Hi guys,
Thank you for your responses.
My mother has never seen a physio before and I think that it would be good for her to see a physio who does neck and shoulders or back. I think it is more the issue for the effort to get to the physio which is silly than anything else.

I had suggested that she shoulde see my physio quite some time ago but she decided against it as she thought tht it had got betterand then her neck got worse again. She has agreed to see one but where I live it is hard to find a good physio. My physio has unfortunately left and I am now going to see a physio who works with swimmers and deals with over use injuries and shoulder and neck pain but once again my mother is unsure of the benefit which is why I wanted to do some research and ask the physio's here.

In relation to your questions her movement is very tight in the neck and head. If you try to palpate it around the scalene muscles and upper traps they are so tight she can barely feel me getting my fingers in there to try to release them. Heat does seem to relax her neck quite a bit. I think that the pain comes more in the evening and gets veryt tight when she goes to sleep. the pain usually disrupts her sleep quite a bit.

She doesn't have any pain or other areas like headaches and shoulder pain. no numberness down the arm but weakness in her arms with certain movements. X rays did not show any inflammation of the bone nor did the cat scan. It showed some osteoporosis on the c4-5 and in the lumber region but that is about it. Mum is 59, she has had no history of problems in this area until recently but bear in she was a public servantfor quite some time and so she has poor posture and a slightly forward neck.


I agree that her neck does need to be supported especially when driving and also when sitting on the couch. Mum had asked the sports doctor to give her a neck brace and he laughed at the thought of it. Not a very nice sports doctor is all I have to say. when she is sleeping, would you still roll a towel and put it under her neck?

Thanks for all your help.
Angie