REALLY? Robot neck
This time of year, we are fortunate to help relieve a lot of neck kinks for folks. It’s not uncommon to hear something along the lines of, “Doc, I slept on my neck wrong, and now I can’t turn my neck without this shooting pain into my shoulder blade!” These types of pains are annoying, but although they often seem to arise “overnight”, there is almost always an underlying cause. When the temperatures drop it can fire up those already overly-tight muscles in the neck and shoulders. “…slept on my neck wrong…” is usually code word for “the straw that broke this camel’s back.”
But the straw isn’t really what breaks the camel’s back at all. It’s all the accumulative stress that adds up until the body can’t take any more, and then the pain hits. Most of us spend a lot of time with less-than-ideal posture—whether that be time on the phone, long drives, sitting on bleachers cheering on your athlete, or sitting at your work station and completing a project.
This forward position of the head puts excessive stress on the muscles, discs and connective tissue in and around your spine; and when they have reached their limit, a simple night’s sleep mysteriously turns into that sharp, cramping neck pain. You know: The Tin Man neck or robot neck—when you have to turn your entire body to look at the person next to you because your neck hurts so darn bad.
Often a few simple adjustments to realign the spine along with some gentle muscle massage and stretching helps to relieve the pressure and the pain. The underlying stress, however, is usually related to poor posture habits. You might be surprised how becoming more conscious of your body position and doing some simple stretches can prevent these recurring problems in the future.
Another helpful tip is choosing the right pillow for you. We have tested almost every pillow imaginable, and if you have any questions or need a little oil for that robot neck, we would be happy to help get you moving in the right direction! Thanks for reading, and make it a great day!
