Should I see a chiropractor for a straight neck or reverse cervical curve?

Yes, you should see a chiropractor for the improvement or possible correction of your straight neck or even your reverse cervical curve. There are a large variety of chiropractic adjusting procedures and theories about curve correction. This site advocates upper cervical chiropractic procedures, with lower cervical and thoracic release as necessary.

This is our reverse curve resource page with links to all of our curve correction articles below. As this topic is much too large to fit into a single article, we’ll cover a few basic questions about curve correction:

  • Why should I want my cervical curve evaluated and corrected?
  • What factors affect how successful chiropractic care for curve correction can be?

Why should I want to correct my straight neck or reversed curve?

Improving the alignment of a straight neck or reverse curve can be important for people with chronic symptoms like those below:

  • A reverse cervical curve is often associated with symptoms like head pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, and spine pain.
  • Patients can also experience arm and hand pain, or symptoms similar to thoracic outlet syndrome.
  • People with reverse neck curves are also prime candidate for headaches. Headaches of all kinds and varieties are common in patients with a reverse cervical curve.

A straight neck or loss of curve can also create long-term problems for the neck, including:

  • Loss of motion in the neck
  • Inflammation of ligaments
  • Muscle spasm
  • Disc and joint degeneration

What factors affect how successful chiropractic care for curve correction can be?

Correction or improvement of the neck curve can depend on a lot of factors. Here are a few:

  • The degree of degeneration (arthritis) in the neck on the vertebral bodies around the intervertebral disc, and in the back joints of the neck (facets). A lot of degeneration in general, or intense focal degeneration at c5-c6 in particular may reduce the chance or rate of restoration.
  • The patience the patient has for the process, as it may take several months to up to to several years for the curvature to change in a severe reverse curve. This will not mean weekly visits, but may mean monthly visits with at home stretches.
  • The shape the neck has to be taken into consideration in the posterior/anterior view (looking from back to front), as there may be significant rotation of various vertebra which will also have to move. The neck is a three dimensional tube that rotates, and not just a “line” from the side.
  • The “shape” of the curve reversal itself can be very influential on whether a neck curve can be corrected. Some shapes are easier than others. There are several different kind of straight and reverse necks. There is a kyphotic neck, a kyphotic neck with a reverse top, a true C-shape reverse, a S-shape and inverse S-shape reverse…

Why do we recommend recommend chiropractic (including neck procedures) care for straight neck or loss of cervical curve?

Our essential articles on the cervical curve

Please refer to the following articles from the blog, written by Dr. Zachary Ward.

This information may be critical for helping you or someone you know receive help for symptoms created by a loss of cervical curve.

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