For some patients they have an everchanging need for different pillows. This can happen because of an neck injury, a repetitive movement that causes pain once in a while, or perhaps a kink in the neck.They may need a softer pillow or a firmer pillow at times. What is a patient to do in cases like this?
One alternative is to consider an adjustable neck pillow. One where the user can take out the material from the actual pillow. Yes, you can get the pump up with air kind, but I am talking about the kind where you can open up your pillow, and remove filling to decrease the support of the pillow or add filling to increase the support of the pillow. This might sound almost to good to be true. Could a pillow like this provide the adequate level of cervical support that you need. The answer is yes. These pillows can be easily fluffed and changed around that you can change the level of support very easily. Personally I use one of these pillows for under my knees as well. I removed much of the fiber (which was a combination of shredded memory foam AND polyester fiber fill), and made it somewhat flatter. Below is the Arc4life Adjustable Pillow:
Memory Foam + Fiber Neck Pillow for Sleeping- Adjustable Pillows for the Side & Back Sleeper with Washable Bamboo-Tech Pillow Cover
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:
If you have been diagnosed with a disc problem, stenosis, or nerve impingement, your doctor may prescribe or recommend neck traction.
There are a few ways to do this traction and a couple different devices to do it. If you see a chiropractor or therapist he/she may do what is called "manual traction". That is literally where he/she pulls on your head, manually stretching you. There may also be a traction table at their office; the doctor or therapist puts you on and harnesses you for tractioning the neck. Then there are home devices you can use on your own. Read more here:
Here is a great acupuncture point for neck pain: UB12 or Bladder 12, along the bladder meridian also know as Fengmen.
In Acupuncture there are 12 meridian pathways of the body. The Bladder Meridian is one of them. Pain is often caused by a stagnation within Meridian pathway. These pathways circulate "chi or energy" throughout your body. Using acupuncture on these points frees up the pathways. Fengmen or bladder 12 function is to strengthen immunity and clear mucous from the throat/sinuses.
Where is it located? UB 12 is located on the back an inch and a half from the spine, at the lower border of the second thoracic vertebra.
This acupuncture point, UB12 treats other conditions as well, namely:
treats urinary conditions and pain of the neck and back
cold and fever
nasal congestion
sneezing
excess nasal discharge
cough with chest or back pain
An acupuncturist can needle this location for you along with other acupuncture points. You can also do this at home. Have someone use the thumb or index finger to press firmly and hold the pressure for 10 seconds.
You probably remember me saying once or twice how everything in the body works together; well, it’s more than just – your cervical spine connects to your thoracic spine, etc. If you treat your body poorly, it will treat you poorly. You know if you put junk in, you get junk out.
Let’s look at some things you should be eating and not eating to combat, not just neck pain but other conditions also:
Decrease your sugar intake. Sugar is linked to so many poor health conditions I don’t even have time to go into it. Don’t forget most processed thing may break down into sugar!
Drink more Water. Water not only helps to hydrate the discs between your spinal bones but also flush out body toxins and wastes.
Eat more Green Vegetables. You really need to get all your vitamins and minerals. Your body actually makes vitamins but not minerals. Not to mention fiber and other healthy plant based components that are needed.
Add Turmeric – a natural anti inflammatory and universal health food. It’s been used for centuries in Indian cooking. Many have just realized the valuable health benefits. One Tip: To enhance the body's ability to use turmeric curcumin (the main active ingredient) combine the turmeric with black pepper.
Get rid of anything that says “diet”. These things will be loaded with other kinds of sugars, “fake sugars if you will”.
This leads me to my next thing to eliminate. Diet or not, try eliminating soda from the diet. Soda contains something called phosphoric acid which actually leaches minerals out of bone... Important things like calcium and magnesium that keep our bones healthy and strong.
Use a good sea salt rich in minerals. I actually use Himalayan salt. The fact is, you can’t necessarily get all the nutrients you need from just eating your veggies.
All that being said, keep your stress levels in check and exercise regularly. I only mention this too because you can eat great but you need to think of these other factors to get healthy as soon as possible.
Over the years I see various tools and methods out there we can use to combat our neck pain and prevent our neck pain also. Here is a ten minute video for you to check out called The "Melt Method":
Have you ever experienced numbness and tingling in the last two fingers? If the numbness and tingling is only in the ring and pinky fingers on one side, it tells us there is an ulnar nerve component.
Now the question is: Where is in the pathway of the nerves is the pressure? Nerve roots come off the spinal cord at the level of the spine, branch into smaller nerves, into the brachial plexus (a group of nerves that innervate the upper extremity) and eventually the radial nerve innervates the first three and half fingers, while the ulnar nerve supplies the last two and half.
You may have tried massage to the arm and hand trying to stop the sleepy sensation. This happens typically due to a loss of blood flow from blood vessels in the area. Massaging the region tends to help restore blood flow.
If this isn't working, it most likely nerve vs blood vessel. Sometimes you may sleep in an awkward position and you wake up with numbness and tingling in the fingers for example.
Next, you must ask yourselfwhat may have caused this? Did you fall asleep in an awkward position? Did you hit your elbow on something?
In this case the problem could becoming from the elbow, but more than likely it starts higher. If your neck had been in an awkward position, its most likely a neck problem.
Many of my readers get back in when they do neck traction. The question then becomes: Is it okay or normal to feel your lower back when you traction the neck? Or is it harmful to feel your lower back with neck traction?
Lets just review some anatomy. Your spinal cord is an extension of the brain that travels down to the upper lumbar spine. Your whole spine is not only connected by this but it made up of a series of spinal vertebrae.All are connected with discs between the bones. These are joints and allow you to move, bend and twist.
Is this normal to feel the lower body when stretching the upper body? The answer is yes because everything is connected. You should however feel most of the stretch in the neck. Make sure you are doing the stretch properly and you are positioned correctly. Most times if you feel it gently in the lower body that is okay. It just tells that something lower down needs to stretch too.
If however you feel worse or feel that the pain is substantial, it is recommended to lessen the traction force. If pain continues then stop the traction you are doing altogether. Consult with your Doctor to make sure you are doing traction correctly, or perhaps get examined if you have pain in a different area.
The positives from drinking more water are many. First, almost every reaction that takes place in our bodies uses H20 or one of the building blocks of H20 (hydogen or oxygen). Our body needs water on a daily basis to function. We cannot survive if we do not have water.
Second, Water will also cleanse and flush the body. I still remember when my spouse told me he was told to drink a lot of water after he was prescribed a medication. That is a perfect example of flushing the body; the Dr wanted to flush out residual medication out of the body once it did its job.
Third, water is a better substitute to one of the other beverage choices we often make. You know, like that can of soda or sugary ice tea we grab out of the fridge.
Fourth, water helps to hydrate the spinal discs. So in our neck for example between C2 to C7 we have discs that create space for the nerves to exit out of the neural foramen on each side of the spine. The discs are important because they act as shock absorbs so that we can move, twist, jump or run.
Lastly, water helps to reduce inflammation. Inflammation is the usual reason for pain because it puts pressure on nerves. Rarely does a bone acutally put pressure on a nerve, but inflammation does.
Keep in mind that by the time you are thirsty your body has been dehydrated for some time. Try to drink water regularly to keep your body adequately hydrated.
A whiplash type injury can result from a motor vehicle accident. Especially the rear end collision type- when someone bumps your car from the back, it can cause major injury to the neck muscles, ligaments and nerves. A whiplash injury is best treated with chiropractic treatment, therapeutic modalities such as tens and ice/heat as well as physical therapy.
Another treatment to help with whiplash type of neck injury is using an orthopedic neck support pillow such as the tri core orthopedic neck pillow. This pillow has special neck rolls that help to support the neck spine. You can choose a softer neck roll or a firmer neck roll to sleep on. You can sleep on your side or on your back. If you have been injured in a car accident consider using the softer side of the pillow first. Also, this pillow comes in both firm and gentle support. I would recommend the gentle tricore support neck pillow.
This pillow will help with neck pain and stiffness. It works well in conjunction with chiropractic, traction and inversion type of treatment.
Keep in mind that this pillow may take some time to get used to. Your neck muscles may be sore when you first wake up, but try to keep using it. The benefits of using this special pillow, will outweigh the soreness that you can get.
A recent study has shown that yoga can help chronic neck pain. This study was completed in Germany and published in the Journal of Pain. It showed that Yoga offers many therapeutic benefits for patients who suffer from neck pain. Patients had improvement psychologically and also improvement in their quality of life.
It has been shown that 20% of the population suffers from some type of neck pain. This can be do a structural reason or because of an injury such as whiplash. Most people treat neck pain with drugs, often anti inflammatory medications. This can cause side effects such as nausea and dizziness.
The study showed that a particular type of yoga was especially helpful: lyengar yoga, has been shown effective in other pain syndromes as well, including lower back pain. This yoga utilizes supportive props and the sequences of postures can be tailored to address an individual's medical problem.
The findings of this German Study showed there was a significant decrease in pain intensity in the yoga group vs the exercise group. The authors stated that yoga might enhance both the tone of muscles and release muscle tension. Relaxation responses, therefore, could decrease stress related muscle tension and modify neurobiological pain perception. This study showed that lyengar yoga is a treatment method for chronic neck pain that has been found to be safe and effective.
