Neck Pain Support Blog

How Back and Neck Pain Can be Helped when You Travel

It's July 4th and how are you spending the holiday? Are you driving this holiday or taking a plane trip somewhere? Chances are covid-19 has somehow affected your plans. Personally, we are doing a staycation. My son and I tested out a new golf club this morning and later we are doing a July 4th bbq with close family. Staying put and staying safe. Enjoying fireworks from our back lanai tonight !

Happy July 4th from the Neck Pain Support Blog

How can back and neck pain affect travel? In many many ways actually. It can make it  nightmare and cause you to have a flare up sometimes. Here are some great tips to help you with your travel plans- whether doing a staycation or going somewhere.

First, taking breaks is very important. The act of sitting can put a lot of stress on your joints, on your back and even your neck. Sitting in one place while driving, or on the computer can aggravate back and neck pain. Hence, standing up and moving around can make a big difference. Making a plan to get up every 15-20 minutes to get a drink of water is a great idea. Plan on stopping at a rest stop no matter what. Just stretching and moving can make such a big difference if you have neck and back pain.

Using pillows to your advantage can make a big difference. For both the back and the neck, use contoured neck and back pillows. For example using a lumbar pillow while sitting in the car for long periods or when you are on the computer, can help.

 

A lumbar pillow can make long car trip more comfortable for your lower back.

 

 

Just like using a pillow for lower back can help, same goes for your cervical spine. Using a cervical contoured neck pillow for sleep can also make a huge difference for optimal posture while sleeping on your side or back. The Arc4life Traction Pillow is a good example of pillow with curves that fit the shape of your neck. It is important to order the right size of a pillow like this. This arc4life pillow comes in 3 sizes: small, medium and large. 

A Contoured Neck Pillow at Night Can Keep Your Neck in Alignment While Sleeping

 

Next, doing neck and back stretches can go a long way to keep comfortable. Never to the point of pain, just to the point that you feel a stretch is the key. These are great stretches for the hips, neck, back and shoulders.

Effective stretches for the hips, neck, back and shoulders.

There you go: 3 simple things you can do to enjoy your staycation or TRAVEL away from home.

 

Additional Reading:

• Causes of neck pain you might not think of
• Arc4life Twist Pillow works great for patients who are travelling or for kids in the car
• Contoured Kids Pillows Designed for Smaller Cervical Spines
• Arc4life's Linear Gravity Neck Pillow- Small Size for Toddlers, Teens and Petite Individuals
• Change up the loft of your pillow easily
• Upper Back Stretches you can do anywhere

 

Neck Support Is Always Needed No Matter the Age

I think 2020 will go down in history for many reasons. With the recent covid-19 pandemic, my child hasn't been able to play soccer, basketball or baseball. He loves all of his team sports.

 

Thankfully, he has been able to play golf at our local course. Its a great individual sport that that they can grow, be athletic and be outside with their peers. I've also learned there is a lot of equipment sized perfectly for the younger beginner golfers. Clubs that are lighter, easier to swing and color coded for their height. The US Kids Golf does a great job of fitting kids for golf clubs.

 

There are even training products designed to help improve your swing. For example, the orange whip golf  swing trainer. A long stick that resembles a golf club but has a weighted orange ball at the end of it. This "golf swing trainer" helps  to  improve range of motion in ones swing, balance, and flexibility. All important aspects of an optimal golf swing. I had tested this orange whip out at a golf clinic myself a few years back. Then a friend sent a link for the junior version: a flexible shaft, a smaller diameter grip and lighter weights on each end- perfect for my junior beginner golfer to improve his swing.

 

 

Just like the orange whip golf swing trainer, my kids have a smaller baseball glove, smaller golf clubs - generally smaller kid versions to help them play optimally. Makes sense. 

Well Arc4life has kids pillows. Why? Because kids have smaller spines, smaller curves in their neck and need pillows that are proportionally smaller. For instance, my son a contoured neck pillow for sleeping every night- the arc4life cervical traction pillow (its comes in a small, medium and large. The small pillow is smaller in length, width and thickness: 20x15 vs the medium size which is 24x17. There is a big difference in all the dimensions of the pillow. It is ergonomically designed for the size of his little neck and gives him the support he needs for great posture while he sleeps (on his back or on his side). If children use adult pillows that are too large, the pillows can cause forward head posture,  pushing their head and neck forward. My son loves his pillow so much that if he goes for a sleepover at his grandparents, we pack his pillow with him as well: It's essential.

 

Also, you can get kids pillows for neck support in the car and for travel as well. Here is an example of a twist pillow made of memory foam that can be used for kids while they are in the car.

 

Memory Foam Twist Pillow

 

Additional Reading:

• Orange Whip Full-Sized Golf Swing Trainer Aid - for Improved Rhythm, Flexibility, Balance, Tempo, and Strength - 47”
• Arc4life Twist Pillow works great for patients who are travelling or for kids in the car
• Contoured Kids Pillows Designed for Smaller Cervical Spines
• Arc4life's Linear Gravity Neck Pillow- Small Size for Toddlers, Teens and Petite Individuals
• Kids need their own backpacks too.

Relieving Pain in the Upper Back with Stretches

We are in the midst of some crazy times now with the Sars-COV2 pandemic hitting all over the world. That means many people (adults and kids included) are at home, stuck to the TV, ipads, iphones and all things digital. We were trying to get away from such things as text neck, but now we cannot get away from the devices. 

Often times we concentrate on exercises for neck and lower back pain; Well the upper back area should not be ignored: This is an area that can be affected often times by text neck or spending too much time on the computer.

You can easily stretch your upper back using a device created specifically for the upper thoracic area of your spine:

This particular back stretcher can be used for the upper back and the lower back area; you simply lay on the device and feel the stretch. This can help to relieve upper back pain, as well as help to improve posture. 

Here is a great video that introduces 7 upper back stretches that can help you everyday.

They include an:

Eagle Pose, Side lateral stretch, upper trapezius stretch, levator scapulae stretch, table stretch, thoracic extension and W and Y stretch:

 

Additional Reading:

• The Switchboard that controls everything
• Wake up with More Pain
• How does Traction work on a Traction V Pillow
• Keeping at a healthy weight naturally
• Exercises to Help you with neck pain

I have chronic neck stiffness .What is a good way to relieve pain and stiffness?

I recently got this question about chronic stiff neck: 

Dear Neck Pain Support, 

I have chronic neck stiffness .What is a good way to relieve pain and stiffness?

- Raj

Dear Raj,

Great question. So many people suffer with a stiffness in their necks that they have had for a long time. My advice to you is to do regular neck exercises.

Doing these exercises can really help your mobility in your cervical spine. You have work at this everyday and start very slowly. Otherwise you will just aggravate your neck and cause more stiffness and pain.

You can do these neck exercises in the shower when you first wake up in the morning. It involves gentle movements in 6 directions. You must do all of it very gently. 

1. Very gently bring your head forward (chin to your chest), hold for 5–10 seconds
2. Then bring your head back (look up to the ceiling), hold for 5–10 seconds.
3. Bring your right ear to your right shoulder, hold for 5–10 seconds
4. Bring your left ear to your left shoulder, hold for 5–10 seconds
5. Turn your head to the left, hold for 5–10 seconds
6. Turn your head to the right, hold for for 5–10 seconds.

If you have pain in any one of these directions, ease off and do that motion with less tension. For example, if you have pain when you turn your bring your head forward (chin to your chest), don’t bring your head forward all the all the way. Just do it to the point that you start to feel pain, then stop. You will notice that if you do this stretching exercise daily, your range of motion will slowly start to increase. Incidentally, your neck pain will start to decrease as well.

Simple Neck Stretches that Can Help a Stiff Neck

Also, if you do this stretching exercise first thing in the morning, you can let warm/hot water hit your neck muscles while you stretch. This actually feels very good and can help your stretching.

If you cannot do this in the morning, you can also apply a warm moist heating pack to your head and neck muscles and then proceed with this exercise. 

Finally, get a supportive neck pillow for sleeping. This makes a huge huge difference every night. My suggestion is the arc4life cervical linear traction neck pillow because it provides excellent cervical support and gives you the C curve that you need in your neck when you sleep (for both side and back sleeping).

You can also use the arc4life pillow for a gentle neck stretch. Just lay on the traction V Side for 20-25 minutes on your back. A very therapeutic stretch that can relieve pain.

Additional Reading: 

• Information about the Arc4life cervical traction neck pillow
• Spinal Nerve Chart - understanding where your neck pain is coming from
• I have a stiff neck, a straight neck and shoulder pain
• Don't get a stiff neck when you travel

 

 

For Women, Lack of Sleep Affects Their Working Memory, Study Shows

We’ve all had sleepless nights in our life. Every once in a while your baby can’t sleep well, you drank too much coffee, you have to pull an all nighter, or you are just very restless and can’t get to sleep.

A new study shows that when sleep deprivation occurs, it affects women’s working memory worse for women than men.

What is Working Memory? They use the term working memory to refers to us being able to remember information for short time frames, and also be able to make decisions and complete tasks. Basically doing a few tasks at the same time. 

Prior research has shown that working memory is affected negatively when we do not sleep.

A new study showed how not sleeping well impacts our working memory. This study was done by the Department of Neuroscience at Upsalla University in Sweden (led by  Frida Rångtell, a Ph.D. student). In particular the study wanted to show how lack of sleep affects men and women differently, in particular there working memory.

The study was reported in the findings in the Journal of Sleep Research.

In this study there was a total of 24 young adults 12 men and 12 women and each of them completed a memory test one week apart. There were two groups:

1. One group took a test after a full night of sleep (8 hours of sleep) 
2. The second group of people took the test after an entire night of sleep loss.

The memory test required the participants to remember an eight-digit sequence of numbers. Each subject repeated the test 16 times, and the team used their average scores to estimate their working memory performance.

The researchers study showed that a night of sleep loss had no effect on the working memory of men. But the result was very different for the women in the study. The woman in the studies' working memory  was reduced. 

Rångtell and his team say that this result may be a concern for women. "Working memory is central in cognitive functioning and key to perform[ing] efficiently and effectively in academic, professional, and social settings," they write in their paper. The researchers said that this represents a ricks factor for harmful accident and mistakes that can happen when women don’t sleep enough."

Source: Staying up all night harms women's working memory

Additional Reading:

• Sleep Deprivation Can affect  your brain and mind
• Are you Waking up with a Stiff Neck Every Morning?
• Quality of Sleep vs Quantity of SLeep-  Yes there is a difference
• What is the right amount of sleep for our body for optimal functioning
• Get the right pillow for better sleep every night

 

What Are Some Ways to Improve Your Posture?

 

Ways to Improve Your Head and Neck Posture

 

 

Ways to Improve Posture:

• Watch how you use your cell phone. Don’t look down at it constantly. This adds a lot of extra pounds to your head and neck that you are carrying around, thus leading to neck pain, midback pain and headaches
• Don’t sleep on your stomach - this contorts your head and neck in such a way that it puts pressure on vital ligaments and nerves in the neck
• Sleep with a contoured neck pillow at night. A pillow that aligns your head and neck whether you are sleeping on your back or on your side
• Watch how you sit: When you drive, when you watch TV, when you use the computer. Are you slouching? Is your head forward?
• Do head retraction exercises to help improve your posture and train yourself to have ideal posture no matter where you are

Updated: 4/24/2020

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

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Why am I Tired All the Time?

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

How do you Train Myself to Change my sleep position from stomach to side?

How do I train myself to change my sleep position from stomach to side? I am starting to develop lower back pain.

This is a great question. Not the easiest fix, because it does require some effort on your part. But it is possible to change your sleeping position. 

Many people wake up with neck pain, stiffness, muscle spasms and low back pain all because of their sleeping positions. If you are a stomach sleeper, consider changing how you sleep. Sleep with a pillow under your stomach. You can get a stomach pillow (see picture below, the teardrop pillow) or you can use a flat fiber filled pillow. You can also sleep with a body pillow. So technically your body thinks you are on your side, but your body will feel like you are sleeping on your stomach.

If you are a stomach sleeper, this is one way to change your sleeping position

The Tear Drop Pillow Can be Used by Stomach Sleepers

Good for you, for realizing that you need to train yourself to sleep on your side vs your stomach. 

Any chiropractor will tell you to stop sleeping on your stomach. It is not healthy for your head and neck. Not good for your posture and alignment. Not good for your muscles. Hope this helps.

Updated: 4/24/2020

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

Improve Lung Function by Improving Back Posture, Study shows

At the Neck Pain Support Blog, we talk a lot about Posture. Neck Posture, back posture, standing up posture, and even midback or thoracic posture.

A new study shows that improving midback or thoracic posture improves lung function.

Improve lung function and Health by Improving Posture

This case study involved the non-surgical treatment of a 33-year-old male patient with straight back syndrome (lack of normal curve of the spine) using spinal traction and postural correction. After 16 weeks, the patient experienced a ten-degree improvement in thoracic spine curvature. The results also showed:

• a reduction in back pain
• improved breathing
• greater than two liter increase in lung capacity.

The authors noted in this study that non-surgical improvement of thoracic curvature is possible and can have a positive effect on lung capacity, health, and function.

Source: Journal of Physical Therapy Science, November 2017

Additional Reading:

• Improve your neck posture
• Understanding your neck posture
• What is hunchback posture and how can you improve it?
• End Neck Pain by Improving Posture

 

A Good Office Chair Will Help Your Spinal Posture

Some of us work at a desk. Maybe we are on the computer, on the phone, twiddling our thumbs, writing blogs, and doodling.... Regardless of the task, sitting at an office desk, in an office chair is necessary. Having the right support is very important.

You don't need a souped up office chair, but some features do help.

A recent study showed that certain upgrades to an office chair can aid in having great posture while sitting. Does your office chair include any features designed to improve your spinal posture while sitting? Researchers X-rayed 28 volunteers while they stood up straight, bent forward, and sat in four chair conditions:

• regular chair
• a chair with lumbar support
• a chair with seat pan tilt
• a chair with a backrest for scapular relief

While the researchers didn’t find any one feature to be better with respect to decreasing spinal flexion (which places stress on the back and can cause injury when sitting for long periods of time) , they did report that the seat pan tilt feature resulted in significantly improved pelvic posture, which may benefit and improve the musculoskeletal system.

Having a Seat Pan Tilt Feature Can Help You Have Better Posture

Source: Ergonomics, October 2017

Additional Reading:

• Make Your Work Day at the Office as Pain Free as Possible
• Why Your Mom always Tells You to Sit up Straight and Why it Matters
• Doing Neck Traction At Home
• 5 Pillows for Neck Pain Sufferers
• Advice for Breathing for Those who Cannot Get to Sleep