Nobody likes pain, but it’s often a necessary evil, your body’s way of letting you know you’re hurt, something is wrong, or even that the healing process is underway. However, there is pain that’s well, just a pain. It interferes with your mobility and sometimes seems like it’s a serious threat to your sanity, too! Neck pain is an increasingly common example of this. It can force you to turn your whole upper body instead of just your head or worse, lead you to not turn to look when you should, say, while driving.
One common cause of neck pain is sleeping in a bad position. Makes sense: you spend quite a few hours asleep and if your neck is being strained, there will be consequences. That’s always been a problem for people, but modern-day technology has introduced new sources of neck pain. Your neck really doesn’t appreciate being crooked over while you look at a phone or tablet. Pain is how it lets you know. Often what’s happening is that an unnatural neck posture is shortening certain muscles and irritating nerves in the area.
The good news is that there are some simple stretching exercises and massage techniques that can greatly alleviate neck pain. In the video posted below, Dr. Alan Mandell provides a lot more details and demonstrates how to do a quick and easy “cross fiber massage.”
You might also want to consider ways to prevent neck pain from happening in the first place. Sitting up straight will do a lot for you. Holding a phone or tablet higher will help with this — and yes, there’s an app for that. Standing up more often during the day is a good idea. If you can do some stretching every hour, even better! But perhaps the best first step is simply to be aware of the things that are causing your neck pain.
Have this or other techniques helped you deal with neck pain? Tell us all about it in the Facebook comments. Like and share: your friends’ necks will thank you!
