Head & Neck

Whether you experience tension headaches, postural neck pain, or dizziness. Or if you have pain & stiffness in your neck and you struggle to move, sleep or focus. Problems with head and neck pain etc are often linked to poor trunk control. They then impact your daily life making things you do tiring and frustrating.

Evidence-based assessment and treatment of the head and neck

When you have a neck or head related pain or problem, we carry out a comprehensive assessment.

Physiotherapy solutions may include manual therapy, exercises, education (postural, sleep position and pillow). The idea is to not only relieve symptoms but also provide self-management strategies. Once your pain is relieved, the focus then moves to ensuring you have long-term relief and preventing it recurring again.

Neck - Common Conditions:

• sprains & strains,

• muscle pain & tension,

• acute wry neck,

• disc injuries,

• whiplash,

• pain following injury,

• pain from poor posture,

• tingling/numbness down your arm(s).

Head - Common Conditions:

• headaches (tension, cervicogenic, cluster, exertion, post-trauma),

• migraines,

• occipital neuralgia,

• brain fog,

• poor concentration,

• TMJ (temporomandibular joint)/jaw problems,

• tinnitus (ringing in ears),

• inner ear problems.

The interconnected role of the neck, upper back (and spine), shoulders and head.

Headache, neck pain and thoracic-outlet-type symptoms are often associated with poor load-sharing between the trunk, rib cage, upper thorax, neck and shoulder girdle. When the upper back, ribs and shoulder blades are not moving or working well, the neck often has to do more work. It does this by stabilising the head, assisting breathing and controlling shoulder-girdle position.

This can increase tone in muscles of the neck and upper back such as sternocleidomastoid (SCM), scalenes, sub-occipitals, levator scapulae, upper trapezius and pectoralis minor. This then affects the position and movement of the head, neck, first rib, clavicle and scapula. Other things can also affect neck muscle tension such as head injuries, concussion, whiplash or ongoing head-and-neck imbalance  and control of the upper thorax.

The head, neck, upper back and shoulders work together. We assess and treat head, neck or arm symptoms as one connected system to ensure you get the best result possible.

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