stiffness, swelling, and contracture, shoes need to fit the hammertoes and bunions that often happen along with arthritis. Comfort brands like Vionic, Ecco, Clarks, and Mephisto are designed to be stylish and comfortable. They include arch support, heel cups, thick soles, cushioning, and shock absorption.
People with bad osteoarthritis in the feet may particularly benefit from shoes with rocker soles, which have a thicker-than-normal sole with a curved heel. A shoe with this type of sole reduces pressure under the big toe joint by 12 percent in people with OA, research shows. In a recent study the pain score in those who wore rocker sole shoes improved by 22 points.
Also Check: What Is The Best Painkiller For Rheumatoid Arthritis
When Does A Headache Indicate A Serious Health Problem
Most headaches are painful but not dangerous. However, headache pain can be a warning sign of a more serious health problem. Learn when you should contact your health care provider to find out if yourheadaches are a sign of a more serious problem like a brain tumor.
Thomas P. Mecke is a chiropractor in the Osher Clinical Center for Integrative Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Recommended Reading: Ice Or Heat For Sciatic Pain
When You Should Consider Surgery
For most people with arthritis of the neck, time and nonsurgical measures will relieve the discomfort. But if you have a herniated disk that causes spinal nerve compression with symptoms like pain, weakness and numbness that dont go away, it may be time to consider surgery.
One way to surgically correct a pinched nerve is with a diskectomy. The surgeon removes part of the damaged disk to relieve pressure on the nerve. Then the vertebrae may be fused or welded together to stabilize the spine. Another surgical option is a posterior foraminotomy, which widens the opening of the spine where the nerve passes through, and removes any bone spurs that are pressing on the nerve.
Compression of the spinal cord can be treated several ways surgically. They all create more space for the nerves. Anterior decompression and fusion surgery is similar to the treatment of a pinched nerve. Cord compression can also be addressed by removing a part of the vertebra called the lamina or a procedure called a laminoplasty.
The vast majority of people with a pinched nerve will improve following surgery. People with spinal cord compression also improve, but the extent of improvement depends on the severity of neurological dysfunction before the surgery, says Dr. Mroz.
This article originally appeared in Cleveland Clinic Arthritis Advisor.
Frozen Shoulder And Neck Muscles
Dr. Oolo-Austins theory behind the causes of frozen shoulder is that there is a pre-existing neck condition that causes compression of the nerves in the lower neck. The transmission of motor signals to the shoulder muscles is disrupted, so the interference eventually weakens the shoulder muscles.
Patients are often unaware of this issue and will experience symptoms, such as headaches, neck pain and stiffness, numbness in the hands, and more.
Also Check: How To Slit Your Wrists Correctly
Treating Neck And Shoulder Pain
Treatment of neck and shoulder pain depends on the underlying cause.
Heart attack, stroke, and other serious conditions often include emergency treatment. For most other situations, home remedies, physical therapy, and massage will bring improvement.
Some of the more serious situations that may require surgical treatment include:
Diagnosing And Treating Neck Pain And Headache
Clinicians use information from the features of headache, physical examination, and diagnostic tests to make an accurate diagnosis of the type of headache. It is also possible for two headaches to occur together. Treatment of primary headaches include medications for both immediate relief and sustained relief . Treatment of secondary headaches focuses on the underlying condition to control symptoms.
Recommended Reading: Stiff Neck And Stomach Pain
Why Does Shoulder And Neck Pain Cause Headaches
The shoulder shares two muscles with the neck: the levator scapulae and the trapezius.
The shoulder blade, or scapula, is elevated by the upper part of the trapezius, whether the shoulder is at rest or in an overhead position. The upper trapezius itself is prone to weakening or elongating, which can result in the shoulder blade sinking down too much.
The result is that the levator scapulae is left in a vulnerable position, as it must work harder on behalf of itself and the trapezius. Because both muscles are attached to the neck bones , pain in the neck and shoulder area can lead to cervicogenic headaches.
What Are The Symptoms
The symptoms you experience will depend on the cause of your neck pain and headache:
- People suffering from a tension headache will feel tightness or a widespread area of throbbing pain, while those who have a trapped nerve may experience a sharp stabbing pain in a specific area
- If you are experiencing other symptoms as well as neck pain and headaches, then this could give you insight into the cause of your problem. Migraines are often triggered by certain foods such as red wine or chocolate, while tension headaches tend to be a by-product of stress. Finding a correlation between certain circumstances and your symptoms may give you an indication as to the cause
- If your neck pain and headache disappears after a few days, the chances are fairly high that you were suffering from some soft tissue damage or neck strain. This is also likely if you are reluctant to turn your head in a certain direction because it increases the level of pain.
- It is important to distinguish between difficulty turning your head because of pain and an inability to move your head because of weakness, as this is more likely to be an indication of a trapped nerve.
Don’t Miss: Autonomic Cephalalgia
How To Relieve Tightness In The Upper Trapezius
A simple stretch for the upper trapezius muscle can be done repeatedly throughout the day, in order to reduce tightness and thus help to minimise migraines and headaches.
This can be performed in sitting, where you hold on to the edge of the chair and then lean away from that side to depress the shoulder. By then gently lowering your head to your opposite shoulder, there should be more of a stretch.
Why Does Shoulder Impingement Hurt More At Night
Why shoulder impingement hurts more at night isn’t completely understood. Inflammation could be part of the reason, which can occur when you hold your joint in one position for an extended period of time. When you hold your arm close to your body, you can restrict blood flow to your bursa and rotator cuff tendon.
Pain is sometimes associated with this position. When you’re experiencing pain during the night, especially if you’re a professional or high school athlete, its a definite red flag something’s wrong, and you need to seek your doctor for expert care. However, even non-athletes can have shoulder impingements and experience pain.
Read Also: What Does Arthritic Knee Pain Feel Like
What Causes A Headache
Headaches manifest in a number of ways because of the way our nervous system is wired up. Nerves originating from the face, head, jaw and neck all converge, or junction, on the same bit of the brain stem . This is called the ‘Trigeminal Nucleus’. Because the nerves are in close proximity the brain will often interpret pain as being derived from multiple sources in essence our selection of information is confused. Therefore, we may experience pain in a number of different locations: the eyes, forehead, top of head and Jaw, causing confusion with diagnosis.
Headaches should not be seen as complicated and with appropriate assessment by a healthcare practitioner, like a Physiotherapist, an accurate diagnosis can be made and efective treatment administered.
Below are three of the most common types of headache:
How To Prevent The Pain
Fortunately, there are several things you can do to help prevent the type of neck, shoulder and back pain that can lead to vision problems. Identifying the causes of headache can help, as can examining the ways in which you sit when working.
If, for instance, you spend many hours a day sitting at a computer, try making a conscious effort to evaluate the way you work and the manner in which you sit. You can ask yourself these questions to evaluate yourself:
- Are you hunched over your keyboard?
- Are you sitting too close to your screen?
- Is your monitor placed at the correct height?
- Is your keyboard in a position where you can reach it comfortably?
There are also simple things you can do to reduce eye-related pain in your body.
- Ideally, you want your monitor to be at eye level or just below, with the screen being no closer to your eyes than 20 inches .
- If you have a bigger monitor, you will need to adjust your position so youre sitting even further away from the screen.
- If you wear bifocal glasses, you should lower your monitor, so you dont have to tip your head upwards to see it properly. You can also switch to multifocal or progressive lenses like Varilux for the same effect.
- Make sure youre not straining to reach the keys on your keyboard or hunching over to type both of these positions can result in back and neck pain, which in turn can trigger headaches or migraines.
Also Check: Nausea With Neck Pain
Neck Pain With Headache Causes And Treatment
Headaches and neck pain go hand-in-hand for many reasons, a stiff or strangled neck most of the time leads to neck pain with a headache. These headaches are commonly called cervicogenic headaches. Knowing how to take care of such headaches caused by the sensitivity of nerves in the neck can help you a long way in avoiding other complications especially in the head and the region near the neck.
Headaches Caused By Rheumatoid Arthritis
Since rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory type of arthritis, most of the pain associated with RA comes from inflammation between the joints. If your RA targets the vertebrae in your neck, it can create pressure on one of the nerves, resulting in regular headaches.
The RA could also restrict blood supply to your brain that might trigger a headache. Treatment for either of those issues will be similar.
Read Also: How To Get Rid Of Arthritis Pain In Knees
You May Like: Lidocaine For Arthritis
Shoulder And Neck Referred Pain
Because of the close connection of the nerves serving them, shoulder and neck pain are often mistaken for one another.
You may feel a pain in the shoulder thats actually coming from your neck, and vice versa. This is called referred pain.
Some of the symptoms of referred pain from your neck include:
- stabbing, burning, or electric-like tingling pain
- pain that radiates to your shoulder blade, elbow, and hand
- pain that radiates down your arm when you twist your neck
- pain thats relieved when you support your neck
Unusual Symptoms Linked To Rheumatoid Arthritis
RA inflammation affects more than joints. The signs and symptoms of RA and conditions related to it may be felt all over the body, including in the ears, eyes, skin, lungs, and heart. Below is a description of 9 unusual symptoms that may be related to your rheumatoid arthritis.
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes painful swelling, stiffness, and deformities of the joints. Watch:Rheumatoid Arthritis Overview Video
Donât Miss: Is Ra Curable
Recommended Reading: Are Lidocaine Patches A Narcotic
When To See A Healthcare Provider
If you have RA or experience headaches with any regularity, talk to your healthcare provider about the best treatment plan for you. They will likely want to perform a physical examination and order tests to rule out other, sometimes more serious conditions.
Contact your healthcare provider or call 911 right away if you experience any of the following headache symptoms:
- Uncontrollable vomiting
What Are The Symptoms Of Back And Neck Pain
Symptoms linked to back pain may include:
- Dull, burning, or sharp pain in your back. The pain can be limited to a single spot or cover a large area.
- Leg numbness or tingling above or below your knee
- Stiffness or aching that occurs anywhere along your spine from your neck to your tailbone
- Sharp, shooting pain that spreads from your low back to your buttocks, down the back of your thigh, and into your calf and toes
- Consistent ache in the middle or lower part of your back, especially after standing or sitting for a long period
Loss of bladder and bowel control with weakness in both legs are symptoms of a serious condition that needs medical attention right away.
Symptoms linked to neck pain can be:
- Arm numbness or tingling
- Shoulder pain
- Sharp shooting pain or a dull ache in your neck
Pain that occurs suddenly in your back or neck from an injury is acute pain. Acute pain comes on quickly and may leave sooner than chronic back or neck pain. This type of pain should not last more than 6 weeks.
Pain that may come on quickly or slowly and lingers for 3 months or more is chronic pain. Chronic pain is less common than acute pain.
Also Check: Belly Fat Causing Back Pain
Recommended Reading: How To Sprain Your Wrist On Purpose
https://www.knowmypain.com/wp-content/uploads/symptoms-of-myofascial-pain-myofascial-trigger-points-chart.jpeg
https://www.knowmypain.com/can-shoulder-pain-cause-headaches/
https://www.knowmypain.com/wp-content/uploads/symptoms-of-myofascial-pain-myofascial-trigger-points-chart.jpeg
https://knowmypain.weebly.com/know-my-pain/can-shoulder-pain-cause-headaches
No comments:
Post a Comment