Stiff Neck Remedies
How to Use Stiff Neck Remedies to Ease Your Pain
Not everyone wants to visit their doctor for stiff neck remedies when they can take care of the problem on their own. Stiff neck problems are not all that uncommon, especially for young adults and those of middle age.
Having a stiff neck is no fun at all; in fact it can be extremely painful. If a stiff neck is left untreated it can cause serious difficulty. Aside from being very painful, a stiff neck can lead to other problems as well, tense and sore muscles through the shoulders and upper back. How you go about treating a stiff neck will greatly depend on the level of pain you are experiencing.
There are a few steps you can take to help ease neck pain; some of these stiff neck remedies would include using heat and ice in intervals. This should work well if you experience sudden and severe pain. Along with using heat and ice you will also want to get plenty of bed rest. For best results you should begin this treatment within the first day or two after the onset of pain; this should help to reduce any swelling that could be contributing to your discomfort.
Begin by placing a cold compress against the affected area; you should do this for about 15 minutes to a half hour. Follow this with a heating pad or standing under a hot shower. Continue to do this for three days; if the pain isn’t gone or greatly reduced after that time you will want to contact your doctor. This is among the stiff neck remedies that are often used after you have been injured, such as in an accident or your neck has suffered some other type of trauma.
For chronic neck pain that seems to be present most of the time is best treated with stiff neck remedies such as massage and heat. If the pain is too difficult to live with you can speak with your doctor about possibly getting a muscle relaxant to help ease the tension in your neck muscles, which is usually the cause of this type of neck pain.
Aside from these stiff neck remedies there are several things you can do to help ease neck pain and stiff muscles. Stretching exercises are good for helping to relieve muscle pain. One good neck stretching exercise can easily be done, even while sitting at your desk at work. Simply face forward and slowly bend your neck in to the front of you, then lift it and repeat the process to each side, making sure that you bend it far enough that you can feel the muscles stretching.
If you do find it necessary to visit your healthcare provider you will likely be told that you need physical therapy; this can consist of massage and heat treatments, as well as exercises. Often the patient is given exercises to do at home too.
Aside from these stiff neck remedies there are also certain products you can purchase that can help relieve pain; these products include special pillows, as well as neck collars, which are meant to help prevent further injury to the neck.
There are also several things you can do to help prevent getting a stiff neck in the first place, such as making sure that you are getting enough exercise, especially stretching exercises. Good posture is also very important to preventing neck injury; in addition you should never fall asleep with your neck in an awkward position, this almost certainly lead to a stiff neck and the need for stiff neck remedies.