What To Take For Neck Pain
What To Take For Neck Pain
Home Remedies For Neck Pain
The neck, with its intricate structure and wide range of mobility, needs to remain in good condition to support healthy functioning and movement of your body. When there is pain in the neck making it difficult to move your head in any direction, it can be hard to carry out day-to-day activities.
Neck pain results in a sharp or dull aching in the neck, shoulder and nearby muscles. This can even cause headaches, numbness, tingling, stiffness, tenderness, difficulty swallowing and swelling in the neck.
You can suffer from neck pain for a variety of reasons. The main cause is muscle tension and strain that can be due to poor posture, working at a desk for long hours without taking breaks, sleeping with your neck in a bad position and jerking the neck during exercise.
Other causes include nutritional deficiencies, neck injury, nerve compression, cervical spondylosis, fibromyalgia, etc. In rare cases, it can also be caused by infections of the spine or even cancer that involves the spine.
Most of the time, neck pain is not a serious condition and can be treated effectively using safe, natural methods.
Here are the top 10 home remedies for neck pain.
Contents
What Are The Possible Causes Of Neck Pain
Many different medical issues and injuries can cause neck pain. Conditions that may cause neck pain include:
- Aging: Degenerative conditions such as osteoarthritis and spinal stenosis can lead to neck pain as you age. Over time, stress and motion can lead to spinal disc degeneration, causing a herniated disc or pinched nerve.
- Injury: Trauma from sudden forced movement of the neck or head and rebound in the opposite direction can cause pain and soreness. The muscles, ligaments, discs, vertebral joints and nerve roots in the spine cord in the neck can be affected in trauma injuries.
- Mental stress: Tightening your neck muscles due to tension commonly causes neck pain and stiffness.
- Physical strain: Overusing your neck muscles during repetitive actions or strenuous activities can lead to stiffness and pain.
- Conditions that affect spinal balance: Poor posture , being overweight, weak abdominal muscles can all affect spine posture and contribute to neck pain.
- Growths: In rare cases, masses including tumors, cysts and bone spurs can cause neck pain.
- Other health conditions:Meningitis, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer.
What Treatments Are Available
Healing begins with self-care and nonsurgical strategies . The goal is to correct the problem, restore function, and prevent re-injury.
Self care: Neck pain often resolves with rest, ice or heat, massage, pain relievers, and gentle stretches. Reduce muscle inflammation and pain using an ice pack for 20 minutes several times a day during the first 48 to 72 hours. Thereafter, a warm shower or heating pad on low setting may be added to relax the muscles. A short period of bed rest is okay, but more than a couple of days does more harm than good. If self-care treatments aren’t working within the first couple of days, see your doctor.
Medications: Many people get pain relief with over-the-counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin, ibuprofen or naproxen. A muscle relaxant may be prescribed for spasms. If pain is severe, an analgesic may be prescribed that can be taken with the NSAID or muscle relaxant.
Steroids can reduce the swelling and inflammation of the nerves. They are taken orally as a Medrol dose pack tapered over a five-day period or by an injection directly into the pain source . Steroids may provide immediate pain relief within 24-hours.
Surgery: Surgery is rarely needed unless you have muscle weakness, a proven disc herniation, cervical cord compression, problems with balance and coordination, or severe pain that does not resolve after a reasonable course of nonsurgical treatment.
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What Medicines Should I Use For Neck Pain
For a mild to moderate neck pain, our resident pharmacist Rita Ghelani suggests you start by trying paracetamol.
‘If the pain persists then try using ibuprofen tablets for a few days,’ says Ghelani. ‘Take one 400mg ibuprofen tablet three times a day and use a warm hot water bottle or heat patch to help treat muscular inflammation in the neck. Using an ibuprofen or diclofenac gel may also help. These can be used in combination with ibuprofen tablets.’
‘Stronger painkillers that are codeine based, such as co-codamol may be used if the neck pain is severe,’ she adds. ‘Your doctor may prescribe a muscle relaxant such as diazepam, for a short period if other painkillers are not effective.’
Neck Pain Medications Are Common To Many Conditions
Neck pain medications are commonly used to treat the physical and emotional effects of this condition. The prevalence of neck pain increases with aging surveys of ambulatory office visits suggest that physician office visits for new pain peak in patients in their mid to late 40s, and the rate of office visits for chronic pain increase linearly until 65 years of age, and then taper slightly. While there are many natural methods to treat neck pain, medications have their place.
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How Are Neck And Shoulder Pain Treated
The treatment of soft tissue neck and shoulder pain often includes the use of anti-inflammatory medication such as ibuprofen or naproxen . Pain relievers such as acetaminophen may also be recommended. Depending on the source of pain, drugs like muscle relaxers and even antidepressants might be helpful. Pain also may be treated with a local application of moist heat or ice. Local corticosteroid injections are often helpful for arthritis of the shoulder. For both neck and shoulder pain movement, exercises may help. For cases in which nerve roots or the spinal cord are involved, surgical procedures may be necessary. Your doctor can tell you which is the best course of treatment for you.
What Are The Symptoms
Signs and symptoms of neck pain may be stiffness, tightness, aching, burning or stabbing or shooting pains, pressure, or tingling. Muscles can feel sore or tense in the neck, face, or shoulders. Muscles can spasm when they go into a state of extreme contraction . Movement may be restricted â perhaps you cannot turn your head. If nerves are involved, pain, tingling, numbness, or weakness may develop in your shoulders, arms or hands.
Several situations signal the need for prompt medical attention. If nerve compression is severe, symptoms can include pain, numbness, tingling in the arms or legs, loss of bladder or bowel control, or loss of strength and problems with coordination.
Neck pain along with a severe headache, fever, or nausea could be a sign of infection or a bleed in the brain. If your neck is so stiff that you can’t touch your chin to chest, seek medical help immediately.
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Neck Pain Medications Antidepressants
With certain individuals suffering persistent neck pain and/or radiating pain, antidepressants may prove beneficial. They may be therapeutic because of their antidepressant effects or related to their chemical effects regarding serotonin and norepinephrine. Although no direct scientific studies regarding their use in managing neck pain exists to date, studies involving lower back pain suggest decreases in pain as well as some functional status gains.
Negative effects using antidepressant medications include some heart related difficulties, weight gain, bladder problems, constipation, dizziness, dryness of mouth, drowsiness and intimacy related problems.
Tricyclic type antidepressant medications are contraindicated with individuals suffering from heart problems, especially older individuals. A sedative effect is most notable using trazodone, doxepin and amitriptyline and these are appropriate for sleep difficulties.
A 2021 study in Pain Research Management found that 10 mg of amitriptyline at bedtime significantly reduced neck pain intensity, sleep disturbance, anxiety and depression compared to a lower dose 5 mg in patients with idiopathic and non-traumatic chronic neck pain after 120 days of treatment. There were no significant difference between the two doses regarding side effects.
What Are The Symptoms Of A Stiff Neck
Symptoms may include neck pain and stiffness as well as referral pain patterns which refer to pain and stiffness in the shoulder and scapular area. If the spinal nerve roots are involved symptoms may include arm pain and/or tingling, numbness, and possibly difficulty walking if the spinal cord is involved.
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Potential Causes Of Neck Pain
According to the Orthopaedic Section of the American Physical Therapy Association, there are four main types of conservatively managed neck pain:
- Neck pain with mobility deficits: This is a stiff neck a person experiences after straining the neck muscles when sleeping in the wrong position or lifting heavy weights.
- Neck pain with movement coordination impairments: This includes whiplash and neck pain that occurs after a person has been sitting at a desk in the wrong position for too long.
- Neck pain with headaches: This type of pain includes neck pain with headaches toward the back of the head.
- Neck pain with radiating pain: This includes neck pain due to spinal stenosis, a slipped â or herniated â cervical disc, or cervical nerve compression.
Stretching the neck may help a person relieve muscle tension and improve their range of motion. Below, we list examples of exercises that are best for neck pain with mobility deficits.
Is A Stiff Neck Serious
Rarely. Nearly all neck stiffness is minor, diffuse musculoskeletal pain: several mildly irritated structures adding up to uncomfortable, reluctant movement as opposed to physically limited movement. The most common scary neck stiffness is the nuchal rigidity of meningitis which makes it very difficult and uncomfortable to tilt the head forward but that will be accompanied by other serious warning signs, of course. Like feeling gross otherwise .
If you have severe neck stiffness for a long time, plus any other warning signs, there could be a worrisome cause but still probably not, and probably not urgent. Investigate if you have enough red flags, and even then its likely to amount to nothing.
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Why Does My Neck Hurt All The Time
The neck is one of a few areas of the body along with the low back, jaw, and bowels that is vulnerable to bouts of unexplained pain, sometimes quite stubborn. In most cases, the pain goes away. Pain is weird and unpredictable, and is often the result of the brain being overprotective and paranoid.
The Source Of Neck And Shoulder Pain
Its important to understand that feeling discomfort in the neck or shoulder doesnt necessarily mean that the source of pain itself stems from that same region. Neck pain could be caused by a shoulder impingement, and pain in the shoulder could be stemming from the neck. In fact, tension in either area could be sparked by an injury or alignment issue in the back of the pelvis, or even from as low down as the ankles.
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This is because the entire back side of the body is connected via a thin webbing of connective tissue , known as the superficial back line. Running from your forehead up and over the crown of the head, down the length of the spine and the back of the legs to the bottom of your feet, this fascial line is responsible for extending the body and keeping you in an upright position.
Yet because this fascia is all connected, a dysfunction anywhere in the body along this line could lead to pain in another area. For example, incorrect pelvic positioning can lead to misalignment in the low back, which can continue up the thoracic spine, affecting the position and stability of the shoulder, and ultimately causing neck pain .
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Make Time For Mindful Meditation
Finding a quiet place to relax and focus the mind may help ease stress and bring new perspective. Some examples of mindful meditation include controlled breathing exercises or guided imagery, such as envisioning the pain moving from your neck to your arm and then eventually floating off your fingers.
There are free videos and apps online to help you get started with mindful meditation. While mindful meditation doesnt work for everyone, some people have reported benefits.5
What Can You Do About Non
If you have neck pain with no known cause, it’s best to stay active and go about your everyday life as usual. You can do special exercises to strengthen the muscles in your neck. Most treatments for neck pain haven’t been proven to work in good-quality scientific studies.
It’s usually not possible to find a clear cause of neck pain. Neck pain with no known cause is called “non-specific” neck pain. It usually goes away on its own within a few days or weeks. But the pain lasts longer in some people, or it keeps on coming back. Neck pain is considered to be chronic if it lasts longer than three months.
In many cases, various factors contribute to the development of non-specific neck pain. These might include physical strain at work, such as working on something above you or sitting at a desk without moving enough. Emotional stress, like worries and anxiety about family or work, often plays an important role.
Non-specific neck pain can be very unpleasant, but it’s not dangerous. There is no need to rest your neck. In fact, it’s actually a good idea to stay active.
Although non-specific neck pain is very common, only a few good-quality studies have looked at the various treatment options. None of the treatment options have been clearly shown to provide long-term neck pain relief. But there are various simple things that you can try out for yourself.
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Swedish Massage For Neck Pain
Swedish massage works to lengthen and relax muscles and tissues, making it a great choice for those suffering from neck and shoulder pain. One trial showed notable symptom improvement for neck pain patients receiving regular Swedish massage. While, patients receiving Swedish massages were able to reduce their pain medication more than participants who did not receive massage.
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Several More Specific Red Flags For Neck Pain: A Checklist
Check all that apply. Most people will not be able to check many of these, let alone all of them. But the more you can check, the more worthwhile it is to ask your doctor for some input. Most people who check off an item or two will turn out not to have an ominous health issue. But red flags are reasons to check not reasons to worry.
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What Causes Back And Neck Pain
Even with todayâs technology, the exact cause of back and neck pain is difficult to determine. In most cases, back and neck pain may have many different causes, including any of the following:
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Overuse, strenuous activity, or improper use, such as repetitive or heavy lifting
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Trauma, injury, or fractures
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Degeneration of vertebrae, often caused by stresses on the muscles and ligaments that support your spine, or the effects of aging
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Infection
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Congenital abnormalities of your vertebrae and bones
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Abdominal problems, such as an aortic aneurysm
Poor Postures And Neck Pain
Poor sitting or working postures commonly cause neck pain by putting extra strain on the joints and muscles. Sitting and working with the shoulders slouched and chin poking forward, such as when working for many hours on a computer, may strain the neck as may playing with devices with your head down for long periods of time. Sleeping on your stomach with your head turned around to breathe may also be a strain on your neck. Suggestions on how to prevent posture-related neck pain include:
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Sleeping And Lying Down
- Select a firm mattress and box spring set that does not sag. If necessary, place a board under your mattress. You can also place the mattress on the floor temporarily if necessary.
- If you’ve always slept on a soft surface, it may be more painful to change to a hard surface. Try to do what is most comfortable for you.
- Use a back support at night to make you more comfortable. A rolled sheet or towel tied around your waist may be helpful.
- Use a firm pillow that supports the curve of your neck.
- Do not sleep on your side with your knees drawn up to your chest.
- When standing up from the lying position, turn on your side, draw up both knees and swing your legs on the side of the bed. Sit up by pushing yourself up with your hands. Avoid bending forward at your waist.
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:
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James S. Whitson 
