8 Lesser-Known Tips For Easing Neck Pain

Living with chronic neck pain is frustrating, uncomfortable, and really harmful. Multiple treatments are available for chronic neck pain treatment, but every neck is different and there is not one “cure-all”.

Finding the appropriate combination of treatments for your chronic neck pain is a blessing, but it may take some trial and error. To help you make better decisions, here are eight lesser-known tips in Kentucky for neck pain management.

1. Choose A Neck-Supporting Chair

The wrong posture can put excess stress on your spine. This is why it is crucial to maintain proper posture throughout the day. This includes not hunching forward at your desk. When you keep your head naturally balanced, you will experience less pain.

You can use a proper headrest on your chair to provide appropriate neck support, keeping your cervical spine in a neutral position. While relaxing on the chair, comfortably rest your head on the headrest and relax your shoulders. Additionally, make it a habit of using the headrest, even on a recliner and in your car.

2. Try A Water Pillow

One of the worst things about chronic neck pain is that it can easily disrupt a good night’s sleep. Moreover, it can worsen the pain in the mornings when you wake up. A great way to tackle this issue is to use an appropriate pillow.  However, no one pillow works for everyone.

Water pillows are known to be a particularly helpful neck pain treatment remedy for many people worldwide. Why a water pillow? You can easily adjust the firmness by regulating the amount of water in the pillow. If you increase the water volume, the firmness will increase and vice-versa.

If you are suffering from neck pain, then water pillows are worth considering. You can contact us for chronic neck pain osteopathic treatment.

3. Give Gua Sha A Chance

Gua Sha is a form of Chinese traditional medicine practice. This includes a trained practitioner using a spoon to apply short strokes down the affected area. It is believed to promote blood circulation and unblock “qi” energy, which helps relieve neck pain. Although this practice is not scientifically proven, many people have reported getting relief from chronic neck pain.

Gua Sha is typically a safe neck pain treatment as trained professionals use sterile equipment for the procedure. However, you should not consider this form of treatment if you have thin or damaged skin.

You may notice red spots on the treated area of your skin, and many people misinterpret it like a rash or proof of abuse. The truth is that when the strokes are applied across the skin, tiny capillaries burst, causing petechiae or red spots, which promote healing.

4. Get In The Pool

Swimming is among the best low-impact exercises for people suffering from chronic or acute neck pain. Thanks to the buoyancy of the water, your spine experiences only a small amount of stress. Before jumping into the pool to use your favorite strokes, consult our physical therapist at our Kentucky pain management center about which swim strokes are safest for you.

However, swimming is not for everyone with neck pain. So if you’re a water lover, consider water therapy, a gentle exercise performed in a warm swimming pool.  The water helps take weight and pressure off your entire body, making for a more relaxing and healing experience.

5. Include Mindful Meditation In Your Schedule

Sometimes all you need is a quiet place to focus and relax your mind to relieve stress and welcome new perspectives. If you’re suffering from neck pain, then you should consider some mindful meditations such as guided imagery or controlled breathing exercises.

Guided imagery envisions the pain moving from your neck to other parts of your body, such as your arm, eventually floating off your body.

You can either go to a guru who can teach you mindful meditation or use free videos and apps online to teach yourself. However, it is important to understand that mindful meditation is not effective for neck pain relief for everyone, but some people have reported benefits.

You can get in touch with our neck pain treatment specialist in Lexington to relieve your pain.

6. Keep A Journal

Mental stress is related to neck pain, and therefore, it is crucial to keep your mind stress free. One fine way of doing this is to express and consider your emotions regularly. However, you don’t have to do it publicly or with someone. You can keep a private journal and pen down your feelings and thoughts, helping you to organize your thoughts.

This not only helps with beating stress but can also promote clarity in your thoughts. We understand that not everyone is a fan of writing; you can make audio recordings.

Eventually, you will notice your stress lowering by maintaining your private journal of emotions, thoughts, and daily happenings. It will also help you identify potential triggers that can worsen your pain, including junk food or certain emotion-draining activities.

7. Consider Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Neck pain is often frustrating for people, especially if it’s chronic. Moreover, treatment plans may turn out to be quite complex and may not offer the best results. Due to this, many people turn to cognitive behavioral therapy. Our therapists teach you to use new strategies to focus more on the positive, helping you follow the neck pain treatment plans better.

However, the debate over the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy is ongoing with mixed results. However, many people have gained and reported benefits from the therapy. Moreover, this therapy can even offer mindful meditation and journaling guidance.

8. Be Careful How You Use Your Phone Or Tablet Device

This may not be a very popular opinion regarding neck pain. However, cradling your mobile phone while talking exerts excess stress on your cervical spine, leading to neck pain. Additionally, some people experience neck pain when they keep looking down to use their devices for long continuous hours.

You can easily avoid neck pain by using these tips:

•   Use a headset, buds, or Bluetooth earphones to make calls.
•   Try raising your device higher while reading, browsing, or texting through your smart device. This will decrease the angle at which you hold your neck.
•   Take small breaks and stretch your spine and neck.

We hope this article helps you find the perfect neck pain treatment remedy. Apart from these lesser-known tips, you can also consider contacting your local healthcare consultants for pain management or consult our neck pain treatment specialist in Lexington.