According to the research published in Researchgate, Out of every ten thousand (10, 000) persons, it is recorded that at least eight thousand (8, 000) of them have suffered neck pain during their lifetime. It is usually not considered a big deal, and some people do nothing about this until it gets to the chronic state. They worry less and let it stop on its own, but that is not always the case as some neck pains are more than just that little uncomfortable feeling.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has advised every human to pay proper attention to their health and well being and this is one of the reasons you are here searching for the best recommendation and solution to permanently stop the pain around your neck region. You may also have heard of the NeckRelax device, but you are still not convinced whether it is highly recommended by a physiotherapist or not. We shall be taken you in-depth on the possible causes of neck pain, prevention, and the best-recommended treatments options to efficiently ease the strain and pain in the neck and neck regions.
Table of Contents
Neck Pain (The complete overview)
Just as the legs, hands, and waist are vital to your body, the Neck is a very active part of the body and has necessary and delicate functions, making it prone to stress. The Neck has a significant function of pivoting the head and weighs a mass of about eleven pounds. So it helps accommodate and aids the head’s 180° movement for significant sighting.
So, what is neck pain?
The cervical vertebrae (the neck bone) have an untoward position in the body that makes them take a share in the pressure presiding on the head, hand, and even the backbone. The position of the Neck increases neck vulnerability to stress and pain. Pains in the Neck have no particular cause, but certain habits and daily positioning of the body has proven to be the primary triggers to neck pain. While many suffer neck pain from the left side, some neck pains originate from the right side of the neck, while others may suffer pains on both sides of the neck concurrently.
CAUSES OF NECK PAIN
Unlike some sicknesses with well known specific causes, neck pain has been related to a lot of possible scenarios that lead to its progressive development, some of which are:
- Bad Working Posture: The importance of a good posture is underestimated, the positions we take when we sit, stand, operate the computer and even when we study is ultimately vital for a healthy neck. When we hunch and bend over the computer, study table and even when we don’t stand straight can cause a strain in the neck muscle and cause stiffness and severe neck pain. Another instigator of neck pain is the act of carrying two buckets of different sizes (i.e, carrying a heavy object on the one hand and a less heavy object on the other.)
- Accident and Injuries: Neck pain can arise as a result of accidents which caused a strain in the neck muscles, abruption of the cervical tissues and even a shift in the Neck joint. Accidents can lead to severe pains, and this pain usually lasts long due to the aggressive impact of the accident on the Neck. Without the aid of a trusted product, this neck pain can persist for years.
- Old Age: Just as machine parts wear away due to long term use and exceeding duration limit, so does the human body. Parts of the body starts reporting advancement in the age which leads to neck pain. Old age can also cause arthritis, and when it occurs on the Neck, it will lead to pains in the neck region.
Other signs that come with old age are not limited to:- Wrinkling of the skin
- Falling off of the tooth
- Production of grey hair
- Stiffening of the neck joint
- Chronic Diseases: In very rear but possible occasions, neck pain can be an early symptom of chronic diseases such as fibromyalgia, spinal stenosis, osteoporosis etc. As these diseases proceed in stages, it becomes clear that it is not just ordinary neck pain. Chronic diseases. Meningitis also has its earliest symptoms to be stiffness of the neck due to an inflammation of the meninges.
- Smoking Effect: Smokers are at a high risk of neck inflammation and shrinking of the cervical disc due to dehydration caused by the smoke they take in. This also applies to second-hand smokers, though at a lower percentage, second-hand smokers face the same possible dangers caused by smoking just as the primary smokers do. Smoking also worsens the degenerative disc disease in the neck region of the spin; this would, in turn, cause severe pain in the neck region. Cigarettes contain nicotine which is responsible for the inflammation of the neck muscles, and when the body can no longer restore the neck muscle tissues effectively, it leads to pain in the Neck.
- Even daily activities like everyday stress, carrying objects with unbalanced weight, bad sitting positing, and even bending the Neck downward while using your phones and laptop, which is most likely happening with you right now. These activities can, in turn, cause strain, muscle injuries, and inflammation of the neck muscle.
9 other related Causes of Neck Pain
- Congenital abnormalities
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Infections
- Tumors
- Abscesses
- Osteoporosis
- Cancer of the spine
- Fibromyalgia
- Spinal stenosis
Symptoms of neck pain
There are several symptoms and signs one experiences when one is about suffering from neck pain. Some of these symptoms are not limited to:
- From minor to severe headaches: When you start experience either cervicogenic headache, tension headache, or headache as a result of occipital neuralgia, it may likely lead to severe pains around the neck and neck regions.
- Sharp pain in the lower neck: On normal occasions, you might get some sharp pains in your lower neck region that comes like a flash.
- Having difficulties with lifting objects. Or even unable to grip and get hold of objects because the more you try, the more it knocks on your head like a chisel.
- Slight pains develop when you keep your head still for a little long time. Most times you find it difficult to move the neck right or left side
- At times you may experience radicular pain through your spine.
- You may notice muscle spasms and tightness as late symptoms.
11 NATURAL REMEDIES TO PREVENT NECK PAIN
One of the first steps towards a healthy neck is by naturally trying to avoid and stay off things that can and are known to cause neck pain. Some of which are listed below:
- Never get addicted to pain relief tablets. If you discover that your neck is so hurting and you’ve been observing all-natural methods of preventing neck pain as outlined here, and the pain still persists, then you seek to see your doctor to recommend the best neck pain relief medication suited for you.
- Avoid the act of smoking and also avoid being present in areas where there is a possible inhalation of smoke to keep a healthy neck muscle and cervical disc.
- Always seat upright when operating the computer at work or anywhere.
- Avoid using pillows that make you uncomfortable and can cause neck pain
- Do not carry heavy objects on the shoulders or wear the straps of a bag with heavy objects in it.
- Always take caution in other to prevent avoidable accidents which can lead to neck whiplash
- Use an earpiece, headphone, BlueTooth device or even a loudspeaker when taking a call in other to prevent tucking the phone in between the Neck and the shoulder so as not to afflict yourself with around the neck region.
- Take a break frequently when buried in your work that permits a wrong work position.
- Avoid staying in one position that doesn’t relax the neck for long
- Always engage in routine exercises especially the neck pain relief exercises. Read down for lists of neck pain relief exercises that you can engage in at the comfort of your home.
- Learn to ordinary massage your neck in your leisure time. You can do this perfectly at your comfort with the aid of a NeckRelax Massager. You don’t need to fall sick or wait till you start suffering from neck pain before you realize that your neck needs some routine soft-touch always as recommended.
Not to worry for those who already suffer neck pain and have been seeking a possible practical solution at a lesser cost. The right product will guaranty effective and efficient relief from the pain. We have given an in-depth review of NeckRelax massager with therapeutic pulses as a proven solution to neck pain.
Neck Pain Treatment Options
Now you ask yourself everyday, “How do I get my neck to stop hurting?” “How do I loosen up my neck muscles?” and many other self worrisome questions.
There are different options available for the treatment of neck pain and neck stiffness. When you rightly apply them you feel better as your neck muscles will loosen up to normal. Few of these neck relief treatment include:
- Use of pain relief medication and antibiotics (Only when recommended by your doctor)
- Hitting the gym regularly to perform neck pain exercises as directed by the gym instructor. Your gym instructor has to be a trained specialist so as to recommend the precise exercises you can engage in, that won’t increase the symptoms and pains you already experiencing.
- Going for chiropractic treatment (May be Costly in your area)
- Performing Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (“TENS” as often called). The NeckRelax device performs this function better, saves you a bunch of dollars, and helps maximize your time management for other activities effectively.
- Surgery (On rare occasions) when recommended by a specialist for chronic neck pain treatment.
- Corticosteroid (Steroid) injections: These are anti-inflammatory medications used to treat a variety of conditions such as neck pain, muscle strain, joint pain, sciatica, arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease. It should only be administered by healthcare professionals and not your usual over-the-counter chemists.
- Neck Massage: There are several options for the Treatment of neck pain. One of which is neck massage therapy. Your doctor will recommend you to a specialist who will massage the nerves of your neck to relieve the pain.
4 major Home remedies for Neck Pain
- Neck Massage: Treatment of neck pain at home with the help of a masseur or by the use of a neck relax massager. Check out the neckrelax review article we made, elaborating the complete overview of the advanced tech massager as a better treatment for neck pain.
- Over-the-counter neck pain relief drugs: You may want to try out over-the-counter neck pain relievers (OTC pain relievers), such as ibuprofen (Motrin IB, Advil, etc), acetaminophen (Tylenol, others), and naproxen sodium (Aleve) and other neck pain relief drugs. These drugs become harmful to the body when constantly taken especially when not administered by a health professional.
- Regularly Performing “neck pain exercises” such as:
- Cat cow exercise
- Thoracic extension
- Child’s Pose exercise
- Butterfly movement with crossed palms on both shoulders
- Forward and Backward Tilt
- Face pull exercise
- Reverse dumbbell fly
- Shoulder Roll
- The Superman exercise
- Wall angels
- Scapular squeeze or shoulder blades squeeze
- Row exercise with a dumbbell
- Knee to chest movement with the back lying flat on the floor
- Chair rotation of both sides shoulder
- Pec stretch on a doorway
- Lat pulldown for shoulders and upper back
- Application of Ice and Heat therapy: The use of ice and heat to treat pains has been in native practice for ages. It has also proven efficiency in most patients.
HOW TO: First apply ice on the neck region to help reduce the inflammation. Repeat the process every 20 minutes each day for 3 to 5 days. Then alternate the process by applying heat on the same region. You can take a hot shower, make use of a heating pad or hot compress to perform the heat process on the neck.
When to see a doctor for neck pain
At first, you may have tried all the treatment options explained in this article including the home remedies; yet you still notice an increase in symptoms after few days. This is the best time to call your family doctor.
Your family doctor might not be a specialist in this field, so his best approach will be to direct you to a doctor who is a specialist in any of these fields:
- Rheumatology: Treatment for arthritis and other joint diseases.
- Neurology: Treatment of nerve-related conditions or disorders.
- Physiatry or rehabilitation medicine: Also known as Physical medicine & rehabilitation (PM&R). Treatment of several medical conditions affecting the brain, ligaments, nerves, bones, joints, muscles, spinal cord, and tendons.
- Depending on the nature of the neck pain, your doctor can also recommend you to see an orthopedic surgeon who specializes on bones and joints surgery.
Diagnosis
After you’ve met a specialist, they will conduct some physical diagnosis on your neck. But first, they may ask you few first aid questions like:
- Where is the pain hurting you more?
- When did you notice the first symptom? Or for how long has the pain persisted?
- You have been injured on the neck before? Or suffered a neck pain in the past due to accident?
- How do you feel when you cough or sneeze?
- Do you lift unbalanced loads on both sides of the hands?
- Do you suffer from any other physical problems aside neck pain?
- Does the neck pain extend to any other part of your body?
- What do you think might be the cause of the neck pain?
- Do you carry over hefty loads on your head regularly?
- And many other first aid questions depending on your doctor and the nature of the pain.
These First aid questions will avail the specialist a firsthand opinion to determine the possible causes of the pain before putting you on other medical diagnosis. So we advice that you put down on paper the answers to all these questions outlined above (If you have) so you won’t get carried away when your doctor requests to know.
Other Medical Diagnosis
Further medical diagnosis that the specialists may subject you to include:
- A computerized tomography (CT) scan: For detailed cross-sectional overviews of the internal structures of your neck in other to determine disorders. This scan comprises of series of X-ray images taken from different angles.
- X-Rays: To determine if your spinal cord is pinched by bone spurs or any other degenerative changes.
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI Scan): Through the use of strong magnetic and radio waves, MRI confirms disorders in the bones, tissues, spinal cords etc.
- Blood tests: To reveal if there are infectious conditions in your body that may be the reasons for the increased pain in the neck region.
- Electromyography (EMG): To help diagnose and determine the health of nerve cells and muscles. It is suggested by your doctor when he feels your neck pain might be related to a muscle dysfunction, nerve dysfunction, or problems with transmission of signals between nerve-to-muscle.
TAKE AWAY
When you suffer from neck pain or stiffness, do no feel like the whole is coming to an end because there is a proven solution. Although, Most over-the-counter medications might not be suitable for your body system, hence you are advised to visit a health professional who will likely recommend a better and more effective medications and treatments to permanently stop the pain in your neck and neck regions.
We will recommend you to buy a neckrelax massager for yourself and your household even if none of you have past records of neck pain symptoms. It will help keep your body system lively, allowing easy blood circulation and thereby serving as a perfect preventive measure against strains and stiffness of the neck.
P.S: We include products we think should be useful to our audience with special discounts direct from the distributing company. If you make a purchase through the links on this page, we may earn a small commission which will have no negative effect on you.
FAQs on Neck Pain
How should I sleep with neck pain?
First, you may consider sleeping without a pillow for few days.
Secondly; your sleeping posture can drastically reduce the painful impact of neck pain. Specialists have recommended that the best sleeping posture for a patient with neck pain or stiffness is sleeping with the back and facing the ceiling. The patient can occasionally exchange sleeping position by turning position to the right or left side of the body in other to relieve the back from prolong sleeping stress.
How do I loosen up my neck muscles?
You can naturally loosen up your neck muscles by:
1. Use of a neck relax massager
2. Calling the aid of a professional masseur
3. Engaging in some neck pain relief exercise like the Cat cow exercise, Thoracic extension, Child’s Pose exercise etc. for like 10 to 15 minutes every day (morning and night) for a period of 14 days.
Is neck pain a sign of stroke?
Persistent neck pain might be a sign of stroke. However, you don’t conclude until you’ve seen your doctor and all necessary test completely performed on you. So if you feel you have treated neck pain for so long while it still persist, you should see your doctor immediately – he will be in the best position to give you perfect health advice after a routine checkup.
What causes pain in the right and left side of the neck?
If your neck pain generates from the right or left side of your neck, it doesn’t signify anything different from other causes of neck pain in general. However, it might just be as a result of your poor working and sleeping posture. It might have no further reason and should likely go naturally without much attention given to it.
But if your symptoms persist after few days, you should visit your doctor so they can subject you to early diagnosis and treatments.