As you correct your head and neck posture, the pain and discomfort decreases before eventually disappearing; however, it is important to know that doing these new exercises may cause new pains in new areas. This is completely normal and should be expected. They will wear off in a couple of days along with the initial pain from incorrect posture until you are completely pain-free and comfortable.
Another frequent cause of neck pain is caused by postural stress from lying down in certain positions. Sometimes, the lying posture itself is the cause of the problem. In this case, the solution needs to be addressed for each person individually. One easy change is altering the pillow on which you are lying down or sleeping. Because the pillow is what supports the head and neck throughout the night, it should help shape and maintain the natural contour of the neck. Thus, you should be able to shift the contents of the pillow so that there is a hollow for you to put your head and support your neck. Another solution is buying a cervical roll which you can place on top of or inside your pillow to support the neck and allow the head to rest lower. Products such as these help maintain proper neck posture throughout the night and can help relieve stresses and pain in this area due to bad posture or inadequate pillow support.
Some other causes of neck pain include relaxing after vigorous activity and working in awkward positions or cramped spaces. After a period of intense or prolonged exercise, it is important to remember not to sit down and relax in the protruded head position. Joints of the spine which have just been thoroughly exercised easily distort if held in an improper position for a length of time. This can be avoided by retracting and extending the head several times after a vigorous workout or avoiding the protruded head posture when sitting down to rest. On a similar note, some jobs require individuals to be in positions of bad posture for an extended period of time. Oftentimes these jobs are ones which require precision work or intense physical labor. It is easy, in these cases, for someone to experience overstretching of the neck. If this is the cause of your neck problems, you should be sure to frequently pause, correct your posture, interrupt overstretching, and exercise retracting and extending your head to maintain proper posture.
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