Stiff Neck Remedies

There are many people who suffer from stiff neck regularly. Some of the common causes that lead to stiff neck are injury or spending long hours sitting in front of a computer or improper posture while sleeping, stress and so on. It mostly affects people in the age group of 20 to 40. Stiff neck may not be a serious health problem but it causes too much of discomfort to the person suffering from stiff neck. Moreover, if neglected, then it can give rise to further complications like back pain (it can be both upper or lower back pain) or even anxiety disorders and depression. Stiff neck remedies are many, but the kind of remedy that will be effective on you depends on the severity of the neck pain.

Remedies for Stiff Neck

Following are some of the highly effective remedies for stiff neck:

Ice or Cold Treatment: If someone gets a stiff neck suddenly, then icepack is one of the best stiff neck remedies that can provide quick relief from the pain. Take an ice pack or simply wrap up a piece of ice cube in a piece of cloth and apply it on the affected area. The ice pack should be applied with the patient in a lying condition. It should be repeated many times in the initial 48 to 72 hours. This way the inflammation will go down.

Heat Treatment: For this purpose, while taking a shower, allow more and more of the hot shower water to fall on your neck area. Or just compressing the area with a hot compressing pad will make a lot of difference to the pain of a stiff neck. This is because the heat will increase the blood flow in the sore muscles and thus, the discomfort and stiffness is relieved. Some people find an alternate treatment with hot and cold packs extremely helpful. In that case, firstly apply the heat pad for 5-10 minutes and then replace it with the cold pack applying it for few minutes.

Exercises: There are some simple exercises that can provide a lot of relief to the stiffness of the neck. Here is a sample of one such neck stretching exercise, which can be done easily. Keep your neck straight and look in the forward direction. Then tilt your head slowly on one side of the shoulder and hold the position for few seconds. Make sure the tilt should not give you pain and also hold the tilt position as long as you feel comfortable. Follow the same steps while tilting your head on the other side of the shoulder. This should be repeated at least 5 times and you can do this exercise thrice daily. Rotating the head from one side to the other is also an effective form of stiff neck remedy.

Massage Therapy: Neck massage can provide considerable amount of relief to the pain associated with stiff neck. However, it is always advisable that the massage should be done by a qualified therapist only. It is better if you do not try it out yourself or ask someone to do it. This is because if not done properly, massage therapy can aggravate the pain further. Many a times, instead of administering medicines, doctors recommend for massage therapy. To know more read on:

• Massage
• Massage Therapy

Pain Relieving Medication: This can be either in the form of an ointment or pain killers. You can apply any over the counter ointment meant for muscle pain on the affected area. Make sure the stroke of applying the ointment on the sore muscles should be gentle or else you may get hurt. If you want to opt for an oral intake of pain relieving medicines, then those which are suitable for mild pain should be taken, to get some temporary relief from the pain. However, it is strongly recommended that you should consult your doctor before taking any such medicines. Read more on pain management.

Usually, bed rest is advised in the case of a stiff neck condition. Apart from trying out one or more of these stiff neck remedies, you have to take measures to improve the flexibility of the neck so that it does not stiffen up more often. For this, you need to take care of your posture while standing sleeping and sitting. It has been found that excessive stress can also lead to stiff neck. Therefore, learn to stay in a relaxed state of mind in order to control stiff neck.