Neck Pain

Exercise, Prevention and Alternative
Medicine Treatment Tips

Read my disclaimer and terms of use.     

Top Treatments

In my search for solutions to my chronic neck pain, I never found any single cure that completely eliminated the problem. What I did find were many different treatments that each helped a certain percent, and eventually those percentages added up. As I kept trying different pain prevention techniques and routines, keeping what worked and discarding what didn't, over time I was able to eliminate most of my pain. The tips below are some of the ideas I found most useful.

1. The number one treatment that helped me was yoga. Below are the exercises from the yoga back and neck pain book, Back Care Basics, that I found the most helpful. The book is written by a doctor who used yoga to treat her own back pain, and now she teaches yoga to other medical professionals and patients. The book has a whole chapter on poses for a rounded upper back, forward head posture and neck pain.

Back Care Basics : A Doctor's Gentle Program for Back and Neck Pain Relief

The one shoulder up, one shoulder down yoga posture, page 155, is the pose I personally found the most effective. In my case, my neck pain was caused my a lowered shoulder, so to relieve the tension, I needed to raise my lowered shoulder up higher so it was not pulling down on my neck.

Yoga Pose to Raise My Shoulder - To do this pose, I put my right hand up and reach back down behind my shoulder. I reach back with my left hand and reach upwards toward my right hand, so my hands are trying to touch each other by my back, in between my shoulder blades. This helps to pull up on my right shoulder and pull down on my left shoulder. The overall results bring my shoulders into better balance and muscular equilibrium. (I'm not much of an artist, but the Backcare Basics book has photos of either the author or other yoga practitioners demonstrating all of the poses.)

Other yoga poses that helped me from this book were:

• Kneeling backbend, page 155.
• Seated twist, page 177.
• Forward triangle pose, page 178.
• Crocodile twist, page 94.
• Passive back arch, page 96.
• One leg up, one leg out, page 100.
• Chair seated twist with torso support, page 80. (I twist to my right. My neck pain was on the left. By twisting to the right it lengthens my right torso, thereby lengthening the contracted torso and paraspinal muscles on my right side.)

I try to do a minimum of at least 20 minutes of yoga each day to keep my muscles balanced. Interestingly, one of the things that makes my neck hurt again is when I go for long walks. I believe this is because when I walk a lot my leg muscles get tightened up and eventually this tension migrates upward and pulls on my neck. Now I can still walk a lot if I want to - I just have to do a longer yoga session when I get home to loosen up my leg muscles.

2. I changed and improved my diet, especially to eat more magnesium rich foods. Magnesium is needed to release contracted muscles. Foods especially high in magnesium include whole grains, nuts, seeds and leafy green vegetables. For more on my diet changes to relax my muscles, see my section on Fibromyalgia Diet.

3. Moist heat really helped to reduce muscle tension for me. Warm showers and baths are a good way to relax muscles. I try to do my stretching or yoga session right after a shower or bath.

4. Hard Styrofoam rollers - I bought my rollers through my physical therapist, but I noticed they also sell them at our local Relax the Back store. I have a big foam roller that I lay on lengthwise that runs the length of my spine. I also have a smaller roller that I roll on with it running perpendicular to my spine. They both help to reduce muscle tension and elongate my spine and back muscles, like a rolling pin rolling out dough, only they are rolling out my tight muscles and overly tight connective tissue in my back. The big roller I roll on lengthwise is also good for correcting rounded shoulders.

5. Trigger point therapy turned out to be a surprisingly effective way of eliminating tension spots in my body. Interestingly, most of my trigger points were in my legs, even though the majority of my pain was in my jaw, neck, shoulders and back. By loosening up the tightest points in my legs, it helped relieve the downward pull on my back neck and shoulders that had been causing my pain. I went to a hand and arm clinic once and they gave me exercises that helped my shoulders and neck, but then my ankle started to get sprained very easily. It turns out that the clinic treatments had merely shifted the tension points in my body from my shoulder and neck to my legs, but had done nothing to reduce the overall tension in my body. They just showed me how to move it around. Yoga and trigger point therapy done over my whole body were more effective, because these treatments eliminated my pain, instead of just shifting the tension points.

Trigger points are tender areas where muscles are chronically tight from having been damaged over the years from factors such as falls, childhood ailments, poor posture, too much computer work, scoliosis and the stresses of daily life. By pressing on these points you can apply counter pressure and eventually eliminate them altogether. It works! If there is anything close to a miracle cure for neck and other types of pain this was it for me. There are many books on the subject of trigger points. The one I found the most helpful was The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by by Clair Davies.

Frozen Shoulders - reviews overlooked causes, treatment tips and exercises.

Scoliosis Exercises

TMJ

Fibromyalgia Diet

Migraine Headaches

Related Links:

Yoga for Neck and Back Pain - selected poses from Health and Yoga.

Disclaimer: Statements and information regarding any products mentioned within this site have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or health condition. Any information on this site should be considered as general information only and should not be used to diagnose or treat any health condition.

See your health care provider for a diagnosis and treatment of any medical concerns you may have, and before implementing any diet, supplement, exercise or other lifestyle changes. This site may contain errors.   Use it at your own risk.  Read the rest of our disclaimer and terms of use.

Visit my connective tissue disorder home page and use my search feature for more information on pectus excavatum, scoliosis, fibromyalgia and related topics.