Neck pain is more than just frustrating. It can literally change your life. Neck pain can range from mild and barely noticeable, to so severe that you are unable to go about your normal daily routine. Pain in your neck can come from a number of places, from moving the wrong way to an injury. If you are looking for ways to handle and lessen the pain you have been experiencing, then read on and see if any of these tips will help.
Initial Steps to Stopping Neck Pain
The first thing you need to do when experiencing neck pain is to try and figure out the cause. It can help you figure out the best way to treat it. If you experienced an injury that led to neck pain, you should do your best to rest your neck for a short time and see if the pain stays the same, gets better, or gets worse. If it does not get any better, or your neck pain gets worse, you should go in and see your doctor as soon as possible to ensure that you didn’t damage something inside your neck that would need a brace or surgery.
If you just twisted your neck wrong, or the pain from your injury is going down, then you need to continue to rest your neck. If you are able, you can try ice or heat on your neck to help lower your neck pain. Whichever you pick, 20 minutes is the maximum amount of time to keep it on, or else you could cause additional neck pain. 40-60 minutes of no heat or ice between applications is best to keep your neck from hurting worse. Once you are able to move around, you should start to slowly stretch your neck and move it around as you can tolerate in order to ‘loosen it up’ and avoid your neck pain from returning due to immobility. Just because your neck is sore, doesn’t give it a reason to stay immobile.