“This job is a pain in the neck” may be more than just a saying. Tension on the job or at home, tasks that require a lot of leaning over a work surface, poor posture, and even a too-soft mattress can cause neck pain and stiffness. Of course, some neck pain is the result of injury or disease, but the vast majority of neck pain is due to simple muscle tension.
Never use a thick pillow
Neck pain can be caused when we make a sudden change in our sleeping positions or make changes to our bed or mattress. Existing neck pain can be aggravated by using the wrong pillow, especially if it is too thick or firm. Some people get neck pain, or their pain increases, whenever they have to stay at hotels or when they travel and sleep in different beds. This is definitely true with me. The wrong pillow can make me wake up in absolute agony.
Ice it
Ice is a great natural pain reliever, especially when you are experiencing acute neck pain. You can always use a plastic ziplock bag with crushed ice in it and cover the bag with a pillowcase or thin towel. Use that on your neck for not more than 15 minutes at a time. A bag of frozen peas also works well. A classic ice bag is helpful if you’ll be icing frequently. Icing will help decrease inflammation in the neck. You only want to do it several times a day though.
Have a hot shower or use heat
You can take a hot shower because heat increases blood circulation in your neck muscles. But don’t stand under a hot shower more than 10 minutes as too much heat around your neck muscles only increases the pain. You can use a hot water bottle as well if you don’t feel like taking a shower. Make sure to get a good one like this that won’t leak! I recently discovered a bonus use for my hot water bottle when I was on a safari in Kenya. On cold nights the camp would put a hot water bottle in the bed at night and it did an amazing job of first of all warming up the cold bed before you get into it, and also kept me warm for hours!
Alternating heat and cold therapy
This strategy can be one of the most effective home remedy for relieving acute neck pain. I often ice my neck after a hot shower or using heat. Use hot and cold therapy alternatively during the day, several times each, for only about 15 minutes each time.
Breathing and relaxation exercises
As we have discussed in other articles, abdominal breathing and progressive relaxation are one of the best ways to get relief from neck pain. This is because most neck pain is aggravated by muscle tension and stress, which naturally goes right along with pain! Unfortunately it’s just a vicious cycle.
Use these home remedies to get rid of neck pain. If you found this post useful then please do like and share it with your friends and family!!!