Neck & shoulder pain
It is back
by Thursday.
You get through Monday. By Thursday the shoulders have crept up again and turning your head is a whole-body manoeuvre. Rubbing the tight bit buys you a day.
Why it keeps coming back
Same spot,
every time
Necks and shoulders are the most common thing through this door, and the most commonly treated in the wrong place. The spot you can point to is the symptom, not the cause.
The assessment looks at what the neck actually does through range, what the shoulder blade does when you lift your arm, whether the mid-back moves at all, and how you breathe — because a chest breather recruits the neck muscles thousands of times a day without noticing.
Sound familiar
What people describe
- Waking stiff on one side, and half the morning to ease off
- Shoulders creeping up by mid-afternoon at a screen
- Turning to reverse the car has become a whole-body movement
- A knot in the same spot every time — between the shoulder blade and the spine, or on top of the shoulder
- A massage helps for a day or two, then it is exactly as it was
What happens
Firm, and
explained first
Some of the work through the upper trap and around the shoulder blade is firm, and Dale will tell you before he does it. A stubborn area can be tender while it is worked — that passes — but it should never be something you brace through.
You leave knowing what was found, what was done about it, and the two or three things to change before the next visit.
What else we treat
The others we
see most
Low back
Fine until you bend to put your shoes on.
Headaches
Starting at the base of the skull, not behind the eyes.
Tennis & golfer’s elbow
Six months of “it’ll settle”. It has not settled.
Desk & posture pain
Eight hours a day in one shape has consequences.
Sports injuries
The niggle you are still training on.
Practical
Before you call
Health funds
Claim it
on the spot
- Medibank
- Bupa
- HCF
- nib
- HBF
- Australian Unity
- ahm
HICAPS is on the desk, and it is connected to every private health insurer in Australia — not just the ones listed. Tap your card after the appointment, the rebate comes off on the spot, and you pay the gap rather than the lot.
What comes back depends on your level of extras cover, and myotherapy is not on every policy. The terminal tells you the exact number before you leave the room, so there is no invoice to chase and nothing to find out later.
FAQ
Questions people actually ask
My neck does not hurt, it is my shoulder. Is this the right page?
If it is the top of the shoulder, the shoulder blade, or the band between neck and shoulder, yes. If it is the shoulder joint itself — reaching behind you, sleeping on that side, lifting overhead — that is a different assessment. Dale sorts it out at the start either way; you are not in the wrong room.
It turns into a headache. Does that change anything?
Not the appointment, but it is worth knowing: the upper neck refers pain into the head convincingly, and that is a large part of what gets assessed here. The headache page goes into it.
What if it goes down my arm?
Tell Dale at the start, and expect to be pointed next door. Pain, pins and needles or weakness down the arm are nerve signs, and the spine and nervous system are a chiropractor's field. Mornington Peninsula Chiropractic is in this building.
Book for your neck and shoulders
Forty minutes in Mornington. History, assessment and hands-on treatment in the same visit.