Treating Neck Pain At Home Tips

One of the most infuriating injuries to deal with is chronic neck pain. When you’re unable to move your head from side to side without discomfort, it will undoubtedly drag down your quality of life. Fortunately, here at Island Sports Physical Therapy, our team has an answer to this problem. By administering physical therapy, we help patients get their neck and supportive structures back to full strength. After a few sessions, patients can play an active role in their recovery from their own homes.

What Causes Neck Pain?

When it comes to neck pain, various issues can be causing its occurrence. However, physical therapy can be used to treat and manage almost all of them. To determine what methods will work best for you, the exact cause of your neck pain must be diagnosed. Examples of the most common causes of neck pain a person can deal with may include:

• Muscle strains.
• Worn joints.
• Nerve compression.
• Neck injuries.
• Degenerative diseases.  

When To Visit A Doctor

Sometimes, we can sleep on our necks the wrong way and wake up with pain and stiffness in the area. Circumstances such as this do not require visiting a medical professional. However, patients need to know when to seek physical therapy for their neck pain. Waiting too long to receive care increases the chances of permanent damage taking place. That is why if you find yourself dealing with the below, we recommend seeking care right away:

• Severe pain.
• Pain lasting several days with no signs of dissipation.
• Pain accompanied by spasms in the arms and legs.
• Headaches, numbness, weakness, or tingling sensations.

Prevention Methods

Taking preventive action is always a better option than waiting to sustain an injury. One of the significant benefits of focusing on prevention methods is that they can be done at home. Doing so means you’ll spend less time in pain and potentially avoiding the need to ever come in for sessions of physical therapy. While our team would be happy to treat you, if we can help patients avoid pain altogether, we’ll always go down that route. Examples of the most effective pain prevention methods include the below:

• Always use good posture. This involves standing up straight and not lurching your head forward.
• Make sure you avoid keeping your neck in one position for too long.
• Keep your work area ergonomically sound.
• Avoid carrying bags with heavy straps over your shoulder.  
• When you sleep, try to keep your neck aligned with your body.  

How Physical Therapy Can Help Neck Pain

If you are not familiar with this type of treatment, you may be wondering how it applies to at-home options. To understand that, we first must dive into what physical therapy is at its core. Physical therapy is an activity-based form of treatment that utilizes stretches and strengthening exercises to promote healing from within the injured area. In terms of neck-related issues, it will loosen up tight tissues and build strength in its supportive muscle, which will work to eliminate pain. Many benefits stem from physical therapy. However, one of the largest is that once you’ve mastered the exercises taught by our team, you can begin to perform them at home. This means spending less time injured. Additional benefits of physical therapy may include:

• Improved flexibility.
• Increased range of motion.
• Regained strength.
• Elimination of pain.
• Mitigated risk of injury recurrence.  

Contact Our Team

When you’re dealing with neck pain, there is no need to let it linger. By contacting our team at Island Sports Physical Therapy, you’ll increase the chances of making a full recovery. For more information on how physical therapy can help, contact our team today.