Check out the latest articles here on the Back and Neck Pain site:

• All About Adjacent Segment Degeneration
• Total Disc Replacement or Spinal Fusion?
• Your Psoas Muscle
• The Latissimus Dorsi Muscle
• Vocabulary: Encroachment
• Anatomy: Bony Process

While a crick in the neck generally doesn't require a doctor's appointment, few people can deny the intense discomfort they feel when they have one. So what do you do? For starters, you might try some at home therapies. If that doesn't work, maybe it is time to see a doc.

I'd like to be sure you are aware there's a (small, but growing) category on the Back and Neck Pain site dedicated to helping you figure out what your symptoms mean.  So, for example, if you have shooting pain down your leg, it could be radiculopathy, and you can find a write up of this problem in that category.  The category is called What to Do If You Have.... Check it out.

Every time I do my back exercises I am amazed at what muscles can really do.  This is because, in my opinion, each muscle, by means of it's shape, the location of its ends and other things contributes something unique to the way the spine moves.  Making them stronger increases support for and movement of the spine. Here are a couple of significant muscles that play big roles in the healing of back pain:

• Psoas
• Latissimus Dorsi