19/08/2025
Yesterday my 4yo daughter woke with severe neck pain, and an inability to move her head at all. After checking her out and ruling out any concerning red flags, I came to the conclusion that her neck muscles had gone into spasm (the perks of having a physio for a Dad, huh?)
She was really distressed, and unable to move her head, and wouldn't let me treat her neck, so she stayed at home with a heat pack on all day to keep her comfortable.
This morning, she woke with the same pain, the same inability to move her neck. After convincing her to allow me to give it a gentle massage, and distracting her with some Peppa Pig so I could gently move her neck side to side, she regained almost all of her movement, and her pain diminished significantly. She's now got a smile on her face for the first time in in 24 hours , and is walking and moving and using her neck almost normally.
I didn't perform any miracles to make her pain go away, just helped her nervous system to realise that movement isn't a threat.
This is a great example of how movement and education (in her case, taking her mind off of the threat of pain using a silly British pig with both eyes on one side of her head) can go a long way to treating many painful conditions. Our brains play a huge role in pain generation, and sometimes all we need is some gentle movement and a reassuring word or two to start feeling better.
Daniel
Lifeforce physio
