Acupuncture for Neck Pain

Your neck is a crucial conductor of movement for both your head and upper body. Therefore, pain in that region can rob you of your ability to handle even the most routine tasks and simple movements. Many patients are able to avoid surgery and medication through acupuncture treatments.

Diagnosing Neck Pain

Improper posture is a common cause of neck pain. Another is spending too many hours in any position — especially hunched over your desk — that puts strain on neck muscles.

Herniated disks at the top of your spine can also lead to neck pain, by pinching nerves in that region of your body. Other common causes of neck pain include whiplash after a car accident, and different types of arthritis.  

An acupuncturist will discuss likely causes and specific symptoms with you, because this diagnosis will help determine needle placement.

Acupoints for Neck Pain

Acupuncture stimulates your body’s natural painkilling chemicals. Your neck is a complex system of spinal and neuromuscular systems, so the actual point of pain — as well as the related pathways to healing — differs from patient to patient.

• Local acupoints. One area of needle placement is at the local point. In other words, the neck area that hurts the most is an obvious spot on which to focus.
• Adjacent acupoints. Effective needle placement also focuses on areas near the point of pain, such as the shoulder. Because there are as many as 2,000 identified acupoints in the practice of acupuncture, “adjacent” is precise science — which is why determining the exact cause and the area of your neck pain is a key part of your treatment.
• Distal acupoints. In acupuncture, part of the treatment involves opening up healing pathways believed to exist between specific body points. Therefore, pain from whiplash involves different acupoints on your back, hands and feet than does neck pain from muscle overuse. For more information, Contact Us Today at Freehold, NJ Center.