Yes, absolutely! Exercise and activity reduces and prevents neck pain. Exercise is shown to be very helpful for tackling neck pain and is also the most effective strategy to prevent future episodes.

Start slowly and build up both the amount and intensity of what you do and don’t worry if it’s sore to begin with – you won’t be damaging your neck.

No one type of exercise is proven to be more effective than others so just pick an exercise you enjoy, that you can afford to maintain in the long-term and that fits in with your daily schedule.

Listen to your body. It is beneficial to find a type of exercise that you can continue to do. It is safe to work through a low level of pain. If a particular type of exercise is too painful then reduce or avoid this activity initially.

There is a poor link between changes visible on x-ray and symptoms of osteoarthritis. You can be in lots of pain but have minimal changes on x-ray and vice versa. Changes seen on X-ray does not mean you have to stop being active – Keeping active can help knee pain.

An x-ray is not necessary to diagnose arthritis. It is only needed if you are going to have joint replacement surgery. An x-ray can be useful if it is not obvious if the knee joint is contributing to your symptoms and your symptoms are lasting longer than 3 months.

Most people will never need a joint replacement and can manage their symptoms conservatively.

Surgery is rarely needed.

There are some uncommon back conditions where there is pressure on the nerves that supply the legs and the patient gets leg symptoms, such as pain, pins and needles or numbness. For these conditions, surgery can help the leg symptoms but it is important to understand that it is not always required.

You also need to know that on average, the results for back surgery are no better in the medium and long term than non-surgical interventions, such as exercise.

So a non-surgical option, which includes exercise and activity, should always come first.