Every once in a while I awake with a stiff neck. I’m sure this has happened to you at one point or another. Even as a massage therapist, the way I often choose to deal with it was to just live with it and hope it goes away soon. But I know the culprit was the way I slept on my pillow.
At some point in the not so distant past I began looking for a treatment that would help my neck when it locked up on me. I found two such treatments that I will share with you.
The first is what I call a Resistance Treatment.
It’s delightfully easy and effective. It’s done by turning your head in the direction of the neck pain.
So if the pain is on the right, turn your head to the right until it hurts to turn it more. Now cover your right check and jaw with the palm of your right hand and push hard against your hand with your cheek. Relax and turn your head a little further to the right. Continue until you have full range of motion.
The second treatment for a stiff neck comes from the Far East and is called Luo Zhen.
For this treatment you simply massage the back of your hand on the hand opposite of your neck pain. If your right side is stiff, you will massage your left hand, between your first and middle fingers (as pictured below) in circular motions.
While performing this procedure rotate your head from side to side. Note the range of motion increases the longer you massage the opposite hand. Depending on the condition of the neck, the time it will take to work out the stiffness varies.
Give one of these treatments a try and let me know what you think!
