How to Avoid and Treat Neck Pain

Neck plays an important role anatomically. Neck supports our head, bearing a weight of around 5 Kilograms all the while apart from sleeping period. If your posture is incorrect it causes more stress on the neck. Constant stress and strain on the neck muscles can lead to tiredness and injury.

Problems Caused By Neck Pain
All the nerves passes through the neck to the brain and there can be several problems caused by stiff and stressed neck muscles like vertigo, headache, pain in the neck and shoulder regions, constant tiredness, loss of mobility in the neck etc. If neck problems are not treated in the initial phase it can also lead to severe and long lasting problems later in life.

Causes of Neck Pain
Neck pain could be caused by several reasons. One of the common causes especially in the younger people is improper posture. This happens more frequently with people who work on their desks or constantly looking at the computer screen the whole day. In the routine jobs the neck is constantly in the same position and usually thrust forward. Doing this tires the muscles and creates stress. Usually have very limited movement of the neck and the muscles are not properly exercised. When this continues for a long time it leads to serious neck trouble.

The vertebrae also starts below the skull and from the neck region. The stress in the neck can compress the vertebrae which can cause pain and other complications like Cervical Spondylosis. Problems can also arise due to age. People more than 40 are more like to suffer from Cervical Spondylosis due to degeneration of bones and more so in females who suffer of osteoporosis.

Stress or mental tension can also be a cause of neck pain since anxiety causes stiffer muscles and usually these kind of pain are on the sides.

Another reason for neck problems is weak neck muscles and using too many pillows. Weak neck muscles cause frequent neck sprains though they are less serious problem.

How to Avoid Neck and Treat Neck Pain
Unless there is extreme pain where the movement is almost restricted try to exercise your neck by moving is sideways and rotating it slowly. When you exercise your neck the muscles will become stronger and more blood flow will happen to the neck region. This will help in curing neck problems. Ensure that you do the exercises slowly.

Acupressure
I have already written about acupressure points earlier for frozen shoulder and neck sprain. Here are the links to those.

These is very effective in treating neck pains.
How to Cure Neck Sprain
Treating Frozen Shoulder with Acupressure

Yoga Poses
Trikon Asana (Triangle Pose) and Parsvakonasana are good pose for curing neck sprains. Makarasana is also a good pose in neck problems.

What to Avoid
1. Do not use more than one pillow.
2. Do not wear helmets and avoid sudden movements.
3. Do not sit too long in front of computer and take frequent breaks.
4. Do not practice yoga pose which puts pressure on the neck and shoulder region. These are poses where in neck is below the legs for example Shoulder pose, plough pose. You should also avoid poses like head stand.

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