Transcript
Dr. Riley:
So loss of cervical curve is something that I hear daily here in the clinic. Typically, it comes up with a new patient or a patient that has previously seen a chiropractor, an orthopedist. They’ve had some form of plain film X-ray. And more specifically, I mean a lateral view of your spine from the side that would show us what your cervical curve looks like.
So in a healthy spine we have three curves. We have a reverse C curve in the neck, and then a curve in the mid-back, and then another reverse C curve in the low back. So we have a cervical or a neck, a mid-back or a thoracic, and a lumbar curve. All of these curves work in conjunction to keep you balanced. Okay. But unfortunately with pretty much just daily life, activity, work activity, sometimes associated with trauma, a host of things can contribute to an increase or a loss of one of these curves. And you could imagine that if all of these three curves, they work together to keep us in balance, if one of those curves is increased or decreased, it potentially could change the symmetry or the balance of your spine.
So loss of cervical curve, like I said, is often diagnosed with plain film X-ray, and as opposed to a reverse C, you will start to see straightening, in some cases reversal of the curve. With this, it could contribute to neck pain, it could contribute to low back pain, it could contribute to headaches. There is a host of things that loss of curve could contribute to. But I will tell you there are things that can be done. And I also would like to say this is a very, very common occurrence. I would guess to say that the bulk of a lot of adults have some form of loss of curve, and there’s been no trauma in their life, it’s just the day-to-day activity that has contributed to this. And unfortunately, many times physicians will use this almost as a scare tactic that, oh Lord, you have lost your cervical curve. We’re going to make very aggressive treatment recommendations to reestablish this curve.
I think there is some value in trying to obviously slow down the progression of this curve, to reestablish it, but I think there needs to be a comprehensive plan in doing so. And what I mean by that is, in my experience, strictly manipulation does a great job to improve alignment, reduce mechanical restriction, manage symptoms, reduce inflammation. But when utilized by itself I feel like you really don’t have the results and the outcomes that we would like if you incorporate different services.
For instance, it would make sense that strengthening and stabilization to your neck would start to hold those adjustments. We could start to reestablish and improve on that curve because it makes sense if we start to lose the curve, the head might take a little bit of a head forward posture on it. Changes our balance. Our upper back might have to work harder to support our head, you start developing upper back and neck pain. So I think that physical therapy, some form of stabilization is very, very important with chiropractic therapy to reestablish the curve.
And then lastly, I think deep tissue massage. So many times we will see cause and effect, so you start to lose the curve, but you manifest symptoms in other areas. For instance, many times I have patients complain of constant upper back or upper shoulder pain. They feel like their shoulders are up in their neck. I think that we should address the tightness, the adhesion, the hypertonicity, the restriction in those tissues to reestablish proper tissue tone so they’re able to relax.
So going back to the loss of curve, I think it is very common. So if you do see your doctor, don’t be too alarmed or when you see a picture of what you see, because it’s a very common occurrence that can be treated accordingly. Many times we may not even manifest symptoms. I have had patients that we treated for upper back pain that might receive a cervical, they really don’t have neck problems, and we determined that they have a loss of cervical curve. They’re just developing symptoms in their upper back. So I think that’s the most important thing is just have some awareness of what’s going on, ask plenty of questions with your provider.
And then from there, I think it’s important that we build a comprehensive plan with chiropractic therapy, some form of physical therapy and some form of massage. Like we say, it’s so, so very important to keep the patient, you, the patient, involved in your care, ask for some things to do. What can you be doing at home? What changes could you be making at your desk or at your work environment? I think that’s so very important that we can have sustained relief. So once again, like I said, don’t stress too much. If you get diagnosed with the loss of a cervical curve, work out a comprehensive treatment plan, and like we always say, keep moving.
