Getting a crick in your neck is a painful and annoying experience. Your neck feels stiff, less mobile than usual, and you might feel like it to be popped back into place. Cricks in your neck can be temporary or chronic. Although they are usually painless, they could be connected to your chronic neck or shoulder pain if they are frequent. Luckily, the experts at Tieperman Health and Wellness have come up with some ways to relieve a crick in your neck before seeing a doctor.
Heat and Ice
Heat and ice are good places to start when you have issues like a crick in your neck. Together, they help reduce inflammation and promote blood flow, allowing any minor injuries to heal faster. You can alternate heat and ice packs every 20 minutes, but if you notice one is helping more than the other, focus on using the one that works best.
Neck Exercises and Stretches
The most common causes of a crick in your neck include muscle weakness, poor posture, low flexibility, and muscle spasms, so exercising and stretching can help improve upon these issues and thus help relieve a crick in your neck.
Medication
Medication should not be your first choice, but if you tried other options and they don’t seem to be working, it’s worth a shot. For example, OTC anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen effectively reduce the stiffness you feel with a crick in your neck.
Change Positions
If you frequently have a crick in your neck, it may be due to the way you sleep every night. Changing the position you sleep in could make a world of difference for the crick in your neck that has been ailing you. Other changes with your sleeping habits might work as well, such as getting a firmer pillow, an ergonomic chair, or using a neck cushion to sleep on flights or in the car.
Alternative Treatments
Acupuncture and massage therapy seem to be methods that help as well, according to other patients who’ve experienced cricks in their necks. If your at-home remedies aren’t working, talk to your doctor about trying alternative treatments for your neck.
Our experts at Tieperman Health and Wellness see this issue a lot, and we are happy to help if you’re experiencing a crick in your neck. We encourage you to try some of these remedies first, but if you want to set up an appointment, just give us a call! Set up an appointment and come on in. We’ll get you back to feeling normal in no time.