How Does a Tens Unit Work on Muscle Spasm- Pain comes from electroechemical impulses relaying the pain message. A TENS unit interrupts this pathway. T.E.N.S stands for Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation. It is often used to treat low back pain and neck pain. Tens units use a low voltage electrical current to induce pain relief. Continue Reading Article
Neck Exercises- Learn effective neck stretches and strengthening exercises for the cervical spine
End Neck Pain by Improving Posture- How Proper Posture Improves Your Spine Relieving Nerve Pressure- How does posture have anything to do with neck pain?--Neck pain comes from pressure on the nerves. How does this happen?--Usually pressure from a misaligned neck spine. When your spine is misaligned (some call that subluxated) it does not move like it should and in turn creates inflammation in that area. Either out-of-alignment spinal vertebrae (spinal bones) put direst pressure on nerves or the inflammation, or built up degeneration causes the pressure. Continue Reading Article
How to Reduce the Chances of Getting A Stiff Neck- A Stiff Neck.... Horrible especially when you wake up in the morning and realize that it is going to be one painful day. You are stiff, your neck hurts, you cannot turn your head, even brushing your teeth hurts. We get questions about how to treat a stiff neck all the time. Continue Reading Article
How To Avoid Neck Pain While Doing Abs- If you do your Abdominal crunches correctly with proper form, there is no reason to suffer from neck pain or sore neck. One of the biggest mistakes that people make is that involve there neck muscles while doing these exercises- that is a NO-NO. Bringing your head and neck forward puts unnecessary pressure on the neck and it is not healthy. So when you do your abdominal crunch look at the ceiling.Continue Reading Article
The first question I have is; "where is the pain located?". In the thoracic or dorsal spine the ribs attach to the vertebrae. At this connection or joint this can be the point of misalignment. Any joint can get restricted or out of alignment. When we have one of these rib restrictions, individual ribs or the whole rib cage can't move like it should.
When we breathe our rib cage moves up and down. Try it - take a deep breath in then exhale. Your chest expands when you breathe in and then moves in the opposite direction when you breathe out.
If something in there blocks this motion you most likely have some pain!
At the Neck Pain Support Blog, you know that we are always looking for how to help neck pain. Whether through a neck pillow, a neck exercise or maybe improving ones posture. Getting the right pillow, can be one solution.
Here's some pain relief benefits:
neck pain
headaches
snoring
upper back pain
symptoms into the arm
Check out a recently published article by The NY Times about choosing the right pillow for neck pain. The arc4life cervical linear traction neck pillow is included in this review. This article was written by Penelope Green on February 11, 2015:
The short answer is YES, and studies have been done on this that show that using a cervical neck collar for a cervical radiculopathy is better than doing nothing.
For beginners, What is a Cervical radiculopathy? This occurs when nerves roots in the neck that exit out of the vertebrae (bones) are compressed. This negatively affects nerve function. Damage to nerve roots in the cervical area, can cause symptoms such as neck pain, weakness, numbness and tingling into the arms and the hands, and shooting pains.
Often times your orthopedic doctor may recommend a course of physical therapy. This usually involves neck traction, moist heat packs, stretching and e-stim for the muscle pain. They will also recommend medications for pain and inflammation.
But what can you do at home? For starters, some type of neck traction can help. Also,wearing a cervical collar has shown to be beneficial for patients with a cervical radiculopathy.
Back in 2009, A Dutch study concluded that using a semi-hard cervical collar and doing rest for 3-6 weeks or physical therapy along with home exercises for 6 weeks decreased neck and arm pain substantially compared with a “wait and see” policy in the early phase of a cervical radiculopathy condition. In this study, a randomized controlled trial of 205 patients with symptoms and signs of cervical radiculopathy of less than 1 month's duration were evaluated.
They found that the subject’s neck pain did not decrease significantly in the first 6 weeks, whereas the cervical collar and rest resulted in a 17-mm reduction on the visual analogue scale and physical therapy resulted in a decrease of 14 mm. The neck disability index showed a significant change with the use of the collar and rest and a nonsignificant effect with physiotherapy and home exercises, compared with a wait-and-see policy.
For night time, using a traction pillow will help ease the pain, and put you into a comfortable position for sleeping. Using a pillow such as this with contours and a neck roll can help relieve pain from a bulging disc or pain that results from a radiculopathy.
Dr. Bellinger, a Chiropractor in Central Connecticut, showcases a fiber support pillow called the arc4life natural alignment pillow ! This softer gentler neck pillows works to align the neck and shoulders for optimal sleeping position. Check it out.
Dr. Bellinger, a Chiropractor in Central Connecticut, showcases a fiber support pillow called the arc4life natural alignment pillow ! This softer gentler neck pillow works to align the neck and shoulders for optimal sleeping position. Check it out.
What is the Best Pillow to Use to Prevent Neck Pain From Happening in the First Place?
Well here is a very commonly asked question from people who don't want any type of neck pain. Which pillow should i Use? Should I use no pillow at all? Should I use a firm pillow? Should I use a buckwheat pillow? Should I use a contoured neck pillow?
Sometimes this question comes from people who do not suffer with any neck pain, but they are in the market for the best pillow that will prevent neck pain. That makes sense. Neck pain can be a major cause of stress: at home, at work- it interferes with your activities of daily living if you let it. That is why getting the best possible pillow is imperative. If you can prevent something from happening, why not be proactive and take steps to make sure you stay neck pain free.
Getting a Pillow for Chronic Neck Pain Can Be Difficult
Not so simple when there are so many choices on the market for a neck pillow. Often though this question comes from people who are suffering with neck pain. They may have been involved in a car accident or had a fall where they injured their neck. Now they are looking for the best solution to get rid of their neck pain.
Nerve Pressure
What happens when you don't have the proper support under your neck? When we have pain in the neck or back, it tells us we have nerve pressure somewhere. When the spine is misaligned or segments of the spine have lost mobility, we can get nerve pressure.
What happens exactly?
Inflammation builds up and puts pressure on a nerve or nerves. When we have immobility it allows for inflammation to accumulate.
Sleeping Position Matters
What should the neck look like when you are laying down to sleep The spine from the front or back should be straight up or down. When you sleep on your back or if you look at the cervical spine from the side it has a nice smooth 'C' curve. This is the biggest reason that neck roll component of the pillow is so important.
My Favorite Neck Pillow to Prevent Neck Pain
Here is the pillow I Use, my husband uses, my sister uses and my mother in law uses ! All that being said, "what pillow should you get"? First, you want to get what's called a neck pillow. A neck pillow is a pillow that has support for the neck, spine, or cervical spine.
My favorite neck pillow...
The Arc4life Cervical Traction Neck Pillow. This is my number one pick for best neck pillows. That being said, there are a lot of great pillows out there and one pillow doesn't necessarily work for everyone. I would say that this pillow has worked the best for the majority of people.
Dr Matthew Bellinger, Glastonbury Chiropractic Shows Us the Arc4life Pillow
Here's some of my other reasons for choosing the traction pillow:
Many pillows in one
It's two pillows in one: rotate the pillow 180 degrees and you are sleeping on the linear gravity pillow. Don't flip it over, just turn it. Now the 'V' is above your head.
It's just the right firmness. Not too hard, not too soft, just right for maximum comfort. Getting a good night's rest is the most important. You can sleep on your back or side. When you turn on your side you land up out of the 'V' on either sing of the pillow. On you side, it keeps your head level.
The spine from the front or back should be straight up or down. When you sleep on your back or if you look at the cervical spine from the side it has a nice smooth 'C' curve. This is the biggest reason that neck roll component of the pillow is so important. Maintaining these alignments keeps our nerves free from pressure.
The Traction Pillow is Not For Everyone.
Here are some other pillows that might be a good choice for you. Here is another great pillow to prevent neck pain: The Tri Core orthopedic Neck Pillow. It can also help with stiff neck and headaches. The biggest difference between the traction pillow and the tri core pillow that the tri core family of neck pillows is much more firmer.Meaning that there is more fiber fill in these pillows. The density of the pillows is greater, and therefore less give to the pillow. For people who prefer a firmer neck pillow, than this is going to be the best pillow to prevent neck pain. The Tri core family of neck pillows comes in three sizes:
Petite Tri - Core Pillow
Mid Core Pillow
Standard Tri Core Pillow
Inflammation
Why also chiropractic can help you with neck pain. Now, when we talk about this kind of inflammation, it doesn't mean we necessarily have swelling or even redness. Sometimes we do, but in this case, it's more internal.
This is why a trip to the chiropractor may help so much. Those chiropractic adjustments help to restore alignment and mobility. Get things moving and that inflammation dissipates, and so does nerve pressure.
One Way to Stop Neck Pain: One choice of many Solutions There are lots of things you can do to stop neck pain. Take pain medications or muscle relaxers, get a pain injection, maybe physical therapy, chiropractic, maybe even surgery. But one simple way to stop neck pain is change your pillow.
"My neck pillow keeps me pain free at night. Yee haa... If I couldn't atleast sleep, I don't know what I'd do?"
That's great, over time as the pillow continues to correct alignment much pain will start to dissipate when you're not on the pillow as well. As we correct spinal alignment, we take pressure off of the nerves and allow inflammation to dissipate. When the body get used an alignment it will stay this way, and this will give longer relief.
So keep up the good work of using your neck pillow!
At Arc4life we get a lot of calls from customers who need a recommendation for their neck pain. Over the years, we have composed a list of the top 5 selling items on our website that just make sense when it comes to alleviating neck pain. We call it the Neck Pain Relief package. Here is what it includes:
a traction unit - something to stretch the neck
a support pillow for the neck that aligns the cervical spine while sleeping ( on your side or on your back)
a hot and cold pack (great for moist heat or a cold pack on your neck, depending on your pain)
a natural pain relief gel (great for muscle of the neck and upper shoulders)
a homeopathic muscle relaxer
Check out the Neck pain Relief Package at Arc4life. These products all work very well together to combat neck pain and quick and painlessly as possible.
I am looking for a soft pillow to lay my head on when i sleep. Can you recommend a soft pillow ? This is a common question that I get from my patients. Well how about a white mongolian fur pillow? Is that soft enough? Probably, but is it supportive for your c spine? Nope. You could say that it would make a beautiful decorative peice for your bedroom, but it will also cost you $150 USD. Not the most practical choice for a sleeping pillow I would say.
Tibetan Lamb Fur is Very Luxurious and Soft
Many of the fiber filled pillows out on the market today are firmer in their support. The problem is that this is not always the most comfortable for your neck. A Pillow that is hard as a rock just takes a long time to get used to for some people. You can wake up feeling stiff as a board in your neck and upper back area.
Check out the Arc4life Natural Alignment Neck Pillow- it is a fiber filled pillow that has two neck rolls. Overall the pillow is softer to sleep on, but still provides you with proper neck support.
Certain neck conditions can make it so that it is hard to fall asleep, and stay asleep comfortably. For things like whiplash, occipital neuralgia or a herniated disc for example, a regular pillow just won't do the trick.
When you have any type of neck pain, you have to consider a few things such as:
do you have pain on your side or sleeping on your back
do you have shooting pains
do you have muscle pain or tightness
do your have pain in the muscles at the base of the skull
