When someone says neck problems, the first things that usually comes to mind are neck pain and stiffness. Do a search on Google about neck conditions, and you’re going to find results about neck injuries and neck pain. A lot of results!
No doubt many people are confused about where their neck pain is coming from, and how to solve it. (Hint: a consultation with an upper cervical doctor should be in order. Especially if nothing else seems to be helping you.)
Perhaps one of the top conditions that people call my Anchorage chiropractic practice about is none other than neck pain of some kind.
But if you know a little bit about human anatomy you can get a little more creative with your Google search, and you can lose that general phrase “neck pain” and look for something more specific.
Instead of searching for neck problem or neck pain, you can search for “Cranio-Cervical Syndrome.”
What is cranio-cervical syndrome? Break down the word into its individual parts. Cranio or cranium refers to the skull or head. Cervical refers to the neck. Syndrome means a whole host symptoms that appear to be related in some way.
So cranio-cervical syndrome refers to a group of symptoms caused by some kind of disorder or problem between the head and the neck. And this disorder is usually described as problem joint alignment, joint breakdown, or some sort of inflammation in the joints, ligaments, or even muscles around the top joints of the neck.
What kind of symptoms come from cranio-cervical syndrome? This is where it gets really interesting. While your primary care medical doctor might not know, your ENT specialist, or otorhinolaryngologist, might have seen cranio-cervical problems related to symptoms like:
If it seems like a coincidence that these are some of the top conditions that respond to upper cervical care in our Anchorage chiropractic practice, it’s not.
You see, medicine calls it cranio-cervical syndrome and recognizes that the top joints of the neck affect the things that happen in your head.
As upper cervical chiropractors, we call it the atlas subluxation, or even the atlas subluxation complex, and recognize that the top joints of the neck influence not only what happens in your head, but what happens across your whole nervous system, and therefore what happens everywhere else in your body.
So, if your doctors don’t understand what your neck has to do with your hearing. Or your facial pain. Tell your doctor it’s time to Google cranio-cervical syndrome. And tell them that your neck is related to more than just your neck pain.