Skip to main content

Getting Rid of your Pain in the Neck

What if you had severe, chronic neck pain and your doctor didn't have a clue what to do for you? That was the place I was in during my early 30s: typing was agony, I couldn't press the Dictaphone buttons with my left hand hard enough to engage them, and I was too stiff to shimmy in dance class. Most of what I recall of an outdoor performance of a Shakespeare play of that time (the one where they were stuck on an island) regards squirming around trying to get comfortable. (If you were sitting behind me, I apologize.)

A friend referred me to a chiropractor, who diagnosed two pinched nerves in my neck and between my shoulders. Nothing was torn or fractured, and IME, when that's the case, doctors who practice traditional Western medicine won't be able to diagnose anything. That's not to say you shouldn't see an M.D. If something is torn or broken, they can help where a chiropractor and the treatments I'm going to talk about cannot.

After several chiropractic treatments, my neck and shoulder recovered, but I still had niggling pain and occasional flare-ups. Over the years, I've found three ways of dealing with this--and I'm happy to say my neck and shoulder pain are gone. Here's what I've tried and the results I've gotten.

Acupressure. It's especially helpful for me when I have tension. My mom loves getting acupressure when her neck, shoulders and arms hurt. For most of us, this is easy to do for yourself and it can bring relief within a few minutes. All you do is press your fingertips into appropriate pressure points. A book like Acupressure's Potent Points can show you how.

Yoga. When I had continual neck pain, I did yoga neck exercises every morning, and it really helped. The exercises came from the 1959 edition of Yoga for Americans. I ignored the advice on coffee enemas and did the neck exercises daily. Every morning, I did each one five times, slowly, and didn't stretch to the point of discomfort. The exercises were moving my head side to side in a big NO motion, nodding in a big YES motion, moving my ear closer to my shoulder moving only my head, moving my head forward without tilting it (imagine a turtle poking its head out of its shell), and gently rolling my head around each direction. Often, my neck would pop and feel better when I moved my ear towards my shoulder. But if it didn't, I gave up after a few tries. Continuing to stretch just made it worse, so I waited and tried later.

I don't do this every day anymore, but it's helpful if I've had my neck in a strange position, like yesterday when a complete stranger in the seat behind me on the bus talked my ear off about the squirrel under her couch, her three dogs, two cats, guinea pigs, aquarium and colostomy bag.

Strength Training. Last year I started doing some abdominal exercises that involved keeping your head just off the floor for a few minutes. It was hard to do, but some weeks after I'd started, my neck pain was gone--surprise! My neck was stronger and free of pain. I used a video called Ballet Conditioning; now I use the Slow Burn system. (And I no longer need the yoga every day. But it's there in case I see the menagerie lady again.)
Labels:

Comments

Shoulder Pain Coach Rick said…
I suffered from an impinged shoulder 2 years ago. And what had provided me long term relief are Simple Stretches, Range Of Motion and Strength Exercises. But your tips are great too.
September 30, 2010
Lori Miller said…
Hi, Rick. I'm glad to hear you resolved your shoulder pain. You mention active rest on your site--I think rest is definitely underrated.
September 30, 2010
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

This Just In: Yogurt Doesn't Improve Health

A recent study from Spain finds "In comparison with people that did not eat yogurt, those who ate this dairy product regularly did not display any significant improvement in their score on the physical component of quality of life, and although there was a slight improvement mentally, this was not statistically significant," states López-García. Most yogurt is pretty much pudding with a little bacteria . Pudding is a sugar bomb. Hard to believe the stuff doesn't improve health outcomes, isn't it? But as usual, researchers are calling for...more research. "For future research more specific instruments must be used which may increase the probability of finding a potential benefit of this food."
23 comments
Read more

Paleo Diet: Eating Differently from Everyone Else is Fine!

I've been seeing more and more articles by women (it's always women) whose heads have exploded trying to figure out life without yogurt and cupcakes. Oh, the shenanigans they get up to: bathroom problems from stuffing themselves with vegetables, paleo baked goods that don't taste the same as ones from the bakery, and especially the irresistible urge to eat "normally." The technical problems aren't hard to sort out: substitutes like baked goods will taste different because they are different, but an adjustment period of a few months will make those foods taste normal. And whatever you eat, don't stuff yourself. First, though, read a book by Loren Cordain or Mark Sisson to learn about the paleo diet before diving in. The articles I keep reading, though, have more to do with attitude: the urge to be exactly like everybody else or the urge to be helpless. If you're in the second category, I can't, by definition, help you. If you'd rather be Lu
19 comments
Read more

Decongestant Ineffective; Vibration Plate Works

A common ingredient in many cold medicines has been shown so ineffective that the FDA recently proposed taking it off the market. The ingredient, phenylephrine, "failed to outperform placebo pills in patients with cold and allergy congestion," say researchers from the University of Florida. "The same researchers also challenged the drug's effectiveness in 2007, but the FDA allowed the products to remain on the market pending additional research," according to CNBC .  Mostly placebos. Photo from Pixabay . I can attest that phenylephrine doesn't work. Before I stopped eating wheat, I constantly had nasal and sinus congestion. I helped keep Sudafed in business when the active ingredient was pseudoephedrine, but I noticed the PE (phenylephrine) variety didn't work at all. The only other decongestants I've found helpful are guaifenesin (Mucinex) and spicy food. Mucinex is expensive because it works! (The cheaper store brands work just as well, though.) Su
Post a Comment
Read more

Robert F. Kennedy shows up at the FDA

 
Post a Comment
Read more

Palpitations Gone with Iron

Thanks to my internet friend Larcana, who alerted me to the connection between iron deficiency and palpitations, I doubled down on my iron supplements and, for good measure, washed them down with Emergen-C. It's a cold medicine with a mega-dose of vitamin C, plus B vitamins and minerals. I don't think vitamin C does anything for a cold (a friend bought the stuff and left it at my house the last time she visited), but vitamin C does help iron absorption. After doubling up on iron in the last three days, I feel back to normal. (I'd already been taking quite a bit of magnesium and potassium, so I probably had sufficient levels of those.) How did I get so low on iron? Maybe it was too many Quest bars instead of red meat when I had odd cravings during my dental infection recently. Maybe because it's too hard to find liver at the grocery store and I haven't eaten much of it lately. Maybe the antibiotics damaged my intestines . And apparently, I'm a heavy bleeder .
18 comments
Read more