Are you suffering from neck stiffness? Tired of dealing with the pain constantly? Need a solution that can help you get rid of this pain? In order to treat a stiff neck, the first and foremost thing is to know the causes or reasons behind it. Sometimes, the neck gets stiff due to a muscle strain while the other time, disorders in the cervical spine are the reason. So, what you will need to do is to get into the details on these causes and then come up with appropriate stiff neck remedies or use stiff neck massager.
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Causes of a Stiff Neck
Muscle strain is one of the common causes of neck pain/stiffness. The neck muscles include the levator scapulae, the sternocleidomastoid and upper trapezius. They are strained due to the following activities:
- Use of a wrong pillow or inappropriate sleeping position
- Mobile phone addiction with poor posture
- Twisting or lying in wrong posture that tilt or jut the head
- Trauma or neck injury due to slip, flips and sports, whiplash or car accidents
Causes Related to Cervical Spine Disorders
Science has explained that the neck consists of many components- spinal cord, ligaments, vertebrae and intervertebral discs. You have to take good care of each and every part or else, you might suffer from any of the following conditions:
- Radiculopathy or pinched nerve
- Osteoarthritis of the neck
- Cervical degenerative disc disease
- Facet joint disorders
- Cervical herniated disc and many more
Now that you are aware of the causes, it’s now time to take a step further and explore different ways to treat a stiff neck.
Is it good to massage a stiff neck?
Based on a couple of studies, neck massage is one of the best and effective methods to relieve from pain. With improved motion, either by a professional or a stiff neck massager, the results tend to stay for a certain time period. Some studies also proved that massage can treat neck stiffness and pain while some tend to disagree with the fact. Moreover, you will find a number of massage therapies that employ different techniques and application methods to bring the best out of them.
There is also a proven fact that a moderate-level massage has better effects and benefits as compared to a light-touch massage. However, researchers have to find more evidences to support this statement.
Other than that, below are 3 useful massage that you can apply to combat the neck pain or stiffness:
Massage treatment for frozen neck: Obviously, a stiff neck is one of the irritating and troublesome things that could happen to your body; but, they are not always the result of panic or stress. In case of facing severe stiffness, chances are high that your neck is frozen, which limits its movement and eventually affects the way you perform activities. Fortunately, there is a massage technique that you can apply to combat stiffness and improve neck’s mobility.
Massage to treat neck’s pinched nerves: When there is pressure on the nerves by the muscles, joints or other parts, you are likely to suffer from pinched nerves. A good massage therapy can help to get rid of this problem. Even, it will save you from inflammation so caused, followed by a significant reduction in nerve pressure and pain.
Massage to treat shoulder’s pinched nerve: If you are dealing with chronic shoulder pain, a good massage can help to get rid of it. Remember that shoulder girdle always leads to neck pain and stiffness due to which, it’s important to find an appropriate massage therapist or a stiff neck massager.
The Right Type of Massager technique for stick neck
The right massage technique depends upon the severity of your neck stiffness. Some of the common options are:
- Self-Massage: In case of having a painful and tight neck, it is recommended to try out a therapeutic self-massage technique. All you need to do is to lower your shoulders from the ears, keep the neck and back at one place and locate the affected area with your hands. Once found, use fingers to apply pressure and move them in circular motion a couple of times. Do this for 3 or 5 times and you will feel the difference.
If you are planning to buy a stiff neck massager, go for any of the two techniques:
- Swedish Massage: It is one of the common therapies in the Western world. It usually targets steady, long strokes, which are performed in the blood flow direction to the heart. Friction and kneading motions can also be used here as Swedish massage focuses on relaxing the entire body.
- Deep Tissue Massage: This massage technique focuses on friction and deep strokes to relax deeper layers of the connective tissues and muscles. Unlike Swedish massage, it works wonders on the chronic pain area.
There are many more variations and massage types that have proved to be effective on neck stiffness. You can go for aromatherapy with special oils to relax and strengthen the muscles.
How to relieve neck pain?
- Rest: Take some off from your busy schedule and let your body to heal over time. Doing so will definitely help to combat neck stiffness as when the body is inactive, damaged or injured tissues have more time to repair.
- Heat and/or Ice Therapy: Using ice packs or heating pads can reduce pain and inflammation in the neck. You can also apply moist heat after 2 or 3 days of icing to improve blood circulation and stimulate healing.
- Self-Massage Technique: Giving a gentle massage to your neck and shoulders can overcome neck stiffness and pain. All you need to do is to move the neck or apply pressure on the muscles and tissues with fingers in circular motion.
- Sleeping Position: Sleeping in good posture is important to combat or stay away from stiff neck. Ideally, you should be having a firmer mattress with a reasonable pillow height so that the neck doesn’t feel pressure while sleeping.
- Buy a Neck Massager: If you are already following all precautions and still face the problem, then go for a stiff neck massager. It is intended to relax and soothe the neck and shoulder muscles so that they do not hinder movement in any way.
Buying Guide- Neck massager
- Identify your Needs: To begin with, figure out why do you need a stiff neck massager. Are you going to have one for travel purpose or have to go for injury rehabilitation? Obviously, this information will decide the type of neck massager you will be having.
- Heat Function: Needless to say, most of the neck massagers are provided with heat functions. Though, you will find heat adjusting settings in quite a few, which would limit you from setting the heat level as per your requirements.
- Hands-Free Operation: Nowadays, manufacturers have started to produce cordless neck massagers with the aim for keeping the users satisfied and comfortable with the operation.
- Noise: There are some neck massagers that make noises during operation. Although a slight noise level is accepted, customers were not satisfied with how noisy their massagers got. So, with the aim to making the massage experience more relaxing and soothing, manufacturers introduced non-noisy devices. So, your job is to find a neck massager that comes with some warranty just to make sure that if the device malfunctions, the warranty will make the manufacturer compensate it.
- What Else to Look for? Since every massager works on a different power source, your job is to figure out which option would work best for you. Also, the weight and ease of use should be taken into consideration. Last but not the least, the stiff neck massager should have appropriate safety features to avoid overheating and other problems.
Wrap Up
After reading this article, you should be able to choose the right stiff neck massager. It’s just that you should know why and what type of massager you need and how did you become a victim of this problem.