We’ve been seeing a lot of patients over the past month suffering with acute neck pain. Neck pain can be super uncomfortable and can often leave you with little to no neck movement. With these super simple steps, you can avoid long term pain and ensure you stay fighting fit!
They say that prevention is easier than finding a cure, and they are right! If you want a few simple tips on what you can do to help your neck, and save yourself in the long run keep reading.
We’re going to give you five really simple tips for you to try out if you’re having issues with your neck, or if you want to prevent having future issues.
Leaving neck pain un-treated can end up causing extreme discomfort, leaving you not being able to do the things you enjoy, restricting your upper body movement and even giving you extreme headaches! If you want to avoid acute neck pain, follow these five tips and you’ll be stress free, turning left and right without restriction and enjoying everyday life!
Our first tip is to avoid using your laptop or tablet whilst you’re in bed. A lot of patients don’t really know how much damage can be done whist doing this. Using these electronics whist lying or reclining is putting extended strain on your neck as the “bed-notebook” posture is extremely flexed with little to no support for your arms.
The second tip relates to anyone who works at a desk, and it is a big one! If you’re like the majority, you’ll be stuck at your desk all day so you may as well make it good for your body! A few simple adjustments can mean the world of difference for your neck. First of all, ensure that your seat is high enough, allowing your hips to be either level or higher than your knees but still have your feet flat on the ground. The second adjustment involves your computer monitor, try adjusting it so you are looking straight towards it rather than down at it.
Try standing more often, it can actually be more effective than an expensive posture correcting chair! By standing up, you naturally pull yourself into better alignment, we know that most of the time making a standing desk isn’t practical, so try to incorporate standing into other work tasks like answering the phone, reading notes, or simply walking over to the person you need to talk to rather than emailing or calling them.
Our fourth step goes back to the tech gadgets, the mobile phone. To prevent yourself from developing text neck, you can do two things… the first is to invest in a Bluetooth headset – not the best looking option, but very smart for your health! Or you can simply swap ears whilst talking on the phone, by doing this you share the load and it takes the pressure away from a particular side of your neck.
Our final tip is to make an appointment to see us. Call us on Newport 9997 4970 or Balgowlah 9949 3770! Sometimes you just need to loosen up a few tight muscles and get some advice on correcting posture problems, and it is much simpler than going through acute pain episodes.
So, if you’re feeling stiff, or noticing any pain whilst doing simple movements call and book in today to get it checked out now, because prevention is much smarter than finding a cure!
The team at Back to Health Physiotherapy
