How Can We Help?

Ever wake up and have discomfort on the left side of your neck? Thinking that it might be how you slept, or maybe it's your pillow who is the culprit. You've tried stretching your neck to relieve the neck pain but not sure if its doing more harm than good?

We know how it feels to have that ache in between your shoulder blades. We've been there ourselves, studied it, and most importantly helped many patients work through these annoying aches and pains.

Our clinicians use an Orthopaedic, evidence-based model to target the root causes of your neck pain and address these issues through targeted soft-tissue techniques, manual joint mobilizations, motor re-learning, and corrective exercise programs to ensure that you are symptom free and staying that way.

What Causes Neck Pain?

Concussions can disrupt your life in unexpected ways, affecting not only physical health but also cognitive and emotional well-being. Our expert team is well-versed in managing concussions and mTBIs, providing personalized care that addresses a range of symptoms, from dizziness and vertigo to cognitive challenges and mood fluctuations.

Can Neck and Shoulder Pain Cause Headaches, Dizziness and/or Nausea?

Cite Vestibular

Neck Pain Exercises: Are these even effective?

Are neck exercises really going to make a difference for me?

We identified moderate-certainty evidence favoring exercise interventions over no or minimal intervention to reduce the risk of developing neck pain in the short term (≤12 month).

Findings show low to high certainty of evidence for positive effects on pain and disability of the various exercise types used in chronic neck pain compared to non-exercise interventions, at least in the short-term.
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(Rasmussen-Barr, E., Halvorsen, M., Bohman, T., Boström, C., Dedering, Å., Kuster, R. P., Olsson, C. B., Rovner, G., Tseli, E., Nilsson-Wikmar, L., & Grooten, W. J. A. (2023). Summarizing the effects of different exercise types in chronic neck pain - a systematic review and meta-analysis of systematic reviews. BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 24(1), 806. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-023-06930-9)

Manual Therapy: Is that going to work for me?

Manual therapy is considered a safe and less painful method and has been increasingly used to alleviate chronic neck pain.
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Manual therapy may be more effective for people with neck pain in both short and long-term with a better safety profile regarding adverse events when compared to patients receiving oral pain medications.

MT is a non-pharmacological intervention utilizing hands-on techniques like joint mobilization, manipulation, and soft tissue massage. These techniques aim to enhance joint and muscle function, reduce pain, and improve overall well-being. Proposed mechanisms for MT’s beneficial effects include enhancing joint and muscle function, boosting local blood flow, and reducing inflammation. Furthermore, MT may exert neurophysiological effects, thereby reducing pain and enhancing physical function, offering an alternative for treating musculoskeletal pain without medications.Despite the widespread use of oral medication, the evidence on their effectiveness in managing neck pain remains controversial. Combined with potential adverse associated with oral medications such as NSAIDs and opioids, MT may present a safer, more favorable treatment option for neck pain. Thus, this systematic review and meta-analysis seeks to investigate the effectiveness and safety of MT compared to oral pain medication in the management of neck pain.
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(Makin, J., Watson, L., Pouliopoulou, D. V., Laframboise, T., Gangloff, B., Sidhu, R., Sadi, J., Parikh, P., Gross, A., Langevin, P., Gillis, H., & Bobos, P. (2024). Effectiveness and safety of manual therapy when compared with oral pain medications in patients with neck pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation, 16(1), 86. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13102-024-00874-w)

Who Do I See?

It can be confusing to know who to go see when managing your neck/shoulder pain.

The most efficient way to prevent you from wasting your time (and money), is to make sure you have a detailed assessment where a health professional who is able to provide you with a medical diagnosis in Ontario (either a Licensed Chiropractor or Physiotherapist), provides you with a diagnosis.

From there, treatment may be provided by the most appropriate and relevant health professional.

This may be a Registered Massage Therapist, a Physiotherapist, Chiropractor, Kinesiologist, or even Acupuncturist depending on what kind of management is suggested. Sometimes seeing 2 different disciplines may allow you to leverage the best skill set from each professional.

Do I Need a Referral?

In Ontario there is Direct Access to many of the services that we provide at Vaughan Physiotherapy Clinic; which means that you do not need to go see your family doctor to visit our clinic.