What's the Cure for a Stiff Neck?

[infinitetime]

Anyone?

I'm dyin' here...

_________________

I.T. came from the sky!

 

[The Bob]

Anyone?

I'm dyin' here...

There is only one I have every had for it, get used to it. For the last 8 years have had a stiff neck and I have just had to work through it. If you find something good I would REALLY like to know.

The Bob (2004 ©)

 

[moose]

Go to a chiropractor or something, a Gonstead chiropractor at that.

 

[Monique]

Are you sure you're not getting sick?

 

[Phobos]

IMO, chiropractor = quack (a debate for the skepticism & debunking forum).

Have you tried consulting an actual doctor?

 

[infinitetime]

There is only one I have every had for it, get used to it. For the last 8 years have had a stiff neck and I have just had to work through it. If you find something good I would REALLY like to know.

The Bob (2004 ©)

I am used to it ...I have put up with it forever, it happens randomly - well, prob when I'm stressed

But, I just wanted a cure once and for all...like you The Bob

I was just giving it a shot...

And no, I have never seen a doctor for it

_______________

I.T. came from the sky!

 

[brewnog]

Cure for a stiff neck?

Take more water with your Viagra.

 

[zoobyshoe]

If your neck hurts you probably slept on it in a funny way and strained the muscles. That'll take time to heal.

You can help by staying as relaxed as possible, all your muscles, not just your neck.

The key to relaxing is breathing. Sit straight, and draw a deep, slow breath, counting to 4. Hold the breath in your lungs for one count, the gently release it, also on a slow count of four.

Do this a few times. Each time you let the breath out you will feel obvious relaxation in all kinds of muscles you didn't realize were tense.

Repeat this every time you become aware you've tensed up. All this relaxation will help your neck heal faster.

 

[Evo]

Stiff neck as in "stress" or are you having trouble moving your neck?

If it's chronic, see a doctor, it could be a symptom of something else that's wrong (not just a stiff neck by itself).

 

[Les Sleeth]

Anyone?

I'm dyin' here...

A stiff neck can be the result of stress, a trauma that occurred there at some time, or a problem somewhere else in the body that transfers there occasionally (I know someone with an intestinal injury that causes it). Most people hold stress somewhere, and often you will see physical problems in those areas. If you think about it, the neck is a major pathway between the brain and the body, so there are obviously a lot of nerves passing through there.

I injured my neck in a wrestling accident when I was still in school, and after that it seemed to make that the place that feels it when I get stressed about anything.

When Ida Rolf was teaching, I had the opportunity to be one of the subjects in a class she was teaching to future Rolfers. No matter what you think of Rolfing, one thing I noticed was how the work on my neck relaxed my entire body. Since then I've had friends apply accupressure to nerves in my neck with the same results.

A robust version of accupressure I learned from a professional body worker, is to press along your neck with your thumb looking for painful spots. When you find one, press hard. If it doesn't hurt LOTS you've not found the right spot. When you do find one, it can hurt so bad it takes your breath away, but that's one you want. (Besides the pain, another symptom is that these spots you are looking for feel "hard" because they are more tensed than normal tissue.)

What you do requires four aspects which you must do together:

1. Lie down, fully prone, and then press as hard as you can take it on that pain spot.
2. Survey your body for any place that is tensing up from the pain, and then relax that; keep surveying and relaxing throughout the process.
3. Imagine you are sort of "breathing through" exactly where the pain is.
4. Keep it up (and it can take a couple of minutes) until you feel that nerve you are pressing suddenly give way. The pain will subside, and that particular spot will get soft.

With me at least, I usually find more than one spot, and on both sides of my neck. If you are really stressed, this technique might not work totally, but it almost always works somewhat. If you have a partner that can learn this, it is best to let her/him do it for you so you can focus on relaxing and breathing .through pain. Your partner has to be merciless about making you suffer the pain of the pressure. It's on you to relax and breath, not on your partner to go easy (within reason of course).

 

[moose]

IMO, chiropractor = quack (a debate for the skepticism & debunking forum).

Chiropractors using the gonstead method are not quacks. How can you even believe this? It is proven over and over again that their methods work well. Maybe you just once had a bad chiropractor?

 

[Les Sleeth]

IMO, chiropractor = quack (a debate for the skepticism & debunking forum).

Have you tried consulting an actual doctor?

Unfair. Is the entire medical profession suspect because some doctors provide downers or speed for rich clients, because statistics show quite a few doctors are doing unnecessary surgery, or because some have taken advantage of Medicare?

Adjustment, when it is called for, can be very effective. A friend of mine was about to undergo surgery for bulging discs in her back after a car accident. At the last minute they did a series of xrays that revealed her vertebrae were seriously out of alignment from the accident. Adjustments along with physical therapy have saved her from unnecessary surgery.

Another friend's leg was all but disabled after a tennis accident. Doctors recommended surgery, but at the last minute he went to a chiropractor who adjusted his knee and ankle, which almost immediately solved the problem.

I know a lot of people in the field are running scams (where isn't that happening?). But it is one thing to criticize the opportunities for fraud in a profession, and another to imply the entire concept of proper skeletal alignment is bogus.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

IMO, chiropractor = quack (a debate for the skepticism & debunking forum).

After nearly thirty years in medicine, Tsu agrees. She has scanned many people [mainly necks] who were hurt by their Chiropractor. The accupressure and whatnot is fine, but I wouldn't get near anyone who does manipulations.

Also, Advil is pretty effective. The main value is the anti-inflammatory function, with pain relief being secondary. So it must be taken on schedule for the full benefits. This is not a pain pill but it does help with that as well.

 

[Moonbear]

After nearly thirty years in medicine, Tsu agrees. She has scanned many people [mainly necks] who were hurt by their Chiropractor. The accupressure and whatnot is fine, but I wouldn't get near anyone who does manipulations.

Also, Advil is pretty effective. The main value is the anti-inflammatory function, with pain relief being secondary. So it must be taken on schedule for the full benefits. This is not a pain pill but it does help with that as well.

I agree, on both points. I've never known anyone who went to a chiropractor who actually got better, and several who have gotten much worse, yet keep going back for their "adjustments."

If it's just a mild stiff neck (muscle pain), massage is good, heat is good, relaxation is good, ibuprofen is good, flipping your mattress and trying a different pillow is good, oh, and if you carry a backpack or other sort of bookbag or computer bag, get one on wheels to tow behind you. A lot of sore necks and shoulders in students come from carrying heavy bookbags. When you sit at your desk, stop and stretch periodically.

If a sore neck accompanies fever or is so bad you can't bend your chin to your chest without being in excruciating pain, see a doctor. This could be meningitis.

 

[Evo]

I agree, on both points. I've never known anyone who went to a chiropractor who actually got better, and several who have gotten much worse, yet keep going back for their "adjustments."

I have to go with the chiropractic verges on quackery opinion. One of my clients is a Chiropractic College and I've dated two chiropractors. While some of things they do may give temporary relief (a massage gives temporary relief) they do not have the ability to cure a "real" medical situation. It's mostly chance if a medical condition happens to improve after visiting a chiropractor. I've found chiropractic is a bit like religion.

Medical conditions can clear up by themselves without any explanation. I'm a good example. Years ago I developed a "growth" on the joint on the outside of my right foot where the big toe connects to the foot. It wasn't a corn, callous or bunion. It grew so big that my shoes became stretched out over the lump and deformed the toe so that it turned inward. I was in a lot of pain. I went to a podiatrist that said it was too serious for him and referred me to an orthopedic surgeon. I was shown the x-rays. It was explained to me that I had some type of tumor that was destroying the bone (he showed me on the x-ray) and I had to have it surgically removed. The doctor was not sure how extensive the bone damage would be and part of the bone might have to be removed. I was scheduled for surgery in a couple of weeks. A few days before the surgery I woke up and my foot was normal. No big lump on the side, my toe was straight. I called the doctor's office to tell them no surgery was necessary, it was gone (and after they basically called me a liar), I went to the doctor and he could not believe it. Nothing showed up on the x-rays. My foot has been perfectly normal since.

 

[zoobyshoe]

"...some type of tumor..."

I bet if you searched long enough you'd find a perfect explanation of what it really was. Just something the doc hadn't heard of.

Misdiagnosis can go the other way, too. I knew a guy who was diagnosed with Padgetts disease, which is a degenerative bone disease, after suffering much pain in his leg. Turned out later he'd had bone cancer the whole time.

 

[Evo]

"...some type of tumor..."

I bet if you searched long enough you'd find a perfect explanation of what it really was. Just something the doc hadn't heard of.

Misdiagnosis can go the other way, too. I knew a guy who was diagnosed with Padgetts disease, which is a degenerative bone disease, after suffering much pain in his leg. Turned out later he'd had bone cancer the whole time.

That's sad.

But that's why when someone is "miraculously cured" I don't believe it. I feel whatever it was just went away on it's own, despite the x-rays and diagnosis of two doctors. Why? Because it went away on it's own.

 

[The Bob]

I am used to it ...I have put up with it forever, it happens randomly - well, prob when I'm stressed

But, I just wanted a cure once and for all...like you The Bob

And no, I have never seen a doctor for it

I apologise if you felt I was having a go at you (as the reply seemed to imply that).

Seeing a doctor would be good. I did but they said I would have to see a physiotheropist, which was fine by me. Then I asked my mum and she said 'I always get pains but I have to get used to it' and you know how that makes you feel. The 'I-only-asked-because-it-hurts-but-if-you-have-it-as-well-then-I-obviously-cannot-get-the-problem-sorted' feeling.

Atleast you get it randomly, every now and again, yes? That is a little more comfortable than some that you can get. So long as it is only your neck (well that is not good but so long as it is not your back or spine as well).

I would suggest the doctor. The few moves http://www.101lifestyle.com/health/neckexercise.html will help a little but not enough for some people.

The Bob (2004 ©)

 

[zoobyshoe]

It wasn't a corn, callous or bunion.

Bored, I have done a little googling. Did they rule out gout? That location is exactly where people get gout.

 

[Evo]

Bored, I have done a little googling. Did they rule out gout? That location is exactly where people get gout.

They ruled it out, but I think that's probably what it was. I had trouble with high levels of uric acid in my teens and early twenties, but the pain was in my hands and the middle of my left forearm of all places.

They treated my toe for gout, I had injections of prednisone and they tried naproxyn, nothing helped. It didn't act exactly like gout and it didn't respond to treatment. But I don't ever have anything that acts "normal". I had it for two years, then "poof" it's gone, never to return.

 

[Evo]

Seeing a doctor would be good. I did but they said I would have to see a physiotheropist, which was fine by me. Then I asked my mum and she said 'I always get pains but I have to get used to it' and you know how that makes you feel. The 'I-only-asked-because-it-hurts-but-if-you-have-it-as-well-then-I-obviously-cannot-get-the-problem-sorted' feeling.The Bob (2004 ©)

The Bob, I am going to disagree with your mom. It is not normal for someone your age, and due to your height, you really should have tests done. Have you been to a bone specialist?

 

[zoobyshoe]

It didn't act exactly like gout and it didn't respond to treatment.

When I googled "gout" I found there is a similar thing called "pseudo-gout". Check that out and see it the dx fits any better.

 

[Evo]

When I googled "gout" I found there is a similar thing called "pseudo-gout". Check that out and see it the dx fits any better.

No, pseudogout has calcium deposits. What I had was a soft mass attached to the side of my big toe, not in the joint, but near it. I could bend my toe just fine and it didn't hurt to move it. I would have pain only if I stood still for awhile, like standing in front of a sink washing dishes. Walking, running, climbing were not affected.

 

[Gale]

if you have a friend, see if they'll do this for you. they stand behind you and place their hands like, under your ears. you're sitting, they're standing btw. and then you just breathe really deeply and let your body relax and get heavy, while they just apply a little upward force. its a really gentle thing, but it stretches out your neck and feels really really good.

mostly, everyone else already gave good adivice. advil, heat packs, massaging it out, relaxing.

as far as the chiropractic mini debate going on in here... well, my mum's a massage therapist, she worked for a chiro, her best friend's a rolfer, and we've seen acupuncturists. The chiro was a joke. i had to go in for adjustments all the time, and they only made me sorer. plus, it seemed like whatever he wanted to fix, only got worse. i have rotated hips that cause me mucho mucho pain. and he tried unrotating them, and now I'm in mas pain. i'll be seeing a physical therapist this summer, and a rolfer to fix the damage. personally, i think my mum is a great massage therapist. she's much more into medical massage than the nice, spa massages. She's a therapist, and she's had many many clients that she's helped and no longer need to see her, (bad for her business unfortunately.) if you get massages regularly for a little while, then muscle memory kicks in, and you get better. this works for people who've been through trauma and stuff. People who get lots of work stress and see massage therapists don't usually get tons of long term relief, because they have a lifestyle that's detrimental to their muscles.

rolfing i don't know much about, but my mum assures me its just what i need, i'll let you know. stupid chronic pelvic injury... argh! i can't wait till it gets better!

 

[infinitetime]

Les Sleeth: your advice helped...and The Bob, that sight was neat-o too!

I woke up this morning all better, then I started to think about my neck again...and now it's stiff again!

So, I think it's all in the mind, as a lot of our ailments our unfortunately.
We have to control our mind, control, control...but it's hard.

Kind of sad, but what-ev

 

[infinitetime]

True true Gale 17...
Hope your chronic pelvic injury gets better too..

 

[hypatia]

a cup of uncooked rice and a couple tabelspoons of each Rosemary and Sage...Tie it up all neatly in a cloth...nuke it for 2 minutes on high...and place it on the sore neck and relax.

 

[zoobyshoe]

We have to control our mind, control, control...but it's hard.

No, relax...relax...relax...it's easy!

 

[infinitetime]

a cup of uncooked rice and a couple tabelspoons of each Rosemary and Sage...Tie it up all neatly in a cloth...nuke it for 2 minutes on high...and place it on the sore neck and relax.

Really!??

I've never heard that, I will definitely have to try it...once I get Rosemary and Sage

And zoobyshoe, I know, but it's so hard to relax when I have everything piled to the sky (literally, if possible ) to do, and I don't know when it will all get done...

I have to prioritize

It's so hard

 

[zoobyshoe]

Yeah, If I had a stressful deadline, I'd resort to advil or ibuprofen, and try hot or cold packs.