Premier San Diego Chiropractor Experience relief from Neck Pain

The Relief You Need to Live the Life You Love

Explore Drug-Free Solutions for Neck Pain

Pain is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. Neck pain is much more than just a “pain in the neck” - if you are suffering and looking for neck pain treatment in San Diego, you are in the right place. Chronic neck pain can make everyday activities like driving, working, or exercising almost impossible – but there are solutions. At Intouch Chiropractic, we focus our work and expertise on the upper neck, the most delicate and important part of the spine, because it is the closest to the brain and has the most neurological impact. Injuries to your neck misalign the bones, locking them into place and causing them to get stuck in a stressed position.

When this happens, small pain-sensitive nerves in the neck, shoulder, and upper back are commonly irritated and pinched. The sooner you seek care, the better chances you have of getting neck pain relief right away and avoiding arthritis and disc degeneration in your neck down the road. Many of our patients experience significant, rapid relief after their first treatments – without medication, injections, or invasive procedures.

Dr. Jeanett Tapia, DC, ACP

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Dr. Jeanett Tapia, DC, ACP

Dr. Jeanett Tapia brings advanced chiropractic training, experience, and a warm, caring touch to every treatment. She is a specialist in NUCCA (National Upper Cervical Chiropractic Association) a groundbreaking chiropractic approach involving precise, gentle, non-invasive spinal adjustments to address the actual source of a range of painful conditions caused by a misalignment at the top of the spine. Her dedication to the healing art of chiropractic medicine led her to advanced post-graduate training in Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression, Knee Rehabilitation and Neuropathy Treatments.

Dr. Devin Young, DC, DCCJP

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Dr. Devin Young, DC, DCCJP

Dr. Young is among the most highly trained chiropractic doctors practicing in the San Diego region and beyond. He began his journey as a full spine chiropractor, quickly becoming interested in the NUCCA technique. His extensive training includes a 300-hour training program in DCCJP (cranio-cervical junction procedures), and certification as a Level 2 NUCCA practitioner. His personal dedication to his patients and vast understanding of the structure of the human form and the barriers to a healthy, pain-free life has led to his reputation for excellence in the chiropractic arts.

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Another great visit with my Intouch doctor (Jeanett Tapia)! The support staff is friendly, caring, professional, and competent. I feel fortunate to be a patient there. The range of motion of my neck has improved a great amount.

-Fritz Z.

You Deserve Relief From Chronic Neck Pain

Many patients report that their pain just started out of the blue and has no known cause. Other patients report that they have been suffering from rebound symptoms from taking painkillers every day for years. A variety of factors play a contributing role in neck pain, including childhood falls, sports injuries, poor posture, and auto crashes.

Patients can sometimes pinpoint the cause of their neck pain, while others say that their symptoms came on gradually. Macro-traumas like accidents or injuries, as well as micro-traumas such as repetitive motions like sitting at a desk for many hours with poor ergonomics, hours of text messaging, or sleeping on your tummy night after night, can all be to blame.

Some chronic neck pain patients also mention that they have numbness, tingling, and muscle weakness in the shoulders, arms, hands, or fingers. Headaches, migraines, vertigo, TMJ, and tinnitus (ear ringing) are often associated with chronic neck pain as well. If you need neck pain treatment, please know that our San Diego chiropractors are experienced experts and have been helping people with their chronic neck pain for years. They look forward to helping you get neck pain relief as well.

Common Causes of Neck Pain

Every patient is unique, right down to their anatomy and flexibility, but neck pain is unfortunately very common. Your head weighs 10-15 pounds - about the weight of a bowling ball – and is balanced on top of a tiny, 2-ounce bone called the atlas.

Unlike other joints in your spine, the joints at the base of your skull do not interlock. This allows you tremendous flexibility and mobility, making it possible for you to back out of your driveway without much effort or thought when healthy. The trade-off to the increased flexibility of this part of the spine is increased vulnerability: your upper neck is the most delicate part of your spine.

The most common causes of neck pain include:

Overuse

Your muscles strain after long hours of being hunched over a computer, smartphone, or knitting project. Even activities such as reading in bed, sitting on the couch for too long, or grinding your teeth can strain your neck muscles over the years.

Damaged Joints

Joints degenerate naturally over time. As this process occurs, extra bone is deposited (bone spurs) in an attempt to help stabilize your spine. This degeneration is commonly known as arthritis, limiting joint motion and causing pain.

Disc Injuries

Herniated discs and bulging discs can cause spinal nerve root compression. This can be very painful, especially if disc material causes chemical irritation to delicate nerve endings.

Certain Conditions

Conditions and diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, post-concussion syndrome, meningitis, and cancer can all cause neck pain.

Whiplash Trauma

Trauma from a slip-and-fall, sports injury, or car accident can cause a whiplash injury. In fact, any injury that hyperflexes and hyperextends the head and neck damages the soft tissues of your neck. Without treatment, many of these whiplash injuries can have symptoms that sometimes don’t surface until decades later.

A New Kind of Neck Pain: “Text Neck” – and How To Avoid It

Technology, technology, technology! The amount of time we spend with our heads bent down looking at devices is only growing by the day. The amount of time we spend looking at our phones, scrolling through email, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media is staggering. As of 2019, the average person spent 153 minutes on social platforms per day - that’s over 2 1/2 hours per day. Let’s talk a bit about physics. When you are looking straight ahead, your head weighs 10-15 pounds. However, every inch that the head moves forward puts you in a stressed position. According to Dr. Kenneth K. Hansraj, tilting the head forward just:

15 degrees can increase the force on the neck to 27 pounds
30 degrees can increase the force on the neck to 40 pounds
45 degrees can increase the force on the neck to 49 pounds
60 degrees can increase the force on the neck to 60 pounds

In this example, the head weighed 12 pounds when looking straight ahead. So, the amount of stress on the spine increases astronomically, thanks to the forces of gravity when you look down.

Here’s a tip: Next time you are on your phone, tablet, or laptop, remember to bring your device up to eye level instead of slouching and bending your head and neck downwards.

If you are suffering from chronic or new neck pain, don’t rely on painkillers or more invasive treatments. Call our office or schedule an appointment here to see what Intouch Chiropractic’s custom approach can do for you.

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Upper Cervical Care for Neck Pain Relief

Intouch Chiropractic’s Upper Cervical Care doctors are specially trained to find abnormalities in the alignment of your neck. They use NUCCA protocols, which are gentle, precise, non-surgical, and non-invasive. Our analysis takes 100% of the guesswork out, as we use measurements specific to your anatomy to know how to best adjust you without any twisting, cracking, or popping of your neck or spine.

Less than 300 doctors worldwide specialize in NUCCA care worldwide. Rather than simply treating the symptoms, your care at Intouch Chiropractic will provide a long-term strategy to not only get the pain relief that you seek right away but also prevent future spinal decay. Many of our patients benefit greatly from our unique combined approach of NUCCA Spinal Care, Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression, and laser therapy – that’s the Intouch Chiropractic difference.