Neck Pain Support Blog: May 2013

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May 2013

May 27, 2013

How to Use Treat Muscle Spasm In Your Neck or Lower Back Area

Muscle spasm in the neck- how to treat it

A Muscle spasm or muscle tightness or a muscle knot can happen at any time; A car accident, a quick unexpected sprint, a sudden turn of the neck or maybe a violent sneeze. Muscle spasm can occur in any muscle and is common in the lower back, neck, mid back, and shoulders. When you do experience a muscle spasm all you want to do is go back to the minute before when you had not pain at all. You just want the pain to go away sooner than later !

BioFreeze is a great topical gel that you can apply to areas of muscle spams or trigger points. Today I am going to talk about using BioFreeze for neck pain relief.

This blog post is specifically for treating the neck and upper back area.Muscle spasms in the neck and upper back can occur in the cervical paraspinals, suboccipitals, and the upper trapezius,and rhomboid muscles.

BioFreeze Natural Pain Relief Gel
6 x 20 Ice Pack**
1 towel
1 glove (non latex)

**You can get hot and cold packs in different sizes and shapes. Choose the hot and cold pack depending on what area you are treating:
For treatment of the lower back, use a larger ice pack- such as a 10x13. This rectangle shaped hot/cold pack can also be used in the midback or thoracic area. For the neck the 6x20 ice/heat pack works very well and provides coverage to the cervical paraspinals and the suboccipitals. For the neck and the shoulders, use the 9x16 ice pack because it provides great coverage to both areas. This trisectional hot and cold pack is a little heavier, so keep that in mind. For smaller areas such as knees, legs, elbows and arms, you can get smaller hot/cold packs such as 6x10 and 3x5. You can get hot/cold packs with and without a strap.

Here are step by step instructions for treating a muscle spasm in the neck and upper back area.

The hot and cold pack that we have suggested is specifically for the neck and upper back area. Another ice pack that is allows for even more coverage of the back and neck is the trisectional hot and cold pack: with dimensions of 9x16. It has flaps where the shoulders are so you get the ice pack in the neck, upper back and shoulder area.

Make sure your 6 x 20 ice pack has been in your freezer for at least 4 hours.
Take your ice pack out of the freezer and wrap your ice pack in the towel
Apply to your neck. Start from the top of your neck in the back (just under your hairline in the back) and start to massage in small circular strokes. First do the right side, then the left side. From top to the base of the neck. Keep your head in a neutral position.
After you have a massaged for about 1.5 minutes on each side, apply the ice pack that has been wrapped around the towel. Apply this ice pack right around your neck, allowing the ice pack to hang from your upper shoulders. Relax, sit (or lie down face down) lie down for 10-15 minutes.

More things to remember about treating muscle spasm:
If someone can help you treat the muscle spasm, you can get greater benefit
* It is a good idea to have someone else do this for you, but this is not always possible. * Biofreeze is odorless, and greaseless but you don't want your fingers tingling afterwards. Wearing a glove will also save you a step from having to wash your hands (you can concentrate fully on your neck pain) * It is a good idea to keep your ice pack in a seperate plastic bag so that it does not pick up the freezer smells. You want to get a 6 x 20 ice pack because this will fit nicely around your neck.

Posted by Nav on May 27, 2013 at 06:37 AM in Neck Pain Articles, Neck Pain Relief PRODUCTS | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Tags: how to get the knots out of the muscles, how to treat muscle spasm, muscle knots, muscle pain in the neck, muscle spasm, treatment of muscle spasm

May 20, 2013

I have a Short Neck...Which Pillow do You Recommend?

I recently received a call from a customer looking for the right pillow for her. She described herself as 5'5", weighing 270 lbs, and having a "short" neck . She stated that her neck was "stiff as a board" and her head hurt. She could not find the right pillow for sleeping. She had gone through so many pillows. They were either too hard to too soft, and her head folded over into the middle space. She had tried foam, fiber, even a microbead pillow which was great for two months only. Her goal was to find the right pillow. She was looking for a short-neck pillow and the pillow must must fit into her neck area- that was her quest.

Getting the right pillow for the best sleep possible can be tough. It is important to find the right pillow that fits your head, neck and shoulders area properly. For this particular customer a medium standard size pillow such as the tri core orthopedic neck pillow (dimensions 24"x16") or the arc4life traction pillow (dimensions 20"x26") would not work for her. She needed something that was proportionally smaller, something that would fit into her neck area. Having a contoured pillow was also important so that she could get the right support for her cervical spine. Especially because she was waking up with a stiff neck every morning, having proper posture during sleep is extra important.

So two recommendations I have:

1) the Petite Core Neck Pillow . This is a smaller version of the tri core pillow. It is a contoured pillow with neck rolls. A trapezoid depression in the middle of the pillow will help support her head. The neck rolls will give her cervical spine support.This pillow is great if she likes firm pillows.

2) The Arc4life Linear Gravity Pillow Small Size. This pillow also has a depression in the center. Two neck rolls provide support to the cervical spine: One softer, one firmer. The pillow is proportionally smaller in dimensions, so it will accomodate her "short neck" better: 23"x17". Also, you can get this pillow with extra fiber, making it firmer in support.

Additional Reading Resources:

Posted by Nav on May 20, 2013 at 10:23 AM in Causes of Neck Pain, Neck Pain Relief PRODUCTS, Neck-Pillows, Pain Relief Product Reviews, Sleep | Permalink | Comments (0)

Tags: arc4life linear gravity small pillow, LG pillow, petite core pillow, pillow for petite individuals, pillow for smaller neck, short neck pillow, short-neck, tricore pillow

May 13, 2013

What Can I Do For My Constant Neck Pain.

We often talk about figuring out the source of your neck pain, that will help us eliminate it. But what if you have a permanent injury or chronic neck pain?

Here are some great ways to deal with that neck pain:

1. Mental distraction - have you ever got busy with work or whatever and totally forgot about your pain? We all have! "Ok, you don't work any more, you're always home", try Meditating! Don't think of it as something New Age or weird. You can call it whatever you like - maybe quiet time, time to reflect, maybe just relax and go over your goals in your mind... Just get your mind focused on something else.

2. Exercise - start with thing that don't bother the neck. Eventually, you'll notice you can do alot more and it won't seem to bother the neck. Start out slow, use good form, and be safe. Don't forget, exercise is so great in many ways. It get you breathing, it makes you sweat, and produces something in the body called Endorphins.

3. Eat healthy - Here's the big ones: Drink more water and eliminate sugar. Your body needs water for almost every reaction; and we need a healyh immune system to fight pain. Sugar weakens the body's immune system.

4. Improve your sleeping situation - Are you getting a good night's sleep? Is your room for sleep only (quiet, dark,no tv...), basically very conducive to sleep. How about your pillow? Does it support the neck as good as possible?...

Things to think about...

Additional Reading Resources:

Posted by Nav on May 13, 2013 at 01:35 PM in Causes of Neck Pain, Neck Pain Articles, Neck Pain News, Treatments for Neck Pain | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Tags: chronic neck pain, chronic neck pains, constant neck pain, neck pain, neck pain support, neck support

May 08, 2013

A List of Neck Traction Units that Work to Fix Your Neck Posture

Over the door neck traction unit can help a herniated disc

If your Doctor has recommended you to some form of neck traction- you will probably find a ton of traction units online. But which one to choose? When you think of traction units, don't think of the over the door kind as the only choice.

Neck traction is often recommend for patients with a herniated or bulging disc. It also helps if you have arthritis or degeneration in the neck. It is also to help correct neck posture such as a military spine or decreased curvature in the cervical spine.

Among the neck stretches that i have listed include:

the saunders cervical traction unit deluxe
the posture pump 1000
the trac collar
the pronex pneumatic neck traction unit

Here is a list of the some traction units for the neck that i recommend.

Best Neck Traction Units

View more lists from Nav Gill

Posted by Nav on May 08, 2013 at 07:02 AM in Treatments for Neck Pain | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Tags: neck stretchers, neck traction, over the door neck traction, posture pump 1000, pronex, saunders, stretcher for the neck, trac collar, traction for the neck

May 06, 2013

Comfort is #1 - Getting A Good Night's Sleep Is Most Important

Have you ever been told: You have to sleep in this position, you must use this kind of mattress, You can't do that, etc... Some of these thing might be true, but the real question is: "Are You Sleeping Good?" Are you waking up fully rested, or does your spouse notice bags under your eyes?

I am here to tell you that you can forget all that other stuff but work on just getting good rest first. Do you sleep like a baby on your stomach maybe? In this case you'll probably have to try to break that habit gradually. Because again, we know you are getting good rest this way. Sleeping flat on your belly will eventually cause some problems, which is why you need to break that habit. Sleeping on your side with a little turn to your stomach is ok. This is a bit of a complex example.

Let's talk about what someone asked about a few days ago. He said to me: "some of those neck pillows are so hard, it's very hard to get used to?" Believe it or not, I've heard this a couple of times. That's one major reason I like Arc4life's Cervical Traction Pillow. It seems to be just right - not to hard, not to soft. We want to fix our posture and correct spinal alignment but we don't want to go into pain to do it.

We really need to be comfortable because we need good rest too. The body tends to slow certain activities at night (hormones like adrenaline and corticosteriods are decreased in the body), and increase othe functions (immune system and repair activites).

Think about it; how productive are you at work a day after you hardly slept. You're tired all day, maybe short tempered or moody, you can barely concentrate. No imagine not sleeping good for a few weeks.

Whereas when you are rested: energenic, vibrant, happy, ready for anything (well, maybe not anything, but you know what I mean.

So when choosing a pillow, choose one that will give you neck support and keeps you in good alignment but don't sacrice comfort!

Additional Reading Resources: