NECK PAIN


Per year, about 30-50% of the adult population suffers from neck pain.

Do you also suffer from chronic or acute pain around your neck?

Do you suffer from radiating or localised pain in the area around your shoulder blade? 

Do you suffer from stress-related headaches that spread from the area around your neck over the back of your head and possibly up to your eyebrows?

Is the mobility of your cervical spine (especially rotational movement) restricted and can you only perform certain movements (mostly rotational movements) painfully?

Do you have individual spots that are painful or even whole areas?

 

POSSIBLE CAUSES


Neck pain

As a rule, the causes of these complaints are 'harmless' and can be traced back to a hardened musculature and/or agglutinated fascia tissue; so-called myofascial causes. Nevertheless, persistent neck problems considerably reduce a person's quality of life. A visit to an orthopaedist often remains inconclusive, because no clear causes can be identified as the trigger for your complaints.



What's more, no patent remedy is available to allows you to rapidly alleviate these complaints yourself. Exercise and activity are important components, but often are not enough alone. In fact, too much exercise can even make the symptoms worse. So what can be done? First of all, it is important to identify the triggers.

THERAPY


THERAPYMETHODS

First and foremost, rare and more serious conditions need to be ruled out in a series of preliminary medical examinations and manual tests. This is followed by a passive and active mobility check and then afterwards targeted treatment.


Each treatment session is individually adapted. I always work myofascially. Myofascial work means working on the muscles (myo) and on the (fascia). I do not use "repositioning" or Mobilisation techniques on the cervical spine.

Classic medical massage

The origins of massage go back to around 2700 BC. Classical 'occidental' medical massage is gradually on the wane. Wrongly so: probably no other form of treatment combines diagnosis and treatment as well as classic medical massage. How can you feel the hardening and adhesions if you do not 'lay on hands'. A well-dosed massage promotes blood circulation, stimulates lymph flow, loosens congested fascia and activates the parasympathetic nervous system. Often a massage is enough to significantly improve the symptoms.

Triggerpunkttherapie

Trigger point therapy can be traced back to the American internist Janet Travell who published work on the myofascial origin of pain as early as in 1952. By applying pressure to painful points, the pain familiar to the patient can be triggered and hence directly impacted, i.e. diminished. Trigger points are painful, hardened points embedded in the musculature where reduced blood flow and reduced partial pressure of oxygen can be detected. In addition, studies show...

Strain/Counterstrain

The Strain/Counterstrain method goes back to the American osteopath Lawrence Jones, who selectively combined tender points (not trigger points) with a corresponding positioning for the best possible relaxation of the tissue. Anyone already familiar with the diagnosis of fibromyalgia will be familiar with these tender points, as they play an important role in the determination of any diagnosis. These are points on tendons or muscle attachments that cause pain for the patient. With the right positioning, this pain can be dissipated and the Golgi receptors (see Golgi therapy) can also be reprogrammed.

Fascial distortion model

The fascial distortion model goes back to the American osteopath Dr Stephen Typaldos. The model is based on 6 different causes of pain. Pain caused by: 

1. A continuum distortion, a dysfunction in the transitional area between the connective tissue and bone.

 2. A twisted fascia band, which you have to imagine like a twisted piece of paper that has to be straightened again. 

3. A herniated trigger point that has to be "pushed back" through the hernia again. 

4. A folding distortion

 5. A cylinder distortion 

6. A tectonic distortion 

The first three models are clinically relevant. Correctly performed FDM therapy is very painful and not suitable for everyone, but is usually very effective.

Golgi pain point therapy

Golgi pain therapy is a highly effective pain therapy that can be administered quickly. It stimulates the Golgi tendon organs, which are located in the transitional area between the muscles and bones. Since the Golgi tendon organs are directly involved in regulating muscle tension, manual treatment of these organs can bring about pronounced relief for the patient.

Which method is ultimately chosen depends on the patient and their circumstances.

The trapezius muscle

The trapezius muscle is more prone to painful tenseness and trigger points than any other muscle. There are few adults who do not have painful trigger points in the trapezius muscle. This is no doubt caused by posture, but to an even greater extent by vegetative/stress-related factors. For example, raising the shoulder is an instinctive reaction to stress of any kind and takes place unconsciously. The fact that the trapezius muscle, together with the sternocleidomastoid muscle, is the only muscle that is directly supplied with nutrients by the brain (accesorius nerve) suggests that stress, racing thoughts, etc. lead to tenseness in the trapezius muscle.

The sternocleidomastoid muscle

The sternocleidomastoid muscle is the brother/sister muscle of the trapezius muscle, which is also supplied by a nerve from the brain. The sternocleidomastoid muscle is not only an important muscle for turning the head, but also for spatial orientation and our sense of balance. Painful trigger points in the sternocleidomastoid muscle can result in dizziness.

Fascia

To speak of fascia alone is actually too short-sighted; it is not an understatement to say that the fascia system can be contrasted with the organ or muscle system. Fascia are connective tissue structures that surround muscles and organs, connect bones, store energy in the form of fat and extend through the whole body as a continuum, thus giving truth to the much quoted saying, "everything is connected to everything". Fascia also play a key role in bodily perception, pain perception, in delivering nutrients to cells, in storing energy, but also in the stability of the space. Hormones, metabolites that regulate cell metabolism eventually migrate from the blood through the connective tissue to reach their target cell, while, at the same time, waste products from the cells migrate through the connective tissue back to the blood capillaries.

Conversely, this means: the less permeable the connective tissue space, the worse the functioning of the metabolism. This makes it all the more important to relax the connective tissue manually on a regular basis. The image below depicts the superficial dorsal line (SDL), a fascial pathway that passes through the rear of our entire body from our eyebrows to the soles of our feet.

Suboccipital muscles

The suboccipital musculature is of enormous importance in the onset of tenseness and headaches. Its high number of muscle spindles (sensory organs in the musculature) also underline its outstanding importance in the point of bodily perception and also coordination.


For example, in the large buttock muscle there are 7 muscle spindles per gram of muscle mass, in the suboccipital muscles there are 36 muscle spindles per gram. Of great importance is also their close connection to the eye muscles. You can test this yourself by placing your fingers just below your skull on the back of your neck, closing your eyes and slowly moving your eyes to the right and left while keeping them closed. 

You should feel a change in tension in the small muscles in your neck. Conversely, prolonged eye strain, i.e. computer work, automatically strains the suboccipital muscles. They are also considered to be the core of the SDL (the superficial dorsal line), which means that the suboccipital musculature can be used to treat the entire dorsal muscular fascia.

about me


     Michael Jaedike 

Born in 1980

State-certified physiotherapist (graduated in 2013), further training/advanced training:


Osteopathy at the Vienna School of Osteopathy, AORT/Strain Counterstrain according to R. Van Assche, Pain Physiotherapy according to Hockenholz, Manual Lymphatic Drainage according to Foeldi, Golgi Pain Point Therapy.


Several years spent working in physiotherapy practices in and around Munich and abroad (Ireland)

FAQ 


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

No. The region around the cervical vertebrae is sensitive, so no "repositioning" takes place and no forceful techniques are used

A slipped or herniated disc in the cervical spine can certainly cause discomfort in the area around the neck, but often it is not the slipped disc itself that is the cause, but tenseness in the myofascial area. Excessive tenseness of the cervical spine muscles can even lead to the outer solid shell of an intervertebral disc bursting due to the pull of the muscles and the gelatinous core escaping to the outside. However, these herniations are only painful if they are located in very specific places, namely where the nerve roots emerge from the spinal cord. In principle, a herniated disc should be treated by a doctor if a loss of strength and sensibility in the neck, shoulder or hand muscles occurs.

There are many different types and causes of headaches. With migraines, for example, it is assumed that serotonin receptors in the smooth muscles play a decisive role in their onset. Tension headaches, on the other hand, often have their cause in the suboccipital musculature, which can then continue via the galea aponeurotica, the epicranial aponeurosis, all the way to your eyes. Common to both types, however, is that myofascial trigger points can influence pain, also in a migraine.

This of course varies from person to person. You should see an improvement after 2-3 treatment sessions.

CONTACT


Termin vereinbaren 

Please feel free to use the contact form to describe your complaints and make an appointment. In an emergency, I can also be reached by telephone on +49 (0)170 3421 692. 

However, I would ask you to use the contact form first please.