If you are sitting and reading this article with neck pain or if you know someone who suffers from neck pain… these are some important points to consider to understand it better and manage it the very best way you can:
- How long has the neck pain been there for? This gives you a clear idea if it is ‘acute’ – short period of time and of higher intensity or ‘chronic’ – longer period of time and of moderate to low intensity. Then you can link it to – stress levels, more sitting at work, change in chair, change in bed, change in shoes, trauma (car accident/sports injury). You can then modify these to see if it provides relief.
- Is the neck pain there all the time? If it’s constantly there and nothing makes it better or worse- it’s your body telling you something is wrong and we would encourage you to get this checked out as soon as possible. If it’s intermittent, in other words something is helping relieve the pain or worsen the pain – look for the cause and effect. Become a detective in your own body. It may be your chair at work, using a foot rest, if it’s worse on weekends – it may be your couch, it may even be the hood on your winter jacket causing you the headaches you only get in winter? Contact us if you want more information on this or to book your free discovery session.
- Do you have any related symptoms with the neck pain? Examples of these are dizziness, fainting, brain fog, headaches, migraines, jaw issues, vision/hearing problems, pain/numbness/tingling/weakness down one or both arms. This indicates that parts of your central nervous system are under pressure. Please get a check up immediately at Spirohealth or any other Advanced ABC practitioner.
- What can you do to help yourself? The body is truly amazing and we at Spirohealth are strong advocates in the body being able to heal itself, if it has the right environment – this is from physical, chemical and emotional stand points. There are certain times when your body cannot self correct some problems and this is where we can help you. So if you have had neck pain for a long time, you cannot relieve it and you have some related symptoms as stated above – please come in as soon as you can.
In the meantime, here are a few tips to help you along your way:
- We would recommend icing the area as this brings down any inflammation (heat, swelling) and it numbs the pain to a degree. Please only use until area is pink and numb so as to not burn the skin.
- Check out your bed at home – how old is it, how soft is it, is it memory foam? This may well need updating if it’s over 7 years old.
- Go up or down with your pillow height (only 1-2cm change at a time) play with this until you get a comfortable level you fall asleep relatively quickly at. Feather pillows supply no support what so ever.
- Assess your chair at work – often the expensive, complex chairs are the cause of neck and back pain.
- Try not wearing high heels or tight mens dress shoes for a period and see if you get relief.
- Raise the height of your computer to eye level.
We can help and advise you with all this and more at our regular Sit, Sleep, Standing Educational Seminars and offer you a free Discovery session if you would like to meet directly with one of our Advanced ABC team face to face. Contact us here