Do you wake up with a stiff neck, regularly get annoying headaches after using your computer, or need to rely on painkillers more than you’d like to ease your neck pain?
If so, this blog gives some simple, but powerful advice on how to cure neck pain fast!
Why Do I Have Neck Pain?
Neck pain can be caused by several things, but a very common cause is people staring down – whether that’s looking at their computer screen at work, their smartphones, reading a book or driving.
All these activities have the same impact on your neck, and over time, certain muscles in your neck become weak and it can feel stiff because it no longer moves freely. This stiffness is also typically accompanied by neck pain, with a constant dull ache that often leads to tension headaches.
Also, you may be sleeping with your neck in a bad position, where you are creating lots of stress on the neck muscles, and this leads to neck pain that keeps coming back (and keeps getting worse).
Finally, there can be accidents or incidents which cause trauma to the neck and shoulder muscles and joints such as car incidents, trips and falls or sports injuries. These are the most common reasons that people come to us for physiotherapy with some of our patients having struggled with neck pain for years.
How To Cure Neck Pain Fast Without Painkillers
In our experience, the first step to cure neck pain fast is to consider the severity and type of the neck pain.
If your neck pain is extremely painful, and you are suffering with other symptoms such as loss of consciousness, pins and needles, feeling weak, a cold arm or numbness, you should get immediate medical advice rather than trying to self-diagnose, treat with home remedies or wait for any upcoming appointments that may be weeks away.
If you aren’t suffering with the symptoms above, then here are some easy to action tips to cure neck pain without painkillers from our physiotherapy team which have worked very well for that we patients have worked with.
How To Cure Neck Pain Fast Using Ice And Heat
A fast way to cure neck pain is to use ice and heat therapy. Ice is effective because it lowers blood flow to the area which can reduce inflammation and swelling. Heat is effective because it stimulates blood flow to the area.
This advice can be an effective way to cure neck pain that is caused by a strained, or torn neck muscle from sleeping in an awkward position or staring down at your computer for too long a period of time.
Our physiotherapy team recommends using applying heat or ice for 20 minutes at a time, up to 3 times a day. An important thing to remember is to avoid the heat or ice directly touching your skin when using ice packs, heat packs, or even a bag of frozen peas (simply put a layer between such as using a tea towel around a bag of peas).
How To Cure Neck Pain Fast Using Stretches
Another way to cure neck pain fast is to use certain stretches such as shoulder rolls, shoulder blade squeezes, and head rotations.
However, the best stretches to do will depend on your specific neck injury so we would recommend speaking to our team who can create a tailored stretching plan for you, which enables you to cure neck pain fast and avoid it coming back in future.
As general advice, the stretches should be very gentle and slow, avoid sudden movements and over-stretching which may cause more damage to the affected area which slows recovery and increases pain.
How To Cure Neck Pain Fast By Avoiding Activities That Created The Pain
In the short term, avoiding the specific activities that caused, or contributed to the problem can be a fast way to cure neck pain. This gives the affected area time to recover.
How long to avoid specific activities, like heavy lifting, sports, and driving long distance will vary depending on the severity of your neck pain, but our team can ensure you recover much faster through a variety of solutions which may include massage, acupuncture, stretching and exercises.
With our approach at Alpha Physiotherapy, our goal is to help you recover from neck injuries and re-introduce the activities – we don’t tell you to stop doing the things you love if they are the cause of the pain. Instead, we can work with you so that you can do the things you love, without having to suffer with the current consequences (neck pain in this scenario).
How To Cure Neck Pain Fast By Good Posture
This is more of a preventative tip, but if poor posture is the reason for your neck pain, then improving how you walk, sit and move can cure neck pain fast. When you are sitting at your desk, driving, or on the sofa reading a book or watching TV try to avoid slouching and periodically think about how you’re positioned.
Is your head pushed forward?
Are your shoulders slouched over?
Are your hips, shoulder and head in alignment or are they uneven? (for example, is your right hip raised up, your left shoulder dropped and your neck leaning forward?)
By correcting your posture, you can relieve pressure on overworked neck muscles which can contribute to neck pain that won’t go away.
Another often overlooked cause of neck pain is carrying heavy items such as bags or children on one side. Over time, this places much greater stress on one side of the body and your posture will change to help with the load. Unfortunately, this can be a cause of neck pain so try to switch the shoulder you carry your bag on, and which side you carry or nurse your children.
How To Cure Neck Pain Fast By Better Sleeping Habits
Neck pain can be triggered, and certainly made worse by how we sleep. If you find that your neck pain is worse on a morning after you’ve slept, or struggle to get comfortable in bed because of neck stiffness and pain, addressing your sleeping habits can be a really important thing to cure neck pain fast (especially since we all spend about a third of every day asleep).
Firstly, ensuring that you have a firm mattress means that your body, from your hips, shoulders and into your neck and head is in natural alignment. If you have a particularly soft mattress, this can contribute to neck pain because your body is resting in an unnatural position for a long time.
The second factor is ensuring that you use a low, firm pillow. Similar to the mattress, a good pillow can support your neck and head meaning that your muscles and joints are resting in the correct position. If you sleep with too many pillows, or pillows that are too high, your neck and head are essentially pushed forward, and this places extra stress on your neck muscles at a time they should be recovering.
Finally, it is generally better to sleep on your back, or your side, compared to sleeping on your front. If you sleep on your front, it is likely that your neck will be twisted to one side and being in this position for hours at a time overnight can create a lot of stiffness and discomfort in the morning.
How To Cure Neck Pain Fast Using Massage
The final tip we have to cure neck pain fast is to get massage which can loosen and stretch tight and overworked neck muscles that are contributing to the regular neck pain you are suffering with.
Massage also helps by increasing blood flow to the area and is a great way to speed up the recovery time from a neck strain.
It is important to seek professional help if you are suffering with neck pain – sure, it might be tempting to ask your partner to massage your neck and this might provide some short-term relief, but as they are not trained in this area, it could actually make the neck pain and stiffness worse.
When To Get Help To Cure Neck Pain
With neck pain, you may find that without any help, pain gradually reduces within a few days, and it may heal itself within a a week or two.
However, if it doesn’t go away, the pain or stiffness gets worse, or the problem keeps returning, then it’s likely that you will need some expert help to cure neck pain.
If you are in the “suffered with neck pain for weeks, and it’s not getting any better” group, then our team are here to help.
To find out more about how our physiotherapy team can help cure your neck pain fast without painkillers or injections, arrange a free taster session or telephone consultation or head over to our contact page and send us a message to find out more and check availability.
Other Great Resources To Ease Pain
We have several free, downloadable reports to help you relieve Back Pain, Knee Pain and Neck & Shoulder Pain.
We also have fantastic blogs where we share expert advice such as Why You Need A Sports Massage
Finally, don’t forget to check out our YouTube channel, Facebook page and Instagram page.
