Pain in the Neck: How to Treat Stubborn Neck Pain

Are you experiencing nagging neck pain that doesn’t seem to go away?
From poor posture to strained neck muscles, neck pain can interfere with your quality of life. It can make simple tasks like turning your head difficult.

Apart from being distracting, chronic neck pain can also be a symptom of other serious illnesses. Instead of being part of the 20-70% of adults who constantly experience neck pain, you should find ways to treat it before it becomes worse.

But finding how to treat neck pain isn’t straightforward. Our insightful guide will help you understand the causes and symptoms of neck pain and ways of effectively managing it.

Top Causes of Neck Pain

While your neck may be flexible and act as the support of your head, it can be vulnerable to injuries, diseases, and positions that cause pain and restrict movement. Here are some of the common causes of neck pain:

Muscle Strains

Do you spend many hours hunched over your desk or smartphone? If so, your neck’s muscles, tendons, and other soft tissues are likely overstretched. These triggers muscle strains that cause neck pain. What’s more, other minor activities like gritting your teeth can strain your muscles.

Worn Joints

Similar to other joints in your body, the joints on your neck tend to wear down with time. When you have conditions such as osteoarthritis, the cushions between your neck vertebrae deteriorate. This causes your body to have bone spurs that affect your motion, causing neck and shoulder pain.

Nerve Compression

When there is compression in your nerves, you tend to have pinched nerves. This always happens when you hold your body in an awkward position or lift something too heavy. Your nerve compression can lead to neck pain.

Injuries

Whether your neck injury is a result of physical activity or an auto accident, it causes a strain in your neck’s soft tissues. Often the strain leads to severe neck pain that limits how you conduct your daily activities.

Diseases

From rheumatoid arthritis and meningitis to cancer, your neck pains may be a symptom of illnesses you’re suffering from.

Take Note of These Symptoms of Neck Pain

Before you figure out how to treat neck and shoulder pain, you need to understand the signs for effective treatment.

Stiffness

If you have trouble moving your neck when sitting or sleeping in one position for a long time, you should see a doctor soon to treat your neck pain. Also, difficulty lifting both arms over your head can be a possible sign of severe neck pain.

Numbness or Tingling

Pinched nerves around your neck may result in you feeling numb or a tingling sensation on your neck, shoulders, and even arms.

Clicking and Grating Noises

Do you feel some clicking or grating noises when you move your head?
If so, you have crepitus. Usually caused by air bubbles popping, or your tissues moving over each other, it may be a sign of neck pain.

Dizziness and Blackouts

Feeling dizzy and having blackouts may also be a result of neck pain. But blackouts can also be symptoms of other diseases so you should seek guidance from a health professional.

Muscle Spasms

When you experience sudden stiffening of a muscle in your neck, it may be due to neck pain and stiffness. Since it can make it difficult to turn your head, you should seek assistance as soon as possible.

How to Treat Neck Pain

To get proper pain relief, below are some tips on how to treat cervical neck pain that can be beneficial:

Lifestyle and Home Remedies

When you experience neck pain, you can try to alternate heat and cold. Whether it’s taking a warm shower, or applying an ice pack on your neck for 20 minutes, you can use one of the two remedies to reduce neck inflammation.

Over-the-Counter Medications

Pain relievers such as ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and more can also offer pain relief. All you need is to get the right prescription from your doctor.

Therapy

Apart from medication, you can opt for physical therapy. Your therapists can help you through neck-strengthening exercises to correct your posture and ease the pain. Physical therapy is a great form of treatment if you want long-term treatment because it prevents recurrence.

Also, your therapist may recommend the use of Dr Ho Neck Pain Pro for electrical stimulation around your neck to offer relief.

Short-Term Immobilization

A medical health practitioner may recommend that you place a soft collar around your neck. It helps support your neck, taking pressure off its structures and providing relief. But overusing the collar may end up doing more harm than good.

Surgical and Other Procedures

Although rarely an option for neck pain, surgery may be a recommendation to relieve nerve root or spinal cord compression. For stronger pain relief, your doctor may also inject steroids or numbing medication near the nerve roots to help with the pain.

Acupuncture

Acupuncture involves the insertion of thin needles into several pain points on your neck. For optimal pain relief results, you’ll need to undergo numerous acupuncture sessions. To ensure your safety, make sure that a certified practitioner using sterile needles handles your treatment.

Chiropractic

For neck pain, cervical manipulation can help loosen up the joints of the cervical vertebrae in your neck to reduce pain. Your chiropractor will use their hands to apply controlled but abrupt force to twist your neck and snap the vertebrae back into alignment. Since it’s non-invasive, it contains minimal risk.

Massage

Looking for a better way of improving your neck mobility and reduce neck pain? Massage therapy can help. Whether your pain is coming from your neck or shoulder, the massage therapist will help you track down the source of the pain so that you can get neck relief. If you can’t afford a massage therapist, you can try doing it on your own.

Get Effective Neck Pain Treatment

When your neck hurts, book an appointment with a specialist. With state-of-the-art tools like X-rays, an MRI, a CT scan, or more, they can help you figure out how to treat neck pain effectively. If you think the pain you are facing is not major, you can try Relief factor as it is an organic product which goes a long way and ensures the pain relief in no time.

To find out more about health and fitness, read our other blog posts.