Have you been experiencing neck pain recently? Perhaps you’ve dealt with chronic neck pain for several years? Maybe you play a sport on the weekends and came up with a neck injury?

Neck injuries are both common and annoying and make sleeping through the night or daily activity hard. While you may be tempted to reach for pain killers, these five tips will help you relieve neck pain without harmful medication.

What Causes Neck Pain?

First, let’s look at some of the causes of neck pain. The most common causes of neck pain are osteoarthritis, disc degeneration, poor posture, and whiplash.

Some other causes are sleeping in the wrong position, hypertension, sports, and even smoking among other things can cause neck pain. You can treat these problems by doing a few simple things and you don’t need medication.

How to Fix Neck Pain?

Ice

Ice is the most natural pain reliever. It reduces swelling and inflammation which causes pain. However, according to studies this only works for about 36 hours after the injury.

If you’ve just come home from the gym or a sporting match and were injured, ice will help your neck pain. The key is to apply it right away and do it intermittently for up to 36 hours.

Chiropractor

Visiting a chiropractor can be a great way to fix neck pain. If you have a stiff neck or sharp, shooting pains; a chiropractor could do the trick. They can diagnose any alignment problems in your spine and neck. 

After the chiropractor diagnoses your problem they can provide ongoing treatments to treat your neck pain. No drugs or medication is needed. You’ll typically start to feel results after one or two office visits. 

If you have severe chronic neck pain consider seeing a chiropractor on a regular basis.

Meditation

Meditation is another natural way to fix neck pain. Simply having some quiet time and performing breathing exercises can help a great deal. It reduces stress and promotes blood flow. 

You can even do mindful meditation for neck pain relief. You envision the pain moving from your neck all the way out of your body. This is done with guided imagery and controlled breathing.

There are several apps you can use for meditation and it’s been shown to help with all types of injures.

Don’t Look at Your Phone

OK, you can look at your phone, just be conscious of how you do it. When talking on the phone try using a hands-free headset. When you’re texting make sure to bring your phone up to eye level. 

If you’re constantly staring down at your tablet or phone all day then your neck will cramp or kink. Also, take some time and do a neck stretching routine once or twice a day. This will help prevent problems caused by too much texting.

Go Swimming

Swimming and water therapy have been shown to relieve the stress placed on the neck. The buoyancy of the water eases tension on your spine and therefore helps with neck pain.

If the gym is the cause of your neck pain water workouts are a great alternative.

The Prognosis

Popping pills and prescription medications aren’t always the best thing for you. If you’re having neck problems, there are other forms of relief. These tips are a great way to relieve neck pain. Contact us if you’re ready to become pain-free without medication.