Sure, you can drink
yourself into a complete stupor, you won't feel a whole lot, but the next
morning is another story. The next morning, if the problem was neck pain; it'll
probably be worse.
The first thing is
that sleeping in an awkward position will make the pain worse. It will throw
your neck posture way off. This puts pressure on the nerves and contributes to
pain. We'll talk more about this later, but for now, let's talk more about
sleeping position. This "sleeping position" comes right down to
'posture'!
With something like
the Cervical Linear Traction Neck Pillow (a good neck pillow) you correct
posture while you sleep. And sleep comfortably I might add. You see, getting a
good nights sleep, often comes down to no unwanted spinal stressors like nerve
pressure.
So as you guessed,
using a good pillow will help. But for immediate pain relief when you can't run
to your masseuse or Chiropractor takes some self treatment right where you are.
The first thing we
are going to do is some neck muscle massage. This can be easily done with just
you and a hand. Take your finger tips that reach that particular spot easiest
and massage in a circular motion. I like to use my index in middle finger.
Next, a great thing
to do is use your knuckles to strip out the muscle. This sometimes works better
or using a gel or even doing it in the shower where you have something to
lather up on your neck. This makes it easier to massage her neck and not give
yourself a skin burn. Take your hand and make a fist and use your knuckles to
run down the muscles.
Another thing to do
is put yourself in the stretch position for the muscle you want to work on.
While in that position, run the knuckles down along that muscle. Repeat this 2
or 3 times. If you find a particular knot you would like to work on, press and
hold for 7-10 seconds. You can repeat this one a few times too, if you like.
The last thing to
do is using a heat or ice pack. I like ones that function as both; you could
use as ice pack or put microwave and make it a hot pack. Often times after
muscle work I heat the area to relax it.
Usually ice pack
usage is slightly different; ice packs are typically good for reducing
inflammation of a particular muscle; put an ice pack on for 10-20 minutes, take
it off of the same out of time. Repeat this process a few times. This seems to
work well for getting rid of inflammation and relaxing the muscles. The key is
really to get rid of the inflammation. It is that inflammation and will put the
pressure on the nerves and cause your pain.
So good luck at
getting rid of your neck pain at home!
