Is neck pain giving you a heavy head?
Do you sometimes think that your head feels heavy? I certainly do, and I wanted to provide you an insight into why this may be.
Imagine picking up a bowling ball, we have all done it. If you’re anything like me, you used to pick up the lightest ones so you could hurtle them the fastest down the lane.
But for a minute, imagine you picked up the heavy one, it’s so heavy you strain to pick it up. Now if I told you to hold it at arm’s length, it would feel heavier, yes?
Of course, it would. And the same is true for your head! No not holding it at arm’s length, but if your head comes forward from your shoulders it begins to feel heavier. When looking at your phone, reading a book, or working on the computer. With all of these actions our head is creeping forward and subtly getting heavier and heavier. The consequences are more stress on the neck.
This can lead to tension, pain, headaches, and even early wear and tear of the neck joints.
So the reason for my preamble to this week’s tips on neck pain is simply this, it is serious! The neck is so important for the health of our body with your spinal cord sitting in the middle, we need to do everything we can to help it.
With that said, here are my Top Tips for neck pain:
1. Heat
Everyone asked should I use heat or ice? Quite simply for neck pain, use heat. Be that a hot water bottle or hot shower. You choose.
2. Correct pillow height
We have all woken up at some point after a bad night’s sleep with a sore or achy neck. However, this can build up to the point where we wake up the next day and our neck has ‘gone’ i.e. you are in excruciating pain, can’t move or get comfortable in any way and it can stop you in your tracks. This can be quite scary as it’s your neck. The key to preventing this is having the correct pillow height. Getting the right pillow height is a bit like goldy locks getting the right porridge it has to be ‘just right’
Traditional pillows can be too soft, too low or too high. So my top tip at home is to get a towel and fold it up to just the right height. Your body should not be twisted in any way and you should not feel squashed.
3. Correct head position
When using your phone or laptop you should be looking straight ahead and NOT down. Looking down increases the pressure on all the muscles joints and nerves in your neck and can over time change the shape of the natural curve in your neck.
For any more information please book a complimentary discovery call.
Contact Bianca Downey for more information: info@postureandwellness.co.uk
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