Anyone who has to sit a lot in (professional) everyday life, often sleeps poorly or is permanently stressed often suffers from neck tension. Here’s what you can do to ease the pain.
One opinion poll among pain patients showed in 2017 that 55 percent of men and 35 percent of women suffer from neck tension – and the associated tension headaches, back problems or muscle tension. The symptoms are usually the same: the neck is stiff, so mobility in the head and neck area is severely restricted. It is not uncommon for the pain to radiate into the arms, causing severe headaches or triggering nausea and/or dizziness. The bottom line is that neck tension is no picnic, quite the opposite. Many of those affected feel restricted in everyday life because they can no longer perform at their best. Privately as in professional life. It is all the more important to research the causes and relieve neck tension.
These are the most common causes and symptoms
1. Bonded fascia
Our muscles are surrounded by fascia, a network of connective tissue. Usually they are extremely elastic to make the body as flexible as possible. However, if these stick together, for example due to a lack of exercise or stress, they trigger complaints in the back, neck and shoulder areas. There are special methods to loosen the fascia that are sticking together: One of them is fascia training. You need one for that foam rollerwith which you can massage your muscles and connective tissue:
2. Too little exercise
The thoracic spine is normally very agile – but if it is not moved much, for example by sitting too much, the cervical spine has to work more. This in turn means that the muscles around it are permanently tense and hardened by the overload. Pain, neck tension and a stiff neck are the consequences. To counteract this, you have to move more in everyday life, be it through regular exercise or getting up from work every hour, stretching and stretching a bit.
3. Too much stress
If you are constantly energized, your body has to perform at its best: The permanent tension causes your muscles to cramp, causing tension in the neck, shoulder and head area in particular. This is not only very painful, but in the long run can become a serious problem for your health. The magic word here is: stress reduction. Take regular breaks, take a break every now and then and try to stay calm, even in stressful situations.
4. The wrong sleeping position
Do you wake up every morning with a stiff neck or neck tension? Then you may have an unfavorable sleeping position – for example due to the wrong pillow. If your spine is not optimally supported when lying down, your muscles have to work too much at night. In any case, it is important that you do not lie too high and that your mattress cushions your body properly. A special one is particularly recommended here spelled pillowwhich optimally supports the head and can relieve or prevent tension in the neck area.
Use these tips to relieve neck tension
warmth is always the quickest and easiest way to relax your muscles. However, since you can hardly put a hot water bottle on your neck, an elongated one is recommended grain pillow, which you can put around your shoulders while standing or lying down. There are a variety of different designs here, all for the microwave are suitable and can retain heat for up to 45 minutes.
Alternatively, there is also electric massagers for neck tension that works on painful trigger points with small rotating balls and infrared heat to relieve discomfort. The nice thing about it is that it lets you get to places you can’t reach with your hands. Add to that the pressure and speed of the massage balls can determine themselves.
If you don’t want to use an electrically operated device but still want to relieve your neck tension, you can also massage the trigger points manually – but not with your hands, but with a special device: the so-called Body Back Buddy. That not only sounds funny, it also looks like it. Nevertheless, they will help you massage hook treating your back, neck, shoulder, legs and feet. Look for yourself:
Another way to gently massage your head, neck and shoulders is to use the acupressure mat: On it are 230 plastic plates, each with 27 pressure points, which protect your skin and thus all important acupuncture points stimulate – lying down or sitting down. With regular use, head, shoulder, back and joint pain as well as neck tension and circulatory disorders should be improved.
A well-established classic against neck tension is Tiger Balm. The ingredients it contains (cajeput, camphor, menthol, peppermint and clove) spread a pleasant scent. More importantly, however, if you home remedies massaged into the skin, it heats up – this stimulates your blood circulation, so that your muscles relax and tension in the neck is released.
This is how you prevent neck tension in the future
Unfortunately, if you have managed to alleviate the discomfort in the head, neck and shoulder area, this is no guarantee that the pain will not come back. For this reason, you must continue to make sure that you get enough exercise in everyday life, are not exposed to too much stress and prescribe rest periods. For example in the bathtub or a visit to the sauna – because heat can be very healing for neck tension. If you can’t manage to exercise, you can also do small exercises in between, at home or at your desk:
Roll your shoulders, tilt your head back and forth, straighten and flex your spine: get on all fours, crouch back, and arch your back again. There are many more exercises that you can do in between to prevent neck tension. For this you need no more than eight minutes a day, like this video indicates. In any case, it is important, especially if you constantly have a stiff neck, to do something about it. Because the pain will unfortunately not go away on its own – and it may get so bad that you have to see a doctor. The sooner you start, the better the chances of a speedy recovery.
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