For slightly more than a year I experienced a kind of tension in my neck. It kept giving me the urge to stretch and crack my neck though it was not necessarily painful. This would always leave me feeling relieved.
Unfortunately the relief was not permanent and the tension kept coming back. I would crack my neck several times a day. It was addictive and after awhile I begun getting occasional headaches.
It dawned on me that I needed to seek medical help. So I visited a physician who gave a number of pain killers. They did not seem to help because after taking them the relief only lasted a few hours and I would need another pain killer.
This feeling was frustrating and nagging. It was equally hard to find out what is going on and what to do about it. A friend of mine told me to try a physical therapist who had helped her with a similar problem. Out of desperation I went.
I instantly felt better, lighter and freer. This after I was taken through a fascia release therapy session. However the following day I woke up with intense pain on the same side that was treated. I was so disappointed wondering what actually happened.
The physical therapist later explained to me what had happened………
Myofascial release focuses on releasing muscle tightness or tension. It includes gentle application of firm sustained pressure or stretch to a specific muscle. The goal is to stretch and loosen the the area so that other structures can move more freely and the patient’s motion is restored to normal.
A tight muscle usually gets shorter and stronger than normal and the opposing muscle attached to the same spinal bone will lengthen and weaken. When the tight muscle is released it lengthens and becomes looser. This makes that area weak and the bone(s) is loosely held (poor support).
If the muscles are not strengthened the original pain and tension will most likely come back.
This happens because lack of proper skeletal support by muscles causes the bones of the spine to move and get misaligned which may lead to nerves being compressed by the misaligned bones.
To avoid such incidences, it is advisable that following a Myofascial release, one does a series of strengthening exercises given by the physical therapist to ensure proper skeletal support and avoid recurrence of pain.
Your therapist will also as a preventive measure teach proper sitting, walking and sleeping positions to keep muscle tension at bay. This new discovery changed my whole life because I no longer have tension nor get the urge to crack my neck.
