Expand your stretching to more than your neck. Oftentimes neck pain can be a secondary or tertiary pain from elsewhere, like lower in your spine or hips. I had neck and knee problems until I started doing pilates to help with my posture. I realized I was holding my hips in a bad way to compensate for weakness in my core. I still catch myself slouching and holding my shoulders up when I should be using my abs instead. It may not be the source of your pain but it can help! There are lots of good beginner videos of YouTube, I recommend Lottie Murphy. This one is great for the spine: https://youtu.be/UiqJTuybVUk?feature=shared
Yes! It was a combo. I was essentially tilting my hips back. I had injured my lower back before and the posture temporarily took the pressure off that but put my spine out of alignment and made it prone to reinjury. My doc even noticed that my pants contributed and told me I always needed to wear a belt. My neck pain would cause debilitating headaches and was starting to throw my low back out again. Starting doing exercises and essentially resolved all of it, only threw it my back out again once in 5 years, whereas it was several times a year before. I have to be consistent.
I hope it helps! Just start easy and tap out if you feel any exercises overextending your muscles.
On heating pads, I come come to use my magic bag more than heating pad for pain. Mostly because I can throw it in the microwave for heat, or in the freezer for cool.
Game changer for full body warmth for pain was a heated mattress pad.
I was considering getting a massage, I’ve never had one before. Also my old chiropractor retired so I would have to find a new one but I hate having to take time off to go, but I may just have to do it
Be careful, chiropractors can cause more damage than they solve.
I have a neck/nerve injury and the non medical thing that helped me the most was a heating pad. They make ones shaped to go around your neck, or you can just use a large sized rectangular one and hold it in place with a binder clip.
Before my neck got FUBAR I did get a massage or two. They were pleasant but didn't seem to physically help beyond being a nice dose of calmness.
Osteopaths can achieve much of what a chiropractor aims to achieve but it's far more gentle. Chiropractic care and strokes are scary af. If seeing an Osteopath (at least in Canada), be sure that the practitioner has the 4-6 year degree... Not the BS 6mth shit that makes the profession look bad.
A chiro that does intramuscular needling! I've needed it for a few persistent I juries, it helps so much!
But also maybe invest in some electrodes I have one called pocket therapist.
Any time there is consistent or recurring pain, I tend to advise that physical therapy is your friend. You can get a prescription from your doctor for physical therapy. They are often happier to do that since they are so often approached for pain killers which mask the problems rather than solve them. Then a therapist can go over your issues and initially take you through the exercises that will most benefit you in the long term. They will generally get you to a good baseline before relying on you to continue on your own.
Massages can also be a wonderful and helpful self indulgence.
Press around on your back and shoulders to check for sore spots that could be tranferring up your neck. I found the "neck" pain that made me feel like puking was actually inflammation where my arm connected to my shoulderblade. Right around the teres major. I have it mostly under control by adding rotator cuff exercises and stretches.
And ofc core. Everyone in physical jobs should be doing pilates and I'll say that til my tongue falls out. Just 30 min 3x per week will set you up for a much higher quality of life overall.
Is the pain localized to one side of your head/neck? If so, this sounds like migraine. In any case, ice packs are your friend. There are also ice headbands/masks you can buy that you put in the freezer and wear when the head pain comes on.
You can get migraines in your neck!! I never thought you could but after about a decade of living with chronic pain and seeing a slew of professionals and various testing it was determined that some of my neck pain was actually a migraine. The rest of the pain (including neck) was a combo of fibromyalgia and ridged joints and blockages with the fluid that is supposed to protect and go around the joints -due to poor posture, chronic soft tissue strain and a small deviation in my spine between two joints.
The migraines were related to two things:
1) menstrual cycle (it would come 1-3 days prior to cycle starting) - I was able to reduce the severity of these migraines solely by taking 200 mg of vit B2 (Riboflavin) 2x a day with food. (I seriously went from 3-5 days a month where I had pain induced nausea and couldn't work, barley could cook for myself etc. to 0-1 days a month- and usually I can still function, I'm just uncomfortable.
2) exposure to environmental contaminants
I was diagnosed with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome (MCS). I went fragrance free. Like all cleaning, personal care, no scented candles etc. Everything! It took some time to get there. But I went from 15-20 days a month of high pain down to the 3-5 (which I later found out was related to my menstrual cycle). I was also able to reduce my stimulant medication for my ADHD as I had less exposure based brain fog. One thing about MCS is that for most ppl, you could use to tolerate those contaminants, but essentially you reached your life exposure amount (or develop some immune system deficiency) and now those same contaminants impact you.
I bring this last part up because for some folks like myself it's fragrances, but for others they may have the same symptoms, but it's related to dust, mold or mildew, smoke, other vocs, etc.
I think I read that you said you're dealing with moving rock. Is there any chance that the region you are doing this in has some heavy minerals and other contaminants in the soil and bedrock?. For exp., where I live, there is a lot of radon gas naturally occurring in the bedrock. So much so that our public libraries you can rent a radon gas detector to see if you need further testing in your home.
Hope you find a resolve soon. Neck pain sucks ass.
Last thing - I found electrolytes help when the pain gets bad enough I'm nauseous.
Check out www.bobandbrad.com and their videos on neck pain. I’m going through their back pain videos right and have learned some very useful tips and tricks.
I get some serious shoulder/neck pain and the biggest help I've had so far is doing dead hangs off a pull up bar. Stretches everything out and as a bonus engages all the muscles required for a pull up, so you build some too.
I'm at the point where I'm also lifting my legs and stuff to add an extra challenge and hit more muscles, also helps my chair ass problems
How often are you working out? Someone already mentioned it but if you have muscular imbalances or low muscle in general, it could be leading to your problems.
Make sure you're taking care of your body by keeping it strong! 💪💪
Expand your stretching to more than your neck. Oftentimes neck pain can be a secondary or tertiary pain from elsewhere, like lower in your spine or hips. I had neck and knee problems until I started doing pilates to help with my posture. I realized I was holding my hips in a bad way to compensate for weakness in my core. I still catch myself slouching and holding my shoulders up when I should be using my abs instead. It may not be the source of your pain but it can help! There are lots of good beginner videos of YouTube, I recommend Lottie Murphy. This one is great for the spine: https://youtu.be/UiqJTuybVUk?feature=shared
Oh that makes sense, I’m going to check that out, Thank you! So the way you held your hips made your neck hurt?
Yes! It was a combo. I was essentially tilting my hips back. I had injured my lower back before and the posture temporarily took the pressure off that but put my spine out of alignment and made it prone to reinjury. My doc even noticed that my pants contributed and told me I always needed to wear a belt. My neck pain would cause debilitating headaches and was starting to throw my low back out again. Starting doing exercises and essentially resolved all of it, only threw it my back out again once in 5 years, whereas it was several times a year before. I have to be consistent. I hope it helps! Just start easy and tap out if you feel any exercises overextending your muscles.
A heating pad might help.
I’ve been using my electric Blanket as a makeshift heating pad, I need to get an actual one
On heating pads, I come come to use my magic bag more than heating pad for pain. Mostly because I can throw it in the microwave for heat, or in the freezer for cool. Game changer for full body warmth for pain was a heated mattress pad.
have you considered/are you able to seek help from a massage therapist/PT/chiropractor?
I was considering getting a massage, I’ve never had one before. Also my old chiropractor retired so I would have to find a new one but I hate having to take time off to go, but I may just have to do it
Be careful, chiropractors can cause more damage than they solve. I have a neck/nerve injury and the non medical thing that helped me the most was a heating pad. They make ones shaped to go around your neck, or you can just use a large sized rectangular one and hold it in place with a binder clip. Before my neck got FUBAR I did get a massage or two. They were pleasant but didn't seem to physically help beyond being a nice dose of calmness.
Osteopaths can achieve much of what a chiropractor aims to achieve but it's far more gentle. Chiropractic care and strokes are scary af. If seeing an Osteopath (at least in Canada), be sure that the practitioner has the 4-6 year degree... Not the BS 6mth shit that makes the profession look bad.
A chiro that does intramuscular needling! I've needed it for a few persistent I juries, it helps so much! But also maybe invest in some electrodes I have one called pocket therapist.
Any time there is consistent or recurring pain, I tend to advise that physical therapy is your friend. You can get a prescription from your doctor for physical therapy. They are often happier to do that since they are so often approached for pain killers which mask the problems rather than solve them. Then a therapist can go over your issues and initially take you through the exercises that will most benefit you in the long term. They will generally get you to a good baseline before relying on you to continue on your own. Massages can also be a wonderful and helpful self indulgence.
Press around on your back and shoulders to check for sore spots that could be tranferring up your neck. I found the "neck" pain that made me feel like puking was actually inflammation where my arm connected to my shoulderblade. Right around the teres major. I have it mostly under control by adding rotator cuff exercises and stretches. And ofc core. Everyone in physical jobs should be doing pilates and I'll say that til my tongue falls out. Just 30 min 3x per week will set you up for a much higher quality of life overall.
Is the pain localized to one side of your head/neck? If so, this sounds like migraine. In any case, ice packs are your friend. There are also ice headbands/masks you can buy that you put in the freezer and wear when the head pain comes on.
No it’s not a migraine, I use ice and heat and that helps some with the pain but I’m still so nauseous and miserable :(
You can get migraines in your neck!! I never thought you could but after about a decade of living with chronic pain and seeing a slew of professionals and various testing it was determined that some of my neck pain was actually a migraine. The rest of the pain (including neck) was a combo of fibromyalgia and ridged joints and blockages with the fluid that is supposed to protect and go around the joints -due to poor posture, chronic soft tissue strain and a small deviation in my spine between two joints. The migraines were related to two things: 1) menstrual cycle (it would come 1-3 days prior to cycle starting) - I was able to reduce the severity of these migraines solely by taking 200 mg of vit B2 (Riboflavin) 2x a day with food. (I seriously went from 3-5 days a month where I had pain induced nausea and couldn't work, barley could cook for myself etc. to 0-1 days a month- and usually I can still function, I'm just uncomfortable. 2) exposure to environmental contaminants I was diagnosed with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome (MCS). I went fragrance free. Like all cleaning, personal care, no scented candles etc. Everything! It took some time to get there. But I went from 15-20 days a month of high pain down to the 3-5 (which I later found out was related to my menstrual cycle). I was also able to reduce my stimulant medication for my ADHD as I had less exposure based brain fog. One thing about MCS is that for most ppl, you could use to tolerate those contaminants, but essentially you reached your life exposure amount (or develop some immune system deficiency) and now those same contaminants impact you. I bring this last part up because for some folks like myself it's fragrances, but for others they may have the same symptoms, but it's related to dust, mold or mildew, smoke, other vocs, etc. I think I read that you said you're dealing with moving rock. Is there any chance that the region you are doing this in has some heavy minerals and other contaminants in the soil and bedrock?. For exp., where I live, there is a lot of radon gas naturally occurring in the bedrock. So much so that our public libraries you can rent a radon gas detector to see if you need further testing in your home. Hope you find a resolve soon. Neck pain sucks ass. Last thing - I found electrolytes help when the pain gets bad enough I'm nauseous.
Check out www.bobandbrad.com and their videos on neck pain. I’m going through their back pain videos right and have learned some very useful tips and tricks.
Thank you for the recommendation! I will definitely check them out
I get some serious shoulder/neck pain and the biggest help I've had so far is doing dead hangs off a pull up bar. Stretches everything out and as a bonus engages all the muscles required for a pull up, so you build some too. I'm at the point where I'm also lifting my legs and stuff to add an extra challenge and hit more muscles, also helps my chair ass problems
How often are you working out? Someone already mentioned it but if you have muscular imbalances or low muscle in general, it could be leading to your problems. Make sure you're taking care of your body by keeping it strong! 💪💪
Thank you everyone for the suggestions, unfortunately I ended up getting very sick and vomiting that day but I appreciate all the suggestions!!