How To Relieve Pain From Pulled Neck Muscle

How To Relieve Pain From Pulled Neck Muscle

How To Relieve Pain From Pulled Neck Muscle

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Relieve Neck Pain from Trigger Points & Muscle Knots

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• Bahr, R. & Maehlum S. . Clinical Guide to Sports Injuries. Human Kinetics: Champaign, IL.
• Brukner, P. & Khan, K. . Clinical Sports Medicine . McGraw Hill: Australia.
• Rouzier, P. . The Sports Medicine Patient Advisor. SportsMed Press: Amherst, MA.

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Causes Of A Strained Neck Muscle

Regardless of someones age, strains generally occur when they have not conditioned their muscles to take on the task they want to do. Examples include:

• Athletic activities that require explosive movement
• Stretching too far during warmup
• Overextending or using too much force on cold muscles

Neck muscles can be strained during much less intense moments, such as bending your head down to look at a phone or tablet or sleeping in the wrong position. You can strain a neck muscle by watching television at an odd angle for too long as well. This is common in modern society as we all spend more time looking down at a screen or sitting in front of a computer.

Causes Of A Pulled Neck Muscle

The anatomy of the neck is a wonderful design that is a compromise between protection of some very important structures and movement. The neck contains several vital structures:

• Major blood supply to the brain.
• Trachea or breathing tube to the lungs
• Spinal cord.

In the end, the need to protect the blood vessels, respiratory passages and nerves has been balanced with the need for mobility and flexibility, making the neck rather vulnerable to the stresses and strains of everyday life to say nothing of direct injury.

The largest section of the spinal cord and the base of the brain are held within the neck. Those nerves that will eventually reach your toes, and every other part of your body, must pass through the neck. People are executed by being hung by the neck because everything important to life passes through it. In spite of the need to protect the blood supply to the brain, our ability to breathe, the spinal cord and all those important nerves, the neck must also be flexible. Our field of vision is dependent on the flexibility of the neck. To look up, down, right and left in almost a complete hemisphere of vision. This easy and extended movement of the neck almost encourages the head to twist farther than it should during an accident, and often allows the muscles that are attached to the shoulders, neck and skull to stretch and tear.

• Carrying a tool box or suitcase, or all the groceries, only one side of the body
• Posture and position at work .
• Watch TV.

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  Stretch Out A Stiff Neck

  A few times a day, give your neck a little rest and relaxation. Stretching your stiff neck with careful movements can help relieve your symptoms. As long as your doctor has not advised against moving your neck, try the following stretches:

  • Roll your shoulders backward ten times, then forward ten times
  • Squeeze your shoulder blades toward each other ten times
  • Lean your head back into your hands and hold it there for 30 seconds
  • Gently lean your ear toward your shoulder ten times on each side

  Stress Poor Sleep And Physical Ailments Over Time Can Lead To A Pain In The Neck

  

  Everyday life isn’t kind to the neck. You may be all too familiar with that crick you get when you cradle the phone between your shoulder and ear, or the strain you feel after working at your computer.

  Neck pain rarely starts overnight. It usually evolves over time. And it may be spurred by arthritis or degenerative disc disease, and accentuated by poor posture, declining muscle strength, stress, and even a lack of sleep, said Dr. Zacharia Isaac, medical director of the Comprehensive Spine Care Center at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital and director of interventional physical medicine and rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School.

  The following six tips can help you find neck pain relief:

• Don’t stay in one position for too long. It’s hard to reverse bad posture, Dr. Isaac says, but if you get up and move around often enough, you’ll avoid getting your neck stuck in an unhealthy position.
• Make some ergonomic adjustments. Position your computer monitor at eye level so you can see it easily. Use the hands-free function on your phone or wear a headset. Prop your tablet on a pillow so that it sits at a 45° angle, instead of lying flat on your lap.
• If you wear glasses, keep your prescription up to date. “When your eyewear prescription is not up to date, you tend to lean your head back to see better,” Dr. Isaac says.
• Don’t use too many pillows. Sleeping with several pillows under your head can stifle your neck’s range of motion.

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  Simple Exercises To Perform

  These 3 exercises will help to encourage your body to be in more of an upright posture. Itâs important to do these daily to combat the forward head posture position we undoubtedly get into on a daily basis.

  Half Kneeling Position

  The half kneeling position places the pelvis and lumbar spine into an optimal position which directly influences the neck and head to be in a proper position, relieving abnormal mechanical stress on nerves that innervate the upper trapezius. To perform, get into a half kneeling position, as shown in the picture. On the kneeling leg, you should not be putting any weight on the knee cap, instead you should be feeling slight pressure on the bone under the knee cap. Make sure your knees are bent at 90 degrees. Rotate your pelvis back . You may hold onto a stable surface to maintain good balance in the beginning. Hold this position for 30 seconds and repeat 3 times on both legs. This stretch can be progressed by raising your arm up on the side where the knee is on the ground.

  Pec Stretch

  Prone Scaption

  Sleeping On Your Back

  Sleeping on your back helps maintain your spines natural curves. You can use a thinner pillow in this position than you would when sleeping on your side. Your head position should be only slightly raised so that its at a similar angle as when youre standing.

  Using a cervical pillow or a memory foam pillow can help support your head or neck. If you regularly snore or deal with sleep apnea, you may want to try sleeping on your side instead of your back.

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  Patience And Persistence Are Important When Treating Neck Pain

  Im not telling this story to say that everyone is going to have these types of miraculous results with this or any of the other techniques. What I want to point out is sometimes it will take some patience and the ability to acknowledge even a small amount of progress in order to fully restore one’s health. Had I just given up after my first attempt, the treatment may not of had any benefit at all.

  How To Treat A Pulled Back Muscle In 8 Steps

  How Does One Treat a Pulled Muscle – Dr Mandell

  A pulled back muscle can begin as a sudden, sharp pain when lifting or bending. Or it may appear gradually, getting progressively worse over several days. This common injury ranges from a minor inconvenience to an intense source of pain. It can take several weeks, and in some cases a few months, to heal.1

  A pulled muscle is the common term for a strained muscle.2 A strain is a muscle or tendon injury that happens when the tissue stretches or tears. When a ligament stretches or tears, its called a sprain. Back pain, often due to a pulled muscle, is one of the most common issues health professionals treat.2 In most cases, you can manage and treat symptoms at home. But if the pain is unbearable or makes it difficult to move, see a doctor.

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  Treatments For Neck Strains That Linger

  If a neck strain lasts longer than a few days or perhaps another underlying problem in the cervical spine continues and causes muscle spasms and chronic pain, other treatments may need be needed for adequate relief. Some examples include:

  • Physical therapy. A physical therapist, physiatrist, or other trained medical professional may design a physical therapy program that targets muscles in the neck and elsewhere that need to become stronger and more flexible. Typically, a physical therapy program begins with instruction on how to do the exercises and stretches. After gradually making process over a period of a few weeks or months, the patient continues the program on his or her own at home.

  • See Massage Therapy for Chronic Stiff Neck

  • Acupuncture. This treatment is based on the theory that unbalanced energy flows within the body may contribute to pain, and therefore strategic placements of thin needles in the body may restore balanced energy flows and reduce pain. While this theory has not been scientifically proven, some people report experiencing pain relief from acupuncture treatments.

  How Can I Relieve Neck Muscle Pain

  Just about everyone experiences neck muscle pain from time to time. For some people, the muscle aches and pains come about due to stress, sleeping in an awkward position, or poor posture. In other cases, the pain in the muscles of the neck is a symptom of something more serious. Fortunately, there are ways to obtain pain relief in any of these situations.

  For people who suffer with occasional neck muscle pain, it is a good idea to check your posture. The pain may be due to slumping over a computer screen at work all day, or failing to hold your shoulders and neck correctly when you walk. Poor posture puts additional pressure on the muscles of the neck. Eliminate your pain by purchasing a discreet brace that will help you maintain good posture. Over time, your posture will become second nature and you will no longer need the brace. In the interim, you will find your bouts with muscle pain in your neck begin to come less frequently.

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  Stretches That Will Relieve Neck Pain And Tension

  Stiff neck? The area above your shoulders is one that commonly holds tension, especially if you’re sitting at a desk all day or constantly staring down at your phone screen.

  According to research, neck pain may feel like a “kink,” stiffness or severe pain. This pain may spread to the shoulders, upper back or arms, or it may trigger headaches and cause numbness, tingling or weakness in your arms.

  In general, neck pain refers to pain anywhere from the area at the base of the skull into the shoulders. And technology is one of the major culprits. As a culture we put our necks through hell with our reliance on technology, which creates forward head carriage, and results in neck muscles that go into spasm and refer pain into our heads, temples, and even behind our eyes, says Brad Butler, chiropractor and author of The Blueprint for Back Pain Relief: The Essential Guide to Nonsurgical Solutions.

  “The most common causes of neck pain are either postural or positional. The modern-day life style of sitting at a desk looking over a computer for multiple hours unfortunately leads to a forward head position where the skull moves forward of its placement on the first cervical vertebra,” says Lara Heimann, physical therapist and creator of LYT Style Yoga. “Every millimeter that the skull is off-center places a strain on the posterior neck muscles. These muscles on the back of the neck have a chronic stress and load on them that creates tension and pain.

  Change Your Sleep Position

  

  The position you sleep in at night can also affect your neck. Sleeping on your side or your back puts less strain on your neck than sleeping on your stomach. When you sleep on your stomach, youre forcing your neck to strain for long periods of time and this can cause pain and stiffness.

  If you sleep on your side for all or part of the night, you can buy a pillow with neck support.

  If you have a painful, stiff neck, you can try several remedies to reduce the pain and lessen the stiffness. Many of these remedies can also be used for prevention.

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  How Poor Posture Affects The Upper Trapezius Muscle

  The average person that works in an office sits up to 12 hours a day. In addition, we sit in our car and in front of the TV, and while looking at all of our electronic devices. All of these activities cause us to slouch, which brings the shoulders forward and causes the upper back to hunch. This will result in the head to come forward. But in order for us to see forward, we lift the head up, which causes compression on the back of the upper neck where the skull meets. This mechanical encroachment causes pressure on the pathway where the spinal accessory nerve enters and exits the skull. When the nerve is irritated, it sends signals to the muscle and causes contraction, in this case, itâs the upper trapezius and another muscle in the front of the neck called sternocleidomastoid. Over a period of time these micro-contractions lead to trigger points and cause pain. To make matters worse our body curls forward when we are in pain. This vicious cycle continues and causes more muscle spasms, pain, and poor posture.

  This is the main reason why traditional treatments only work briefly. It is imperative to address the root of the problem â the shortened soft tissues between the upper neck and skull thatâs causing compression that innervates the upper trapezius.

  Other Ways To Improve Neck Pain

  Poor posture is a common cause of muscle strains in the neck. It can worsen an existing injury and increase the likelihood of another one.

  Using a computer or phone for extended periods can lead to forward head posture, where the head projects forward from the spine. This can trigger symptoms such as dull pain across the back or sides of the neck that may spread to the upper back, shoulders, and head.

  If a person adjusts their posture, they may reduce neck, back, and shoulder pain.

  When seated, a person should aim to keep the head in line with the spine and avoid slouching. It may help to adjust the screen to eye level when using a computer.

  When standing, a person should keep the shoulders, neck, and spine aligned to achieve the correct posture. They should avoid tilting the head forward.

  Sleeping on the stomach can also cause neck problems. A person can try to sleep on the back or on one side with a pillow between the knees. They can also use a supportive pillow to keep the neck aligned with the spine.

  Other ways to improve neck pain include:

  • applying hot or cold packs
  • taking anti-inflammatory medications
  • using support, such as a neck brace
  • resting to avoid excessive strain

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  Stretching Can Keep Pain At Bay

  Putting your monitor at eye level, sitting up straight and avoiding tilting and twisting your head down or to the side while youre on the computer can help you avoid neck pain. When youre driving or looking at your smart phone, be sure to take frequent breaks and avoid having your neck bent forward for long periods of time, Dr. Bang says.

  The key to relief for a stiff neck is proper stretching and manipulation, Dr. Bang says. Here are some stretches you can try at your desk or in the car that may help you to avoid a stiff neck:

  • Roll your shoulders backwards and down 10 times.
  • Squeeze your shoulder blades together 10 times.
  • Push your head backwards into your car head rest or hands and hold for 30 seconds.
  • Bring your ear to your shoulder 10 times on each side.

  How To Soothe A Sore Neck

  How To Relieve Trapezius Muscle Pain Simply!

  Neck pain essentials include icing and heat, gentle therapeutic exercise, and good posture.

  Sore neck? It’s pretty common. And most men get neck pain for the same reasons they suffer low back pain. “In the vast majority of people, it’s routine muscle strain and sprain,” says Dr. Robert Shmerling, associate professor of medicine at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “The neck has to support that heavy bowling ball on top.”

  The remedies for neck and back pain also have some things in common. First, ease the early intense pain with rest, ice, and heat then move on to gentle stretching and strengthening exercises. Later, avoid bad posture and other habits that could trigger another neck pain crisis.

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  Alternate Ice And Heat For Neck Pain Relief

  Both ice and heat can be used to ease neck pain and reduce any swelling or inflammation. Start with ice, such as a plastic bag filled with ice, an ice pack or even a bag of frozen peas. Ice can injure your skin, so wrap your ice pack in a thin towel or cloth and only apply it for 15 minutes at a time. You can ice your achy neck every three to four hours.

  If you feel like your neck pain may be muscular in origin, moist heat is a great way to relieve pain. Take a hot shower or soak in a warm bath or hot tub. You can also apply a moist heating pad for 20 minutes every few hours.

  Whichever method you try, dont fall asleep while applying heat or ice, as this could injure your skin.

  
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