Typically 4–6 visits over five to six weeks
Neck pain
Stiffness, aching or a sharp catch when you turn your head, from desk work, sleeping awkwardly or an old whiplash.
How we treat it
Neck pain is the second most common reason people come to Aplomb, and most of it comes from the same place: the small joints at the back of the neck stiffening under hours of holding the head forward, with the muscles around them tightening to protect them.
At your first visit we test how each level of the neck moves, check the upper back (which often stops turning first and makes the neck do its job), and run the nerve tests that tell us whether anything is irritating a nerve root. That last part matters if you have pins and needles into the arm.
Treatment is usually a combination of gentle adjustment or mobilisation of the stiff levels, soft-tissue work on the muscles at the base of the skull and across the shoulders, and two exercises: one to restore rotation, one to strengthen the deep muscles at the front of the neck that hold your head up without you noticing.
Most uncomplicated neck pain settles within four to six visits. If your job keeps putting it back, we add a desk and posture session.
Common signs
- Stiffness turning to check a blind spot
- Ache at the base of the skull by the end of the day
- Pain that spreads across the top of the shoulder
- Pins and needles into the arm or hand
See a doctor first if you have
- Neck pain after a fall or crash with numbness in both arms
- Sudden severe headache with a stiff neck and fever
Call 999 or go to A&E for anything sudden and severe. For urgent advice, call 111.
“Three years of a stiff neck by four o’clock every day. Five visits and two exercises later I get through a full week at the desk without thinking about it.”