Introduction

It is important to address neck conditions quickly, because if they are caused by overstretching muscles and ligaments or from longer standing problems, you want to restore health to the neck as quickly as possible. This will help you get back to having a good night’s sleep. If you wait, not only can it become harder to find a good night’s sleep, or a position that’s comfortable, but the condition of your neck can go from muscle or ligament overstretching to a chronic problem in  nature over time. If the kink in your neck is chronic in nature, not  addressing the underlying health of your neck, could make chronic problems worse.

The great thing about simple stretches is the fact that whether you have muscle or ligament overstretching or chronic neck problems, restoring health, and balance to your spine with stretching, will help both conditions. Stretching all allows your muscles to become more elastic and better able to handle the stresses and strain of sleeping in bad positions for your neck.

Understanding Neck Pain

The top 3 underlying causes of neck pain are over tightening of muscles, untreated arthritis, and disc disease of the spine. 

A kinked neck will affect your mobility And most of your daily activities, including looking at your phone, computer, tv to how you turn your head to drive and if it’s bad enough even putting on or taking off your shirt.

Many people may begin to experience relief as the day goes on, but others may notice a lingering effect. Instead of the neck pain reducing, and the mobility increasing, they find that the neck pain may not be reducing at all, or even getting worse. They may notice more muscle spasms, as they try to turn their head and do simple things. It would be a good idea to have your neck evaluated whether it is improving or getting worse just to make sure that the muscle spasms or underlying chronic neck forms are not getting worse. However, if the pain is staying the same or getting worse for more than three days, schedule an appointment with your chiropractor Linwood NJ or chiropractor Northfield NJ to help you find relief and get back to a good night’s sleep.

Video: #1 Cause of Chronic Neck and Back Pain

Stretching for Relief

In the beginning, if your neck is in spasm, stretching may not be the first step. Stretching a neck and spasm can cause a neck to spasm more. The first thing you will want to do in this situation is start using ice 15 minutes on and 30 minutes off, for at least six rounds a day to start to reduce spasming.

The next step would be gentle, short, movements to introduce movement into the muscles and the joints. Once the inflammation and the spasms begin to reduce, you should be able to continue to gradually build on the gentle short movements you are doing for your neck.

If the ice, or the movements, or even rest, is not helping your neck, or aggravating it, discontinue everything you’re doing and seek a chiropractor Linwood NJ or chiropractor Northfield NJ for an in-depth evaluation of your neck pain.

6 Simple Stretches

It is much easier to show you, than to try to explain how these stretches are performed. So I will attach links to the videos. This will allow you to see the stretches and give you the opportunity to perform them with the doctor.

In this video you will see the 6 different ranges of motions that will stretch all the muscles of the neck.

Make sure your neck is warm and ready for gentle stretching.

Start slow, with little movements, for no more than 10 seconds.

As you continue to stretch, WITHOUT PAIN, your range of motion should increase. It is at this point that you can begin to lengthen your time in one stretch. This lengthened time in one stretch or yin style stretching will help to lengthen the muscles even further allowing you to get down to the ligament, disc, and joint level.

These are advanced stretches, so you will need to work you way out of pain and improve the flexibility and balance of all the muscle in your neck before you can get into the longer timed, deeper stretches.

However all the movements are the same, you just start with smaller movement held in stretches that last less than 10 seconds and work you way up to minutes over the next couple months.

This will not only improve the health of your neck so you can find relief and a good nights sleep, but you can improve the health of your neck to the point that it can handle stress better. This includes being better able to adapt to a bad nights sleep or plane ride without your neck getting as locked up and in spasm.

Don’t do any stretching or exercises if you are in pain or moving your neck increases your pain.

These are the 6 Ranges of Motion:

1. Flexion
2. Extension
3. Right Lateral Flexion
4. Left Lateral Flexion
5. Right Rotation
6. Left Rotation

Next, Cool down with ice on your neck. 15 minutes on, 30 minutes off for 3 rounds.

How to Properly Begin a Stretching Routine when You are in Pain

First, do no harm! Seeking professional help if your pain is severe, radiating, or if everything you do makes it worse!!!

If you have some mobility, and mild stiffness or pain, start by gently holding stretches for three seconds, and only doing one repetition. Over time work your way up to 10 second stretches, before you add a second rep.

Move gently, move slowly, and return back to the beginning of your movement slowly. Wait until you get feedback from your body to determine which stretches work best for you. 

The muscles and ligaments that were overstretched and the condition of your spine will determine which stretches give you the most relief.

Eventually, as your neck gets healthier and your muscles get rebalanced, almost all the stretches should benefit the health of your neck.

This is another area where a chiropractor Linwood NJ or chiropractor Northfield NJ can better help you navigate your way to the stretches that the muscles and joints of your neck require and equally important, which stretches and activities to avoid.

These stretches can be done standing, sitting, and even while lying down.

Remember to start slow with tiny movements until you get feedback from your body before you increase in range of motion, time or number of reps.

Once you are noticing some improvement you can slowly begin to add time, up to 10 seconds, then add the number of reps, starting with one and going up to three reps. As you work through this progression, your range of motion should increase naturally, never force it. In the process of doing these neck stretches space will be created and it’s at that time that you can gently, slowly begin to occupy and explore that space. Work on breathing in a way that causes relaxation and reduces tension. It is usually during these relaxing exhales that you notice more space becomes available. however this does not mean that you have to take the space that comes available unless the health of your neck is improving. 

To be safe, depending on how aggravated your neck is, you may want to do less in order to prevent a relapse or spasm. You can always add more tomorrow, but it’s very hard to undo what you over do.

Integrating Stretches into Daily Routine

Integrating stretches into your daily routine is very important. It benefits you in two ways. First, stretching throughout your day prevents tension from being built up in the first place. And second, a healthier neck is better able to perform everything you ask to do in a day without causing the muscles, the joints and the excessive wear and tear that can cause them to age faster over the years from the repetitive activities that we asked them to do day in and day out.

Morning or evening stretches can be great, but both would be better. The more flexible you are when you start your day the more space you have available to handle stress from the day. The better you takeoff the stress when you get home from work, the faster your neck can begin to heal and repair from your day, get a better night’s rest, and allow you to be more prepared and healthier in the morning.

     Listening to your body is probably one of the best things we can do to experience relief and avoid setbacks. Our body knows exactly where we’re winning and losing the battle on tension. If we lose the battle on tension for too long, that’s where we begin to have problems. Listening to our body will help us know when we’re overdoing it. We may not know it at the moment, but our body will definitely tell us a day or two later when we feel it. 

Additional Tips for Neck Pain Relief

Using the right pillow for you, and being in the right sleeping position, will allow you to sleep in a way that promotes health and alignment and minimal stress on the muscles, ligaments joints, and discs of your neck.

Setting up your phone, iPad, computer TV, or books you read, whether you’re lying down or sitting in a chair at home or work, in a position that minimizes the stress on your neck is another great way to improve the health of your neck. in addition to helping you avoid chronic neck problems in the future.

Just like any other body, part, the muscles, joints, and discs of your spine use water to stay healthy and young. Make sure you are well hydrated.

When to Seek Professional Help

If you notice your neck pain isn’t getting any better, your muscles continue to spasm, there’s radiating pain into your arms or hands, your neck pain is causing you headaches then it’s time to be evaluated by a chiropractor Linwood NJ or chiropractor Northfield NJ.

It’s important to find a provider close to where you live so that you can maximize the power of consistency of care and convenience.

We have over 20 years experience, helping people with all types of neck pain. We can help you find the cause of your neck, pain, muscular or spinal, and provide you with the care you need to get relief, have a good night, sleep, and teach you what you need to know to prevent these problems from coming back.

If we find that Chiropractic adjustments will benefit you, they are safe and effective, and have helped millions of people find relief for neck pain. 

Adjustments are gentle and safe and can be performed for people who are experiencing the most excruciating pain.

People who have received chiropractic adjustments for neck pain have experienced incredible results, ranging from instant relief to gradual improvement within weeks, and equally important, a reduction in neck pain episode and duration.

Conclusion

Knowing the steps to reducing inflammation with ice, and starting a light stretching program, when your muscles are warmed up, to stretch tight muscles is a great way to start experiencing relief from pain that can occur when you kink your neck while sleeping.

Start slow and stay consistent. If stretching  your neck is right for your kinked neck, you will begin to see benefits within days. Getting a chiropractor Linwood NJ or chiropractor Northfield NJ evaluation can save you a lot of time. At Fresh Start Chiropractic we can quickly evaluate the full nature of your neck pain, whether it is muscle, spine, or a combination of both, and best steps to finding a faster resolution. The sooner you get to the root cause of the kink in your neck, the sooner you are on your way to a better night’s sleep.

If you have neck pain that is not improving or neck pain that continues to show up every couple months or weeks you should have the health of your neck evaluated to get longer lasting relief and avoid, when possible, arthritis and disc disease that can occur over time because of unresolved spine and neck issues.

If you would like to schedule a consultation at Fresh Start Chiropractic, call 609.926.8900.

If you need help with anything, you can always leave a comment in the section below or email me at drjohnfresh@gmail.com. 

My book, The Health Equation has tons of great information about getting and staying healthy, active, and young. 

The Health Equation has The Health Equation book, Winning Moments and Health is practically Free all in that ONE book. Winning Moments is how you turn everything you do in a day that may be causing your body stress, breaking you down and taking withdrawals from your health account and learning how to turn those things into positive things that improve your health and deposit into your health account each day. So that book is available to you on Amazon. I’ll put the link below.

Link: The Health Equation

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Dr. John Fresh

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