subject: Cure Your Neck With These Natural Neck Pain Treatment Options [print this page] Cure Your Neck With These Natural Neck Pain Treatment Options
Neck pain is a common issue that affects an estimated sixty percent of adults at least once in their adult lives. There are many different approaches for neck pain treatment, and these must be tailored to your individual needs and depend on how severe your neck pain currently is and how it got like that. The normal avenues of neck pain treatment are medication, neck and postural exercises and ergonomics.
Unfortunately the scientific evidence to support many non pharmaceutical approaches to neck pain is lacking. This can be for a number of reasons, due to lack of funding and also the difficulty in designing studies to treat the complex issue of pain. Doctors are well trained in medicine and will know the best medication for your neck pain, but it is not their job to be as informed about other non-drug therapies and often they are not.
If you have suffered a neck injury and are experiencing severe neck pain, this is a potential situation that requires further medication attention. Some symptoms that may indicate need for further medical assistance can include but are not limited to: numbness, weakness, shooting pains or tingling in the arms or legs. Symptoms such as these may get worse very quickly or start very suddenly, so you should see further medical attention.
In the old days bed rest was recommended for neck pain but now it is not recommended. You should limit your bed rest to 1-2 days after the start of pain. The exceptions to this rule are if you have nerve root compression, commonly called a pinched nerve or if you have fractured a bone in your neck or ruptured a disc in the neck region.
Keeping mobility in the neck region is key. Even though it is tempting to immobilize it because some movements may be uncomfortable. If you are working and doing desk or computer work, frequent breaks are a necessity. You should have a break every 20 minutes and at least get up from your desk and move around. However, you still should try and avoid quick movements of the head, positions that you know will hurt or activities you think may be related to causing the pain in the first place.
In the short term neck pain treatment for neck pain resulting from a small whiplash injury, may benefit from the application of a cold pack. Cold packs can be good for decreasing inflammation and swelling post injury and can help to dull the pain. However, some people just do not like using cold packs, if you are one of these people don't use them. Some people may also find the neck area overly sensitive to the cold. After 24-48 hours the application of heat can help to relax tense or stiff muscles and ease movement.
If you have suffered a neck injury or are suffering from chronic neck pain (longer than 3 months) then you may benefit from specific neck exercises as part of neck pain treatment. Also if your neck pain has slowly developed with no obvious single event causing it but you do a lot of desk work or computer work, you might also be a candidate. Exercises that focus on posture and core strength will be the most beneficial. Addressing your workstation ergonomics is a key aspect. Usually it can be the simple everyday things, that if done incorrectly at first will not cause a problem but eventually do. The height of your computer monitor is key. The middle of the screen should be eye level, at least try to have the top of your screen eye level. If you are working a lot on a laptop, get a laptop stand. Make sure your monitor is positioned in front of you. And frequent breaks are very important to rest and reset the neck muscles. A simple change like this can be the best neck pain treatment.
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