Quick Tips for Dealing With Neck Pain
Are you experiencing neck pain or constantly rubbing your neck, moving it around while you're at work or school?
Watch Our YouTube Video on Quick Tips For Relieving Neck Pain:
Are you experiencing neck pain or constantly rubbing your neck, moving it around while you're at work or school?
Often times, general neck pain soreness, stiffness, things like that are all posture-related.
If you constantly find yourself in this position, with your shoulders forward and your head forward and you're having to lean up to look and move around. That is not a good position to be in. Your neck doesn't like it. Your back doesn't like it. And your shoulders don't like it. Let's do something about it.
Poor posture can lead to many different problems including:
Headaches
Neck pain
Decreased vision
Less concentration
Decreased productivity
In this article, we’ll discuss some ways to help you get into better posture, sit upright and stop having those headaches, stop having that neck pain and get moving.
What are the Causes of Neck Pain?
The big issue is, what we in the physical therapy business call, upper cross syndrome. When the front of your body kind of collapses forward, your head comes forward. And when your head's forward, you have to tilt it in order to see you and by doing that, all the muscles in the back of your head start to tighten up. When that happens you can get tension headaches or you get neck pain or you feel like you constantly have to stretch and move in order to get some relief. Well, your mom was right. Sitting up straight is the answer.
Ways to Relieve Neck Pain
Whether you're at home, whether you're at work, in school, whatever, it is we need to find ways for you to be able to sit up taller, to hold those positions for longer and to not let yourself get into this really slumped position anymore. Physical therapy is a great answer for this.
How I Treat Neck Issues with Body Mechanics & Physical Therapy
When you come to see me, a lot of the things I do are manual work, which you definitely need to make sure someone that's doing that on you, knows what they're doing. There's a lot of issues in the neck anything from carotid arteries to your spinal cord, to the brachial plexus, which is basically a bunch of nerves that the whole arm. You definitely want to make sure someone that's working on your neck knows what they're doing.
How Exercise Can Help Resolve Pains From The Neck
The other part of physical therapy that will help you withholding your posture better is exercise. Endurance exercise. A lot of times when we think of exercising or making muscles stronger, it isn't just to look better on the beach but it's to help stabilize our spine. Our head is heavy, so we need to be able to hold that head up all throughout our day. When we strengthen the muscles in the neck, when we make sure that we're in a good posture, all those vertebrates are in alignment and we're able to hold that head for a lot longer throughout the day.
Quick Tips For Relieving Neck Pain
Set an Alarm: Set yourself an alarm for every twenty-thirty minutes or so to remind you to sit up nice and tall. Maybe do a couple of neck stretches. Rotate it a little bit. Just get it moving. It also gives your eyes a little bit of time away from the computer or from your phone because we all know that we start to get in this mode especially after watching something for too long.
Exercise with a Foam Roller: With a foam roller, you to lay back on it. Make sure that you get the edge of the foam roller right at the edge of the head. Put your arms out and then just rotate the head side to side. You might feel a little pull. You might feel a little tension. But overall that should help decrease your neck pain and headache.
Exercise with a Tennis Ball: Exercising with a tennis ball can achieve similar results. Put that tennis ball right at the back of the head, laying back rotating. And put it on both sides of the head.