At Back to Motion many of our patients who have neck pain have been told by other medical professionals that their neck has lost its curve.
What does that mean losing the curve in your neck? Do the curves in your neck have something to do with the pain in your neck? These are all questions our patients have. We thought it would be interesting to find out what the research shows.
Having an S shaped curve in the spine is normal. There are three different curves in the spine. The neck and low back have concave curves and the mid back’s curve is convex. People’s anatomy will vary and some spines will have differing amount of curves. All of this is consider “normal” anatomy.
What we found is, there no correlation to the loss of curve in the neck and injury. In the studies, X-rays of people who were not injured had similar curves in their neck then when compared to people who had been injured. Also the research shows that there is no correlation between having a flat neck and pain or headaches. The research does suggest that if you have “extreme” curves you are more likely to have some neck pain and headaches. Most importantly the research is limited and poor quality.
In conclusion if you have neck pain, the amount of curve is probably not the cause of your pain. Also your injury probably did not affect the curve in your neck. Don’t let an x-ray be a substitute for a thorough examination of the muscles and joints in your neck.
If you have any questions regarding your neck pain please feel free to call and speak to any of our qualified staff.
Back to Motion.