When an individual has neck pain, they go to their primary care physician, orthopedist or neurologist. An x-ray or MRI is taken. Arthritis might be found. A herniated disc, stenosis, degenerative disc disease are the other common findings. These findings become the basis of the diagnosis which all future treatments are based on.

The idea is that there is a correlation between these findings and the pain being experienced in the neck region. The problem is that studies are showing that these positive findings of structural variations can be found in as many with no pain as those with pain. In fact, there seems to be a question just to what degree there is any correlation between these findings and pain.

This is the problem that has caused physicians to wonder exactly what is causing neck pain. When it comes to not truly understanding what is causing pain, one prominent physician is quoted as saying, "It is important that the public knows just how little we know." This is the mindset of the medical establishment who seem to have little difficulty in prescribing addictive, narcotic drugs, epidural nerve blocks and when all else fails, providing surgeries that are based on that original, questionable diagnosis.

I have treated patients who have had neck pain for years even after getting the shots, the drugs and the surgeries. I have proven that the cause of most neck pain is a muscle imbalance between the chest muscles, front shoulder and upper arm versus the muscles between the shoulder blades, the back shoulder and arms. This imbalance causes forward shoulder posture.

The shoulder blades become wider apart separating away from the spine in this improper posture. The muscles that attach from the skull or the cervical spine to the shoulder blades become over stretched in this position. They lose their ability to perform their functional tasks which include supporting the head and stabilizing the shoulder blades for shoulder function. This causes these muscles to strain and sometimes to go into spasm. Resolution of neck pain in most cases can be resolved through strengthening of the muscles between the shoulder blades, back of the shoulders and back of the upper arms. This corrects the improper posture keeping the spine and muscles in their optimal position.