4 At-Home Tips to Reduce Neck Tension

The neck is one of our most important body parts. Holding up our heads and allowing us to turn and view as needed, it's what keeps us upright and alert throughout the entire day. Yet it's also very easily injured … if even slightly. Simply by sleeping or turning wrong, you can pull a muscle or jolt a bone – a single move that can cause pain for days on end. Even worse comes stress or daily habits that create ongoing tension.

To obtain better neck health and to eliminate pain … without drugs or expensive treatments, consider:

4. Temperature Changes 

Depending on what ails you, isolated heat or a cold compress can do wonders for the neck. Talk to a pro or research which extreme will provide the best results. Then create temperature changes right where they're needed most. You can also look to lotions or salves that add or remove degrees simply with application.

3. Stretching

Neck muscles are most often pulled because they are under developed. However, turning your head in certain directions or performing strengthening movements can eliminate that issue. By creating a stronger, more versatile portion of the body that won't strain with sudden movement. 

2. More Pillow Support

When sleeping "wrong," your neck can suffer immensely during waking hours. Simply from being jarred or unsupported throughout the night. (And for hours on end.) Instead of risking this painful fate, enlist the help of a pillow that offers its healing services. Comfort and better neck health, all while you sleep.

1. Massage

Sore muscles deserve to be relaxed, and nothing relieves quite as much tension than an old-fashioned neck rub. Schedule an appointment, ask your significant other, or invest in a small device that will work out kinks. It's a proven, relaxing step that can negate pain while helping reduce future injuries. 

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Are you Suffering From “Text Neck”?

Whether or not you’ve heard this new-fangled term, it’s likely you know exactly what “text neck” is referring to. The uncomfortable, bent, and ready for anything our phones may send us position that we always seem to find ourselves in. Where the head is hunched over, our shoulders hiked up, and the back bent and in no sort of routine. And after a while, it starts to hurt. We might not even know it at the time, but this continued position will create incredible amounts of stress within the shoulders and neck.

So why do we keep doing it? Chances are, you don’t even know you’re texting this way. The habit just creeps up on you, until it simply feels natural to communicate in such a position. 

You Likely Have Text Neck if: 

• You have tight or painful shoulders
• Cricks in the neck
• Your neck or shoulders “pop” regularly
• You regularly sit in a hunched position
• You fail to sit up straight
• You send multiple texts per day

The good news, however, is that you can train your body to stop texting this way. Just like you trained it to start hunching (even if you didn’t know it). By remembering to stay aware of how you’re sitting or standing, you can reverse the unhealthy behavior. You should also be aware of how your shoulders are sitting, the position of your neck, and how close the phone is to your face. And if you really need it that close to your face, move the phone instead. It’s that easy.

Over time, this behavior will become muscle memory, and the body will eliminate its next neck behavior without even thinking about it. Start incorporating these small changes today for an easy, yet effective way, to eliminate texting-based side effects once and for all. 

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