Interviewer: We all know that stress can wreak havoc on our bodies, with the problem area often being the neck and shoulders. Dr. Rudy Gari from Florida Pain Relief is back now to tell us how we can treat it. And you know doctor, I’ll tell you what, I know so many people that complain about these very same issues, the neck and the shoulder. A lot of people have this, don’t they?
Dr. Gari: Absolutely.
Interviewer: Yeah. So let’s talk about specifically neck pain. What causes it primarily?
Dr. Gari: Okay. Well, neck pain is caused by many different factors. It could be something as really benign as just tension, which you get tension, you get spasms around your shoulders. Yeah. It causes a lot of stress, a lot of tension in your neck, headaches. It could be something a lot more involved, like it could be a herniated disc and your cervical spine.
Interviewer: So now, is stress primarily associated with the neck and the shoulder pain that a lot of us experience?
Dr. Gari: Well, the shoulder and neck pain that you get from stress is a symptom of stress. So what happens when you get stressed is your body gets really tense. What it does is your muscles in your neck area contract. It goes into spasms. There are these things called trigger points that are almost like very many, little, tiny like very painful areas. And we can treat that. We can treat that very simply with just different medications. Sometimes just injecting a very small injection right into the muscle can just take it away. I’ve seen people come in, in tears, literally tears, because…
Interviewer: Oh wow, because they have such relief.
Dr. Gari: Well, because they’re miserable and… They’re miserable and then…
Interviewer: Oh coming in but then they’re crying tears of joy.
Dr. Gari: That’s right, and then it’s almost like tears of joy because, “Oh my God, I don’t have any pain anymore,” and it was just something very basic.
Interviewer: Absolutely. You know, so I’m coming to you, let’s say, and I’m coming to you with neck and with shoulder pain and maybe some pain in my upper thoracic and my back. What do you do? What’s the process? Explain.
Dr. Gari: Okay. So the first I’m gonna do is take a thorough history.
Interviewer: Okay.
Dr. Gari: I’m gonna take a history and find out what led to that. The next thing that I’m gonna do is perform a very thorough physical examination. After that, based on those findings, I might send you for some diagnostic studies. And it could be something like nerve conduction studies, EMG, basically just to find out if you have a pinched nerve.
Interviewer: Okay.
Dr. Gari: I may send you for some x-rays, MRI to see if you have a herniated disc. Just want to make sure that you don’t have anything a lot more involved that we should be treating other than just typical tension and neck pain.
Interviewer: Sure. So it really varies depending on, yeah, each person.
Dr. Gari: It varies and each person is different. The way that we like to treat you is to treat you as a person. We’re gonna take care of you as a person. Find out what you have and then tailor that treatment plan according, exactly, to your needs and to your situation.
Interviewer: So you have a specific plan for each person depending on the pain that they’re having?
Dr. Gari: Absolutely, yeah. It has to be tailored uniquely to the patient’s symptoms, history, examination findings.
Interviewer: Sure. Let’s talk about some exercises people can do to alleviate the pain we’re talking about, the neck and the shoulders specifically.
Dr. Gari: Okay. Well, some of the exercises are very basic. Sometimes if you just kind of touch your neck area, you feel like a lump there. That lump is actually your muscles completely contracted. And sometimes even just like massage therapy…
Interviewer: Yeah.
Dr. Gari: …you know how it feels so good because you relax that and that muscle, it’s no longer tense and the relief goes away. The problem is it doesn’t always go away from them. And that’s where we can get a little more involved.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Dr. Gari: But something very basic like that can just help out, just the massaging of that little knot that you have does a lot.
Interviewer: Fantastic, Dr. Gari, appreciate it. Now you can make same-day appointments with this guy and so be sure to visit their website, floridapainrelief.com or give a call 844-KICK-PAIN. That’s what he does. We’ll be right back. Thanks so much, Dr. Gari.
Dr. Gari: Thank you.
Interviewer: Thank you.
