The Correct Steps to Relieving Neck Pain
Every day it’s the same old routine: we get out of bed, sit down on couches, chairs and recliners, sip our morning coffee, glance at the news headlines. We hop in our cars, take in a long commute to and from work, and when we get to work, we proceed to sit down yet again.
Over the next few hours we answer the phone continuously, work with our mice and keyboards to interact with our monitors. Then, it is trudging back home, where we do more sitting, more eating and drinking, and throw television viewing into the mix.
Finally, we slowly drop back down into our beds, only to do it all over again the next day. Over and over again. Now, let’s look at what our routine will be like in ten years.
You can relieve neck pain by following these steps.
The routine begins roughly the same way, with the subtle yet noticeable difference of the following things:
Pain in:
- The shoulders
- The neck (not the boss or the spouse, but the actual thing that holds our heads up)
- The head
- The forehead
In addition to:
- Both tingling and numbness in the hands
- Arms and hands suffering from weakening
- A posture that is way too slumped
- Shoulders that have become rounded
What our bodies end up doing is conforming to whatever rigorous routine we subject them to every day. Our muscles along the front side grow tightened and those up near our shoulder blades along our back tend to get stretched out and weakened over time. This leads to that pain in our neck as those muscles give in to weakness, and then our head droops down.
This is followed by the neck muscles out in front losing strength and become stretched like taffy, which leads to the muscles in the back of the neck to tighten up trying to pick up the slack being left by the muscles up front. With everything linked together as they are, it becomes a chain reaction, starting at the drooping head, to the neck, and eventually down into the back muscles and the shoulders. They all work together to perform their duties, and they all stumble and fall together.
Whenever muscles have been pulled either too tightly, or stretched out to broadly, they tend to stop working the right way. As this happens, bones start to feel the brunt of the stress as the muscles take their suffering out on the bones by pulling down on them unnaturally. This leads to problems with the joints and discs within the neck, shoulders and back. if this keeps happening for a while, joints protest by getting inflammation and the discs start to bulge outward.
If the bulging of discs reach the spinal area, then the nerves residing there start to feel irritated. These nerves are there to serve the hands, arms and shoulder areas. What happens with irritated nerves are the arms, shoulders, and even our hands, feel the pain. But the problem isn’t in the shoulders, arms or hands. The problem is in our upper back or neck areas. The good news in telling about all of this is that it takes just a couple of simple tweaks and alternations in your daily routine to change what is happening within your body’s muscles.
What To Do To Relieve Neck Pain
The muscle group that make up the shoulders, neck and upper back region is not a simple set up. Every part of the body that makes these areas function are even less simple than that.
The lower spine sets the stage for the operation and positioning of everything above it, so if you are looking repair damage or get relief for the neck, shoulders and back, then you need to start from there and work your way down to the bottom of the spine, taking care of every inch of it.
It might come across as being too hard to handle without breaking a sweat but figuring out where you hurt and why is roughly half the trouble.
Neck Pain: What To Do About It Specifically
Sure, you could go in for an MRI or even just an X-ray. The problem with these methods of diagnosis is that it shows you what, but not why. If you have the knowledge of why your body is malfunctioning, it becomes easier to both mentally and physically wrap your thoughts around the difficulty. You need to determine how weak or inflexible your muscles might have become. You cannot determine from an X-ray picture or MRI scan why your shoulders, neck, spine and pelvis are in the shape they are in.
There is just one real effective way to figure out why your muscles have lost their balance, and that is by taking an assessment of your physical being, keeping an eye out on the particular muscle conditions and poor posture signs.
After you have determined the level of posture, how bad it has become, the next step is to trace that condition backwards to the beginning, as each condition is the direct result of another condition, and so on back to the root condition. This is so, no matter what age group you are in, and no matter how much exercise you are getting.
The only real way to fix these conditions are to target each muscle with the right exercises and stretching sets that are designed to fix any problems with these muscles. Each set of stretches and exercises are specific to the individual performing them. Keep in mind this happy thought: our bodies are never more than a little ways out of being properly aligned. However, the pain is telling you that you can’t put off any corrective exercises or stretching routines even for a little bit.
Don’t Do The Following To Relieve Neck Pain
Don’t begin to exercise in any way without knowing why your muscles are not in balance. This is the reason why:
If you being your exercises on muscles that don’t need to benefit from it, then you could turn an already top-notch, strengthened muscle group and create a body that is even more out of balance. Same goes for muscle stretching. If you stretch what doesn’t need to be stretched, then you will make matters worse for your body.
Sure, doing pilates or yoga or any of the latest exercise fads might sound like a great idea. Exercising might be a healthy routine for you, it might seem. This is furthest from the truth if you go into any exercise routine, with a body that is already suffering from a muscle imbalance.
What You Should Do Right Away
- No more exercising for you, at least until you can figure out all of your muscle imbalances. If you keep working out, you are only delaying the day of your relief. You will stay in pain from neck to back.
- No more sports or any other activity, such as swimming, golfing, yoga, even running, until you can check out the condition of your muscles.
- Look to the professionals who are trained to spot the imperfect balancing of your muscles and will do it for you. It doesn’t mean just go see your doctor, because you doctor might not have training in this area.
- When it comes to looking after your neck pain, you will want a second opinion and probably a couple more, because no two people will approach this with the same eye. You will want to approach your neck issues from a nutritional, as well as mental and physical standpoint.
- Take the time to research this. Find out what is working for others and what needs to be thrown aside. Things like the right time for a decompression of the spine to be used in treating the neck, or when and even if any manipulation of your spine will give you your biggest advantage.
Get Started Now
Thing is, your body can go through a multitude of tough and continuous punishment throughout the days of your life. You don’t need to end up having to live with pain always being present. However, it is guaranteed that pain and discomfort will be your constant companions unless you take action with any one or all of the above detailed steps to take care of the conditions that are causing you suffering. You can relieve neck pain. You just have to get started.
