Neck Pain Support Blog

One Way to be Stretching Your Neck during the DAY and at NIGHT

For patients who suffer from a herniated disc in the neck, the pain and symptoms can be very very annoying. There could be loss of muscle stretching, pain, numbness and tingling, loss of range of motion in the neck to say the least.

Your Dr or physical therapist may recommend using a traction unit for pain relief and stretching your neck. They may tell you to do neck traction everyday.  One of the most effective things to do is to do neck traction during the day and during the night.

You do this by using a neck traction unit during the day. The unit might look something like this:

For night time, I would recommend using a traction pillow: Check out this video that explains how to use the arc4life traction pillow:

This listener bought the arc4life traction pillow after watching this video:

"I got it, and watched this video before I ordered it. I've had it a little over a week and I think it's GREAT. I have forward head posture and have some bulging disc type stuff - had an MRI. I was having tingling in the back of the neck and arm and shoulder blade area pain, etc. The tingling and pains are all but gone. In general I have gotten better about keeping my chin tucked, but still I definitely think this pillow has helped immensely. " - Madrobotfan

Additional Reading:

• A traction pillow vs gravity pillow vs tricore pillow
• Can you get a headache after sleeping on a new pillow?
• A Not so Nice Pillow Testimonial from this New Yorker who needs a break
• More info on the arc4life traction pillow

 

Why or Why NOT - A Case for the Arc4life Traction Pillow

We've been getting some nasty comments on facebook. Facebook seems to draw an interesting group I noticed. People have nothing better to do than leave a foul mouthed comment on our pillow. They use the F word to comment on a pillow that they have never used or tried....It's not cool. But hey, its a free world, say what you want to say.

It's a pillow. That's all. We think its a pretty special pillow and here are the advantages and disadvantages to ordering this pillow.

 

The Plussess and Minuses of the Arc4life Traction Pillow:

 

The Plusses ➕:

- The arc4life traction pillow can help you sleep better 💤- not only that, but it can help you fall asleep too

- It can help relieve neck pain (Chronic and acute)

- It works well with doing neck traction during the day. You can use a posture pump or another traction unit during the day

- The traction pillow is not rock 🧗 hard- it is very comfortable once you get used to it

- The arc4life traction pillow has 2 surfaces - a traction side and a support side. So it stretches your neck and its gives support too. Choose which side you want to sleep on

- You can sleep on your back and on your side with this pillow. 

- This pillow can help with headaches, occipital neuralgia, disc herniation, disc bulge, and neck arthritis

- It ships all over the world to countries like Canada 🍁, Singapore 🇸🇬, Australia 🇦🇺, and the UK 🇬🇧. This is a pillow that been around awhile since 2003.

- The arc4life traction pillow comes in 3 sizes and 2 levels of firmness: Small, Medium, and Large. Ordering the right size is very important

- You don't need a prescription from your Doc 👩‍⚕️ to get this pillow

- It is made right here in the USA

- There is no latex, foam or questionable materials in this pillow

 

 

The Minuses ➖

- There may be an adjustment period for using this pillow

- The arc4life pillow is a little more costly than a pillow you would buy at a walmart, bed bath and beyond or a target 🎯 (they have great pillows too)

- The arc4life traction pillow will wear down after time because it is composed of polyester fiber fill

- You cannot use the traction side of the pillow if you have had a recent neck fusion surgery 🏥

- You cannot try the pillow out at a store 🏬 before buying. This is only sold online and in select chiropractic, physical therapist, pain clinics and osteopathic offices

- If you don't order the right size, it can cause more pain and discomfort

 

Links for More Reading:

1. What is a good way to relieve neck pain if you have chronic pain?
2. For some people, even after 18 months the pillow does not work
3. How to Make a Neck support at home by yourself that can relieve neck pain
4. I have severe debilitating cervical neck pain....
5. The arc4life traction pillow on amazon 

 

 

Neck Traction Does Not Need to Be Scary.

If you are looking for natural pain relief options for neck pain - neck traction might come up. When you first mention Neck Traction to patients they sometimes have a dazed look on their face. They think you are going to hook them to a machine that causes a lot of pain. 

Neck traction can be beneficial for many conditions including:

• neck arthitis
• radiculopathy
• pinched nerve
• nerve root compression
• spinal stenosis
• fibromyalgia
• whiplash (not acute)
• headahces
• muscle spasms
• herniated disc
• bulging disc

I want to show my Neck Pain Support Readers that you can start off with very basic neck traction. This allows you to slowly get into neck stretching. Here are 3 easy things you can use.

1. First use the arc4life traction neck pillow, especially the traction V Side. If you just lay on your back, on the traction V Side of the pillow for 20-25 minutes you will get some pain relief. You are not sleeping on the pillow, just laying on the pillow. Set a timer if you have too. This is a great form of passive traction that you can do at home. Basically you are stretching the spine very gently and allowing the nerves to be freed up in between the vertebrae. One important side note, order the right size of pillow. Ordering the wrong size can cause you unneeded pain.
2. A little more advanced form of this would be to use a traction unit - such as the cervi pedic, or an omni cervical relief device. Basically these units cradles the head and neck in proper alignment, to encourage gentle traction and correct cervical curvature. They are both ergonomically contoured and allow total relaxation of the neck, shoulder, and back muscles. Note you can use both the Omni and the Cervi pedic lying down or seated. 
3. The most advanced form you can do at home is using a posture pump 1100 or a Pronex Traction Unit With this unit for example you can get up to 20 lbs of pressure.  I often recommend to use this in a chiropractor or Physical therapists office first to understand how to use it and use it correctly. You will then know what neck traction feels like. Also, a unit like this helps to correct the natural C Curve in your neck. So if you have forward head posture, or a hunchback posture, then can help immensely.

Using the Pronex for Neck Stretching Can be Easy to Set up and do at Home

Neck Traction can have quite an impact on patients health. It can help with pain relief, better posture, relief of radiculopathy symptoms ( such as numbness and tingling, shooting pains), headache relief and stiffness and help patients sleep better.

Just remember to ease into it slowly. That is the key. Nothing scary about Neck Traction.

Updated: 4/24/2020

Related articles

Who Does the Arc4life Traction Pillow Work Well for? (The Queen of Neck Pillows)

Neck Pain Support Blog: Optimize Your Posture While You Sleep with the Right Pillow

10 Best Ways to Do Neck Traction at Home

Here are 10 ways you can stretch Your neck Effectively:

 

#1. The Posture Pump 1000 - Here is a very comfortable type of neck traction that arc4life recommends. You simply lay down and you will feel a neck stretch behind your neck. Simply inflate or deflate the bulb to increase to decrease the stretch.

#2. The Soothe- A- Ciser - a natural way to do neck traction. Simply lay back on the cushion. Use many times by chiropractors, massage therapists and other health professionals in their office.

#3. The Arc4life Cervical Linear Traction Neck Pillow - the arc4life traction pillow gives you a gentle neck stretch when you sleep. Very comfortable.

#4. Over the Door Neck Traction System - A simple and effective way to do do neck traction. You can get up to 20 lbs of neck traction with this system. May look archaic, but it does the job effectively.

#5. Your Bed - a great way to start neck traction. Simply lay your head off of the bed, and let gravity do the work.

#6. A Towel Roll - roll up a towel and put it under your neck. You can make the towel roll as small or large as you wish to. Very comfortable and a great way to get started doing neck traction.



#7. The Omni Neck Stretching Device - simply lay on this device and your neck will be stretched.

#8. A Collar for Linear Neck Stretching - imagine wearing a neck collar that inflates on the right side and the left side. That is what the trac collar does. You can increase to decrease the right, left or both sides. Great for seated traction.

#9. A Neck Orthotic - a gentle less aggressive way to do neck traction. Simply lay on the neck orthotic which is made of a soft foam. Great for someone older or with advanced degeneration with still wants to do curve correction or gentle extension traction.

#10. Saunders Neck Traction Unit - a more advanced type of neck traction. You can get up to 50 lbs of pressure with this traction unit.  Another more advanced traction unit is called the Pronex Pneumatic Cervical Traction Device which comes in 3 sizes as well.

Neck Traction= Neck Pain Relief

When doing any type of neck stretch, it is best to follow the advice of your Doctor or health care professional. Often times, a chiropractor or physical therapist will stretch your cervical spine in their office and give you home instructions. Usually patients do neck stretching from 5- 20 minutes, with varying levels of neck traction (up to 20 lbs). It could be as simple as just laying on a roll type of material (a pillow or foam roll) or doing active neck traction with a traction machine: the Saunders, the posture pump 1000 or a trac Collar.

You want to gently stretch your neck before you start by doing simple flexion, extension, rotation and lateral flexion

After traction, you may want to use some ice on the muscles to minimize soreness (which can happen in the beginning of doing a neck traction protocol).

Updated: 4/24/2020

Do Gentle Neck Stretching for Natural Neck Pain Relief

The purpose of Traction is to stretch your neck.Your neck is make up vertebrae or bones that have discs between them that act like a sponge. On each side of the spine you also have nerves that exit out from your spinal cord. These nerves innervate everything in your body. The feeling in your fingers, what you feel, anything that you do really - these nerves are responsible for that.

With neck traction you pull apart the bones, allowing any pressure on these nerves and discs to be removed. That is kind of a basic explanation of what neck traction is. With traction you are also stretching the muscles and ligaments around the bones as well.Of course, neck traction is not for everyone, and I always mention to patients - check with you Dr to make sure you can do home neck traction.

Often times, patients will do neck traction at the physical therapists or chiropractors office. A few times a week, 15- 20 minutes at a time.

As with many products, there are many different types of traction units. I prefer the ones that put your neck into the C Curvature, or allow for  a lordosis while you stretch. One example is the arc4life traction posture pump. There are many units on the market today, each one that caters to something different. For example, if you wanted to do seated neck traction, check out the trac-collar.

The Posture Pump stretches the neck muscles, ligaments and vertebrae

What does neck traction help with?

• neck arthritis
• disc herniation
• disc bulge
• neck pain
• tight muscles
• muscle spasms

 Additional Reading Resources:

• Neck Traction Units that work to stretch your cervical spine
• A Pillow that does neck traction
• Cervical traction machines that work to give you relief
• What to look for when doing neck traction
• Putting the Curve back into your neck
• Information on the Posture pump 1100 for neck stretching made easy and comfortable

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How to Start a Neck Traction Protocol for a Military Neck

A military neck occurs when the cervical spine straightens out. There is little curve or no curve at all. Also known as hypolordosis of the cervical curve or a cervical kyphosis. Can you change this curvature in your neck? YES you can. Keep in mind, it takes time. The great thing is that it can immensely help neck pain symptoms as well.

What Does Military Neck Look Like on an X-ray?

For many patients, it occurs after years and years of bad posture, a whiplash type of accident, and improper sleeping habits. It can cause muscles spasms, stiff neck, neck pain and headaches. More severe type of symptoms can be numbness and tingling, weakness and shooting pains.

Neck Traction is a great way to get the curve back in your neck. You may have tried neck traction in your chiropractors, or physical therapists office, and it may offered you relief of your symptoms. Neck traction is also a great way to train the cervical spine to help get the curve back in your neck.

Start by just using a towel roll to help stretch out your neck. This costs you nothing, and helps your muscles get used to this pulling type of motion.

Using a Towel Roll is the First Step in Doing Neck Traction

 Second, get a gentle traction unit such as the omni cervical relief pillow (its not really a pillow) or the cervipedic neck support. Both of these units that I have mentioned basically cradle your neck in a comfortable type of foam. Your head and skull lay comfortably while your neck is being stretched. This is used by a lot of health practitioners in their offices to help patients stretch their necks out.

The Omni Cervical Relief Pillow is a Gentle Neck Traction Devide

Third, get a traction unit such as the posture pump or the pronex pneumatic traction unit, which gives you a greater stretch that you can control.

The Posture Pump Gives You More Pressure and Works to Change the Curvature of the Neck

 

Doing neck traction too quickly can create a lot of soreness. Frankly many patients get turned off because they decide to do a lot of stretching all at once which can cause a lot of pain and headaches.

If you start off with a towel roll, you can really start to notice a change in your symptoms. Do this for a few weeks.  Little by little, start using a device like the omni or cervi pedic. Use this for a few weeks. Then move to a posture pump type of traction unit. Once you start with the posture pump, build up to using greater pressure. Again, its not an overnight thing - do this over a few months of time. Work up to 20-25 minutes to neck traction.

Not only will you feel better, but you will also notice a change in your actual spine. 

Additional Reading:

• How to Use a Posture Pump Easily At Home
• Another Gentle way to do Traction: With a Pillow
• Choosing the Best Cervical Traction Device
• 5 Products You Can Use toe Stretch Your Neck for Pain Relief
• Neck Pain That Results from a C5, C6, C7, or C8 radiculopathy

 

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I Have Pain When I Breathe?...

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How to Use a Simple Neck Stretcher at Home

The posture pump cervical traction unit is a simple, comfortable and effective traction unit. Here is a quick demonstration on how to use this neck stretcher easily at home. This neck stretcher provides relief for neck pain, pinched nerve in the neck, stiff neck, cervical radiculopathy, numbness and tingling, forward head posture, tightness in the neck, shoulders and upper back.

Updated: 4/24/2020

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I Was Told I Have A Cervical Kyphosis?...

If your neck has a reversed curvature (opening to the "C" is towards the front) that is called a kyphosis. If it’s straight, that’s called a military neck. What we need to to do is get the "C" curve opening to the back like the normal letter "C".

It often takes years to reverse, but if you are getting adjusted by your chiropractor, doing true neck traction, and specific neck exercises it should get better. Your daily routine, maybe the current pillow you use, stress, or poor posture at work may hinder your progress.

Use the cervical traction neck pillow to supplement your neck exercises, neck tractioning, and chiropractic; you may want to get the posture pump 1000 or a Pronex traction unit also for home neck traction. These are home devices, both are very good; Often times people will start with the pillow an pump and when the get used to traction for their neck, the upgrade to the pronex.

Picture Source: Katz Chiropractic

Additional Reading Resources

• Having Optimal Neck Posture While Working At Your Computer Desk
• The Best Neck Exercise to Correct Forward Head Posture
• How to End Neck Pain By Doing a Cervical Traction Program at Home
• Ezine Article: How to End Neck Pain By Improving your Neck Posture. How Proper Posture Improves Your Spine Relieving Nerve Pressure
• Cervical Kyphosis or Military Neck can be the Cause of Neck Pain The Top 10 Ways to Improve Your Neck Posture and Get Rid of Neck Pain

Visit the Arc 4 Life Store for your online selection of neck pillows, cervical supports and cervical traction products 4 relief of stiff neck, and neck pain.



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