By Ashley Dykes
Ever wake up with a stiff neck? Or have pain when you turn it to look both ways when making a left turn? There are a few reasons why this happens, and it can be fairly simple to help with the pain or make it go away! It’s rare for neck pain to be a symptom of a serious problem, so take a look!
Here are main causes of neck pain:
1. The position you sleep in at night. Sleeping on your stomach is the worst. If you sleep with your neck turned all night, or even a good portion of it, you can have tightness in one side of your neck or a get a headache. This is caused from one side of your neck muscles being elongated/stretched and the other side being shortened.
2. Poor posture is another contributor to neck pain. Sitting at a computer for hours while hunching over without taking a break to stretch or move around. Along with neck pain, this can also cause headaches and your joints suffer from it to!
3. Dehydration. Most people don’t realize the importance of being hydrated. Heck, most people don’t even know how much water they need to drink to keep hydrated. For those of you that don’t know, it’s half your body weight in ounces per day; that is, if you don’t drink soda or coffee. If you do drink soda like most people, drink half your body weight in ounces plus how many ounces of soda you drank.
Here’s some ways to help or get rid of the pain:
1. Stretching. Sit or stand comfortably with your spine aligned and place your right hand on the left side of your head, then pull down slowly until you feel a stretch. Hold it for 30 seconds to really get those muscles stretched and loosened. Do the same to the other side of your neck.
2. Drink more water! I know you probably get told this a lot, but it’s really important! Water flushes out all the yuck in your body. Remember, your body is made up of about 60% water, blood is about 90%, and your muscles and brain are about 75%. If you think about it, how can your body even function without water? The truth is, it can’t… and if you don’t drink water, your body will suffer from it in many ways such as aches and pains, digestion problems, and lower functioning of your organs.
3. Change your sleeping position. If you sleep on your stomach, try laying on your back with your spine aligned and your neck in neutral with a pillow under your knees to take pressure off your lower back. If you sleep on your side, switch sides every once in a while so your body is more balanced and put a pillow between your knees; after all, that’s what it yearns for and if you don’t do it, your body will compensate 
by being more tense on one side than the other.
Challenge: If you suffer from neck pain, try 1 or all of these out and tell me your thoughts! If you already do these, tell us how it helps.4. Fix your posture while sitting. Your joints suffer greatly from sitting at a computer for hours at a time, even if you have good posture. Poor posture makes it worse, it decreases blood flow, nerve function, and causes muscle imbalances. Try to get a chair that supports your back, has your knees at as close to a 90 degree angle as possible, and your computer is at eye level with your arms rested comfortably on the arm rests.
Try it and let us know your thoughts! Happy Health!
Resources:
http://www.totalperformancept.com/blog/tag/stomach-sleeping/
http://www.chemcraft.net/wbody.html
http://www.physiofusion.com.au/physiotherapy/news/NewsArticle.jsp?News_ID=11
