Physiotherapy for Neck Pain in St. Louis

PHYSIOTHERAPY FOR NECK PAIN

Physiotherapy for neck pain at Neck Pain STL is a physician-directed program of treatments led by neck decompression, plus home exercises, tests and diet coaching. It is built for whiplash, desk neck, pinched nerves that send pain into the arm, and the headaches and dizziness that start in the neck.

Most neck care swings between two extremes: a photocopied page of stretches, or a needle. Plenty of people need something in between, every week, with someone measuring whether it works. That is what this program is. A physician writes the orders for every treatment, each visit is charted the same way, and the same standard neck questionnaire scores you on day one and at each re-check.

What is the physiotherapy program?

On paper it is called the Physician-Directed Physiotherapy Program: Neuromuscular Modality Re-Education Protocol. In plain words:

• Physician-directed: a medical doctor examines you, orders each treatment and oversees your care from start to finish.
• Physiotherapy: care that helps injured neck and shoulder tissue heal using slow pulling, warmth, cold, light, sound waves, movement and gentle electric pulses.
• Neuromuscular re-education: getting the nerves and muscles of the neck and shoulders working as a team again after an injury or years of strain.
• Modality: the name for each treatment machine or method.
• Protocol: a written plan followed the same way every time, so nothing depends on guesswork.

Who runs it?

The program is overseen by Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP. Your physician does the exam, writes the orders and looks at your neck again at every re-check. At each station a technician follows those orders exactly, and no technician runs a machine alone before being signed off on it.

Our technicians are trained staff, not physical therapists, and they never say otherwise. Diagnosing you, adjusting a setting or adding a treatment is the physician’s job alone.

What happens from your first visit to your last?

1. Step 1: Forms, once

   You complete the new patient paperwork one time. Your details are entered once, so nothing gets copied wrong later.

2. Step 2: A physician examines you

   Your physician examines the neck, shoulders, arms and nerves, and then puts in writing every treatment, its settings and any test or piece of equipment. Those orders are signed into your chart.

3. Step 3: Your first treatment visit

   A brief questionnaire records how much your neck or arm gets in the way of daily life. You are taught your home exercises. Any brace, band or home TENS unit on your orders is fitted and demonstrated.

4. Step 4: Every visit after that

   First we confirm a physician is on site, and we go through the safety questions aloud. After that you rotate through your ordered stations. Plan on about an hour and a half.

5. Step 5: Tests, when ordered

   If your physician orders a nerve test, a dizziness test or another check, we schedule it and keep track of it until the report is in.

6. Step 6: Re-checks

   At planned points you repeat that same questionnaire and your physician examines you again. You then wrap up with a home plan, or carry on under a revised plan.

The number of visits depends on the injury and how quickly you respond. A visit or two is enough for some people. A more serious injury can take 60 visits or more over a span of months. Your physician builds the plan and changes it as your neck heals.

Which treatments are in the program?

Neck decompression is the center of the program for most neck patients. The other stations prepare the neck for it or calm things down after it. Your physician chooses which ones you get and how strong each is, and you can ask to stop any of them at any time. Tap any treatment card to learn how it feels and who should skip it.

On a day with every station, the sequence goes from warming up, to stretching, to the focused treatment, to winding down: heat, vibration, traction chair, decompression, laser or shockwave, and TENS last.

Which tests might your physician order?

An exam alone cannot always explain what is wrong with a neck. Once your physician orders a test, we set up the appointment and keep checking on it at each visit until it is complete.

We also offer the assessments, covering balance, thinking, movement, circulation, nerves and metabolism:

Why does food come up each visit?

The science behind it is in our article on an anti-inflammatory diet for neck pain.

What is your part between visits?

Machines do their part, but the effort you put in between visits counts for more. Day one, you are taught the exercises your physician picked for you, to be done twice daily. Your log comes with you each visit so your technician can tally your days and watch your technique. Tap any exercise below for its drawing, step-by-step directions, the usual errors and the warning signs.

For the neck

For the shoulder and upper back

The I, Y, T and A raises are a set, done in that order, and every one of them can be done sitting in a firm chair or standing. For the reasoning behind gentle endurance work over hard stretching, read neck exercises that help, and the ones that make it worse.

Anything your physician orders for home is fitted, demonstrated and sent home with written directions. Your signature on receipt is the one record of each item.

How is progress measured?

Pain scores bounce around from one day to the next, so we also track what you can actually do. On day one and at every re-check you complete a short, widely used questionnaire by yourself, so the answers are yours alone.

For each questionnaire, research has set how many points of change are meaningful. Fall short of that and your physician revises the plan and documents the reason, so you do not spend weeks on something that is not helping. How long a typical neck takes to settle is covered in how long neck pain should take.

What happens at each re-check?

You repeat the questionnaire and your physician re-examines you. From there, one of two things happens:

• You are finished. You go home with your closing scores and a routine to keep up on your own.
• You need more time. Your physician documents the reason to continue and what is changing, then books the next re-check. Doing the same thing again is never, by itself, a reason to continue.

When you stop getting better, your physician may raise other options we offer, like a medial branch block to check a worn neck joint, an epidural steroid injection for pain that runs down the arm, or an occipital nerve block for headaches that start in the neck.

What people ask about physiotherapy for neck pain

Is this the same as physical therapy?

No. A physical therapist is a licensed professional of a different kind. This program is ordered and overseen by a physician and carried out by trained technicians, and it sits alongside the rest of your neck care here. What the first visit looks like.

Can physiotherapy help after whiplash?

Yes, it is one of the main reasons people start. Decompression, vibration and the deep neck exercises target the guarding and weak stabilizing muscles that keep a whiplash neck sore, and the VNG and Cognivue tests check the dizziness and brain fog that can come with it. More on whiplash.

Will it help headaches that start in my neck?

Often. When the headache is driven by tight, irritated structures at the top of the neck, loosening and strengthening that area helps. Your physician first confirms the headache really is coming from the neck. How neck-driven headaches are diagnosed.

Do I need a referral?

You do not. Call (314) 886-5892 or book online. Bring any scans or reports you already have. If you were hurt in a car accident, start here.

Does any of it hurt?

For most people it is warmth, a pulling stretch or a tingle. Shockwave can sting for a few seconds. Say so the moment anything hurts and the treatment stops. What our procedures feel like.

Where is Neck Pain STL located?

Neck Pain STL is next to DePaul Hospital, west of the airport, near where I-270 meets I-70: 12174 Natural Bridge Rd, Suite 302, St. Louis, MO 63044. Call (314) 886-5892 or text (314) 886-5902, Monday through Friday. Directions and contact details.