Neck Pain, What is it? 

Neck pain, it happens a lot, but what causes it? The answer to that isn’t as simple as you might think. Neck pain can be caused due to many reasons, including muscle strains, joint sprains, trauma to the head or neck, plus many other reasons. 

How is Neck Pain Caused? 

As we mentioned earlier, neck pain happens due to a large number of reasons, we are going to go through some of the biggest ones here. The main reason for neck pain that we see as physiotherapists’ is usually due to office set up. A lot of office workers spend a lot of their day looking at a computer, if that computer is set up below eye level you are going to be looking down constantly throughout the day. This can also happen outside of an office, whether you are looking down at your computer, or at your phone for long periods of the day. Over the course of weeks, or months, this leads to fatigue of the deeper neck muscles as they are always lifting your head against gravity. This fatigue is the reason why your neck pain seems as though it may come on for no reason in particular or due to something small such as turning your head to one side. Neck pain and low back pain are the most common types of office based pain that we see.

Stress is another big factor for neck pain. When you are in high stress situations, whether it be from work, home life, school life or anything else you could think of, you tense your jaw and the muscles of your neck. Similar to the posture-related pain that I mentioned above, constant stress leads to fatigue of the muscles because they are always being used. Then, as you could have guessed, you end up hurting it doing something small such as turning your head. High stress levels have also been shown to have a link with chronic pain, therefore, managing your stress levels is really important.

Another way that neck pain may be caused is by some type of trauma. That just means that you have done something where you have been hit in the head or neck, or you have fallen over and now you’re getting neck pain. This type of neck pain is not as common as the other two mentioned above.

When Should You See Your Physio for Neck Pain? 

Getting in early is often the key for getting rid of your neck pain fast. The best time to come see a physio is when you get that first twinge, that way your physio can give you the advice, and techniques that you need to get rid of your neck pain before it becomes a big hassle in your life. 

Some common symptoms of neck pain include: 

• Pain around the neck, upper back, and/or shoulders 
• Stiffness and/or pain when trying to move your neck 
• Headaches

When Should You Worry About Your Neck Pain?

Most of the time, your neck pain is caused by irritation to the joint or muscles in and around the neck. However, sometimes it can be caused by other conditions that may be a bit more serious. If you ever get any of these symptoms with your neck pain, you should see a medical professional quickly: 

• Dizziness 
• Difficulty swallowing 
• Difficulty speaking (slurring words, finding it difficult to talk) 
• Blackouts 
• Vision impairment (double vision, blurred vision etc.) 
• Numbness (especially numbness around the lips and mouth) 
• Nausea 
• Feeling weak in your muscles

How to Treat Neck Pain? 

There are many ways to treat neck pain. Initially, your pain is generally going to be quite high, therefore, we want to focus on ways to reduce your pain in the short-term. This leads to us being able to do the exercises that will make sure your neck pain goes away, and most importantly, stays away. 

Here are some great tips to reduce pain: 

• Heat pack/Warm shower: Heat has been shown to work as a great pain reliever. Heat helps to relax the muscles of the neck that have gone into spasm. 
• Ice: Similar to heat, ice has also been shown to be a great pain reliever. Whether you choose ice or heat is up to personal preference. 
• Use a massage ball: When you have neck pain, the massage ball becomes your best friend. You can push it into your neck which can work really well, however, I find this takes a lot more effort. What I like to do is to lay my head down onto my pillow and have my massage ball under my neck, this way I can get that constant pressure into the sore spots in my neck. Massage balls are generally pretty cheap and work great to relieve neck pain. 

Keep your neck moving: I understand that when your neck is sore, movement is usually the last thing you want to do because it hurts. However, if you can keep your neck moving up and down in a nodding/”yes” motion, and side-to-side in a “no” motion you will stop your neck from stiffening up, and your pain won’t get to the same high levels, or last as long as someone who has not allowed their neck to move, therefore, bringing on a lot of stiffness. Try too do 10 reps of each movement every hour to make sure your pain goes away ASAP.

What Exercises Should You Do For Neck Pain?

The last section was all about reducing your pain in the short-term. This section is going to give you the exercises that you need to make sure your neck pain goes away for good. If you’re more of a visual learner, check out our neck pain masterclass. Some great exercises for neck pain include: 

• Chin tucks (3×10 3x daily): For this exercise you can do it either sitting, standing, or even lying down. I will go through the sitting version of this exercise here. What you want to do is sit up nice and straight, you then want to move your head directly back. A nice thing to aim to do is give yourself a double chin (Let me tell you, it looks great), once you are giving yourself a double chin you know you are doing this one correctly. A common mistake people make when doing this exercise is bringing your chin down instead of straight back. If you end up looking down, you know you’re not doing it correctly. You should aim to do this exercise for 3 sets of 10 3x a day. 
• Upper trap stretch (2x30s 3x daily): This is a nice and simple stretch, all you need to do for this stretch is to bring your ear to your shoulder, then use the arm on that side to pull down even further until you feel a nice stretch. For example, if you bring your right ear down to your right shoulder, you will then bring your right arm over your head and pull down until you feel a nice stretch in your neck on your left side. I want you to do this exercise for 2 sets, hold it for 30 seconds each time and do that twice a day. 
• Shrugs 2×10 twice daily: For this exercise you will need something that’s a bit heavy in each hand. This could be hand weights, a bag of shopping, some water bottles, the milk, anything, as long as both sides weigh the same. You start this exercise standing with your arms by your sides while carrying whatever you have chosen as your weight in each hand. Then you just shrug your shoulders up. For this exercise I want you to do 2 sets of 10 reps twice a day. 

If you can get these exercises into a daily routine that is the best way to go about it. We all know that exercises like these are great at reducing pain. However, the most recent research regarding neck pain shows that exercises are also great at preventing neck pain as well. That means that if you can keep doing your exercises even after your neck pain has gone away, that will give you the best chance of it never coming back again.

Come and See Us Today

At EmbdyHealth we are experts when it comes to neck pain management. If you have neck pain, or any type of injury, don’t hesitate to get in contact by email at [email protected], or book an appointment here.

We proudly service everywhere in Australia, including, Sydney (NSW), Revesby (NSW), Bathurst (NSW), Newcastle (NSW), Perth (WA), Gosnells (WA), Melbourne (Vic), St Kilda (Vic), Adelaide (SA), Alice Springs (NT), Darwin (NT), Canberra (ACT), Brisbane (QLD), Surfer’s Paradise (QLD), Gold Coast (QLD), and Hobart (Tas).

Don’t Forget About Our 3 Session Guarantee.

Here at EmbdyHealth we know that you’re going to love your physiotherapy. If you don’t see any improvement after 3 sessions you get your money back. That is our guarantee to you that you will have a great time at EmbdyHealth Physiotherapy.

At EmbdyHealth we offer Exceptional Physiotherapy, Unmatched Affordability, All from your Home.