When Your Neck Starts Running Your Day
You notice it first at the end of a workday: a tight, aching band across the top of your shoulders. Then it shows up when you check your blind spot on the drive home, or when you look down at your phone. Some days it climbs into the back of your head and settles behind one eye.
Maybe you have tried a new pillow, a stretch you found online, heat or rest. It eases for a day or two, then comes back the next time you sit at a desk or spend a weekend on the couch. That cycle is common, especially through a Michigan winter when most of us move less and sit more.
At Core Performance Chiropractic in Downtown Port Huron, Dr. Andrew St. Coeur looks for the reason your neck keeps flaring up, then builds a plan to get you moving well again. If you have been searching for a neck pain chiropractor in Port Huron who will explain what is going on in plain language, you are in the right place.
Tech Neck, Cervicogenic Headaches and the Upper Neck
Tech neck is the everyday name for the strain that builds when your head spends hours forward and down, over a laptop, a phone or a steering wheel. Your neck muscles and joints work harder to hold that position, and over time they get stiff and sore.
A cervicogenic headache is a headache that starts in the neck. It usually sits on one side, begins at the base of the skull and can spread toward the forehead or behind the eye. It often gets worse with certain neck positions or after long stretches at a screen.
Many of these headaches trace back to the upper cervical spine, the top joints where your skull meets your neck. That is why Dr. St. Coeur pays close attention to how this area moves during your assessment. If a headache is sudden, severe or unlike anything you have had before, see a medical doctor right away.
Understanding Neck Pain
Watch the video below to learn more.
How Dr. Andrew St. Coeur Approaches Neck Pain
Dr. Andrew St. Coeur is a Port Huron native with a BS in Kinesiology and Exercise Science from Michigan State University and a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from National University of Health Sciences. His care starts with one question: which movements ease your symptoms, and which ones stir them up?
- Training in the McKenzie Method of Mechanical Diagnosis and Therapy (MDT). Dr. St. Coeur completed all four parts of the MDT coursework, including the sections on the cervical spine. Repeated movement testing helps find the direction that settles your neck pain and headaches. Learn more about the McKenzie Method.
- SFMA Level I training. The Selective Functional Movement Assessment shows how your neck, upper back and shoulders work together, so your plan targets the real limitation.
- Corrective exercise and Kinesio Taping. As a Corrective Exercise Specialist trained in Kinesio Taping Levels I and II, he gives you tools that keep working between visits.
Neck Sprains & Strains
Your cervical spine, or neck, is built from seven bones stacked on top of each other along with a shock-absorbing disc between each level.
Your neck is actually quite flexible and it relies on muscles and ligaments for support. "Sprains" and "strains" in your neck are the result of these tissues being stretched in a way that is too hard or too far, much like a rope that frays when it is stretched beyond its normal capacity.
The medical term, "sprain" refers to a situation where the tough, durable ligaments that hold your bones together have been damaged, while "strain" means that your muscles or tendons that move your neck have been partially torn.
What to Expect at Your First Visit
A Full Neck and Movement Assessment
Hands-On Care Matched to Your Findings
A Home Plan You Can Keep
What Getting Your Neck Back Can Look Like
Many people find they can check their blind spot again without turning their whole body. Headaches that used to show up every afternoon may come less often or ease sooner. A full day at a screen starts to feel manageable again.
The bigger goal is keeping it that way. Because your care is built on your own movement findings and a home program, you learn what sets your symptoms off and what settles them. That makes it easier to keep lifting, training, coaching your kids or getting out on the water around the Blue Water Area. Progress looks different for everyone, and Dr. St. Coeur reviews yours with you as you go. When you are ready to build more strength and control, functional rehabilitation picks up where symptom relief leaves off.
If your neck pain started with a car accident, visit our whiplash page. If headaches are your main concern, read more about chiropractic care for headaches.
Neck Pain and Headache FAQs
Often, yes. Because cervicogenic headaches start in the neck, care that improves how your upper neck moves can help reduce how often they happen. Dr. St. Coeur first checks that your symptoms fit this pattern and refers you to a medical doctor if they don't.
Tech neck describes neck and upper shoulder strain from long periods looking down at screens. Common signs include stiffness by the end of the day, soreness at the base of your skull and pain that eases when you change position.
It means careful assessment and treatment of the top joints of your neck, where many neck-related headaches begin. Care is gentle, guided by your movement findings and paired with exercise and soft-tissue work.
Neck adjustments are generally considered safe when they follow a thorough assessment. Dr. St. Coeur screens for warning signs first. If adjustments are not a good fit for you, there are gentle movement-based and soft-tissue options.
It depends on how long you have had symptoms and how your neck responds. After your first assessment, Dr. St. Coeur gives you an estimate and reviews your progress regularly, with the goal of having you manage on your own.
Book a Neck Pain Assessment in Port Huron
Get back to long workdays and weekend training without the neck ache that follows you home. Dr. Andrew St. Coeur sees people from across St. Clair County, including Marysville and Fort Gratiot, at 401 McMorran Blvd in Downtown Port Huron. Book online in a few minutes.
