Neck Pain Between Chiropractic Visits
By Sara Butler
If you see your chiropractor in order to help with issues you have with neck pain you may have noticed that you are experiencing pain between visits and adjustments. The Centers for Disease Control has found that neck pain is the third most common type of chronic pain reported by people, so it's very common. Here are a few ways in which you may be better able to deal with your neck pain between visits to your chiropractor.
What Makes Your Neck Pain Worse?
If you have neck pain then you need to work at understanding what activities make the pain worse. Once you’ve identified the activities you should try to eliminate or reduce it in your daily life. This doesn’t mean you’ll have to give up the activity forever, but it’s probably a good idea until you recover to give it the boot.
Should You Stretch?
Some issues resulting in neck pain can be improved through light stretching, but it’s really important to speak with your chiropractor about this before you start. Whether or not stretching will help depends on the extent of your injury and the cause of your pain. If stretching will help, your chiropractor can recommend some stretches to try at home.
Heat/Cold Therapy
Applying a hot or cold compress to an area that's causing pain can really work wonders. If you are able to do it, then applying a hot or cold compress might help to reduce swelling, relieve some of the pain and help to relax any stiff muscles.
Hold the compress on the affected area for 20 minutes and then remove it for at least 40 minutes before reapplying. Make sure you also use a towel or cloth between the compress and your skin in order to prevent any damage. The goal is to improve the pain, not create more!
Posture
This is a chiropractic blog, so you had to know posture was going to be in here somewhere! If your posture is a problem then it could be a major contributing factor to your neck pain. Taking the time to concentrate on sitting, standing and walking straighter might help to relieve some of the pain you are experiencing, and you’ll look better while you’re doing it!
If you have questions about your neck pain or what you can do to help bring some relief at home, talk to your chiropractor about it. They may be able to recommend more beyond these suggestions to help ease the pain between visits as you work together to resolve the problem for good.