01
Image the curve
A lateral X-ray is how you actually see what your cervical curve is doing. Exam findings plus that film tell Dr. Means what he is working with.
Health conditions · Neck pain
Your neck holds up your head.All day. Every day.
Neck pain is the second most common form of pain in the United States, behind back pain. It is also the region Dr. Means trained specifically for — the Blair Technique is upper-cervical work.
Into the shoulders, arms and hands. Seven vertebrae carry a head that weighs about as much as a bowling ball.
What neck pain actually is
Patient education — general information about the condition, not medical advice about your body. Only an examination can tell you what is going on with yours.
The neck is the cervical spine: the first seven vertebrae, running from the base of your skull at C1 — the atlas — down to where the thoracic spine begins. It is the most mobile part of your spine and the least protected, and it holds up a head that weighs somewhere around ten to twelve pounds all day long.
A healthy cervical spine has a forward curve to it, called a lordosis — roughly a C-shape opening toward the back of your neck. That curve is not decoration. It is a shock absorber. When it flattens out, or reduces, or in some cases reverses entirely, the discs and joints in the neck carry load they were never shaped to carry. The comparison chiropractors use is jumping off a ledge without bending your knees.
Curve changes show up on a lateral X-ray, and they are one of the things Dr. Means is looking for when he images a neck. It is worth knowing that pain is a late signal here — a neck can be moving badly and loading its discs unevenly for a long stretch before it ever starts to hurt.
How it shows up.
Does this sound like you?
Tick what you actually feel.
Not a diagnosis, and not a test — nothing here can tell you what you have. It is a list you can take with you, because everybody forgets half of it the moment a doctor walks into the room.
0 things to mention. However many you ticked, the exam is what tells you anything.
What tends to be behind it
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Forward head posture
Every inch your head drifts forward of your shoulders multiplies the load your neck muscles have to hold. Phones and monitors are very good at causing this.
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Trauma
A car accident, a fall or a hit in sport can change how the cervical spine sits and moves — sometimes years before it starts to hurt.
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Sleep position
Stomach sleeping holds the neck rotated for hours at a stretch. The wrong pillow height does something similar, more gently, every night.
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Loss of the cervical curve
A reduced, flattened or reversed curve changes how load moves through the discs and joints of the neck.
How care approaches it
What Dr. Meansactually does about it.
Written as aims, not outcomes — because that is all anyone can honestly promise you before they have examined you.
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Blair Technique
Dr. Means trained in Blair, a precise upper-cervical method. It is a specific, low-force approach to the top of the neck rather than a general manipulation — it is his primary tool and it is why patients with neck complaints tend to end up on his table.
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Support the correction
Adjustments are paired with specific exercises intended to help the neck hold its position between visits. The muscle has to learn the new position or it pulls the old one back.
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Fix the eight hours
Monitor height, phone habits, pillow, sleep position. Unglamorous, and it decides whether any of the rest holds.
Chiropractic care is not a cure for any condition on this page, and no honest clinic will promise you one. What Dr. Means can do is examine you, tell you plainly whether this is something chiropractic care is suited to help with, and refer you elsewhere if it isn't.
If you come in
Here is what actually happens.
Step 01
Free consultation
Call or book online and we'll sit down with you at no cost or obligation. Tell us what's going on and we'll start building the picture.
Read this part
When this is not a chiropractic problem.
Some of what looks like neck pain is something else, and some of it is urgent. A clinic that only ever tells you it can help is not being straight with you. If any of the following is true, do not book a chiropractic appointment — get medical care.
- Neck pain straight after a car crash, a fall, or a blow to the head — get assessed for fracture before anyone touches your neck.
- Neck pain with fever and a stiff neck you cannot bend forward.
- Sudden severe headache unlike any you have had, or slurred speech, facial droop, vision loss or weakness on one side — call 911.
- Arm weakness, clumsiness of the hands, or unsteadiness on your feet.
This page is general health information, not medical advice, and it is not a substitute for examination by a qualified provider. In an emergency call 911. See our healthcare disclaimer.
What is the Blair Technique?
It is a precise, specific method of adjusting the upper cervical spine — the top of the neck. It is gentler than general manipulation and it is what Dr. Means trained in at Palmer.
Is the cracking sound bad?
No. It is gas releasing from inside the joint capsule as pressure changes — the same thing that happens when you crack a knuckle. It is not bone, and the sound itself is not the point of the adjustment.
Can chiropractic care fix my curve?
Care may aim to improve the curve, and restoring it takes time and consistent work. Nobody can promise you a specific number of degrees back, and you should be suspicious of anyone who does.
My neck does not hurt — should I still get it looked at?
Pain is a late indicator. If you have had a crash, a fall, or years of desk work, an exam will tell you what is going on regardless of whether it currently hurts.
Often connected
Not sure if this is what you have?
That is what the consultation is for — and it costs you nothing to find out. If it turns out Dr. Means is not the right person for it, he will tell you that too.