Natural Health Alternative Blog

I have dealt with a lot of different health problems from my clients, and I most definitely feel for them.  However, with they tell me they are suffering from chronic neck pain, usually lasting over 8 weeks, I feel lots of compassion for them.

I not only just feel empathy for people suffering from chronic neck pain; I feel it for any other health condition they are suffering from.  If you have looked through my articles, I feel a lot of your health problems, and that is the main reason I have came up with my programs.

The definition of chronic neck pain is pretty simple. –One feels every movement of it-. There would be night, as I was laying in bed, not only could I not sleep, but it ran through my head on how this neck pain  going to interfere the rest of my life.

(more…)

I sometimes get comments from clients that kind of seem off the wall.  However, I am willing to try to help everybody with their own health conditions, so I will start doing research to see what I am able to come up with to help them.

I recent question I have just been asked is, if a clients diet has been affecting their neck, causing serve pain. My main question after looking at my clients questions was, could the food they are really eating be causing so much neck pain?

I would first like to look at the anatomy of the neck. The neck is a “springy” structure to hold our heads. Our necks are not as durable for protecting our spine as our backs. In other words, we are more likely to have a neck injury than anything else related to the spine.

(more…)

What a truly wonderful and exciting time - being an expectant mother.  The miracle of life…blah, blah blah.  I should have put that into quotes.  A friend in her third trimester sort of downplayed my excitement about her impending miracle of life recently.

To look at her I sort of had to agree.  What had happened to that “glow” pregnant women are supposed to have?  It had been replaced by a puffy nose and dark circles under her eyes.

She explained that as soon as she hit her third trimester, she started having chronic neck pain.  This was not just a problem during daylight hours.  She also found that she had trouble sleeping, which actually seemed to make the neck pain worse.

Neck pain is one of the most reported discomforts of pregnant women.  In fact, over eighty percent of pregnant women have complained of neck pain, back pain or a combination of both.

There are a few reasons for back and especially neck pain during pregnancy.  First, the weight gained during pregnancy is sudden and typically specific to one area – the uterus.  This, in turn pushes forward the woman’s center of balance and the body has to quickly try to adjust to changes in weight and body size on an almost daily basis.

Even if a woman gain’s weight all over, this offers not a lot of relief as the weight gain itself can cause neck and back pain.  In fact, neck and back pain is commonly reported as a concern for obese men and women.

Another reason for pain during pregnancy is due to hormones which can affect ligaments and joints, causing them to become more loose and pliable. 

While a great concept in relaxing the pelvis to allow for childbirth.  Due to this “relaxing” effect, the joints and ligaments in the back and especially neck are compromised as far as support is concerned.

Typical remedies include specifically designed cervical pillows in order to align the neck and spine, applying ice to the affected area and head and neck exercises.

In fact, a client of mine has stated that for each of her two previous pregnancies, she experienced excruciating neck pain.

She had tried neck pillows and ice treatments during her pregnancy but with limited success.  It wasn’t until she had completely recovered from her pregnancy that she noticed improvement.

Her doctor suggested she look into specific exercises for the neck and to take a preventative approach, meaning, start the exercises before the pain started.  I’m happy to report that she is delighted with my Neck Pain program!

I highly encourage you to try my Neck Pain program, regardless of your reason for neck pain.  The program is all natural and the results are guaranteed!

EL331002

A friend of mine used to joke about a co-worker. Whenever a particular relative of the co-worker would call, she would develop neck pain which would worsen throughout the day and even cause her to miss work the next day.

My friend and her other co-workers thought at first that the neck pain suffering co-worker was perhaps, overly dramatic or even feigning her pain for attention.

It wasn’t until my friend started suffering from stress induced headaches that she realized how much in common neck pain and headache pain can be and how they can oftentimes intertwine.

Like headaches, most people will experience neck pain at least once in their lives. Also like headaches, for most people, neck pain is temporary and annoying, not debilitating.

The pain is defined as either acute (painful but temporary) but for others the condition is considered chronic (lasting several weeks or longer).

Symptoms can include: sharp or dull pain in the neck, a “stiff” feeling in the neck, dizziness, difficulty swallowing, gland swelling and shoulder, back or headache pain on the same side as the neck pain.

The most common cause of acute neck pain is poor posture and/or overuse of the supporting neck muscles.

Neck pain can also be caused by disease (arthritis, degenerative disc disease) or trauma (whiplash, pinched nerve).

Stress induced neck pain is not so commonly heard of because many people don’t realize what is causing the pain. The cause is less tangible.

With economic concerns, demands on your time from your job, family, friends or a combination of those, it’s no wonder that the body has trouble “letting go.” The muscle tension fails to ease and pain and stiffness become the natural result.

If you don’t find a way to deal with this stress, the condition won’t get better but may in fact become a chronic condition. Add to that additional symptoms of stress such as insomnia and difficulty concentrating and you are just asking for poor posture at work and in bed.

Ways to help reduce the stress which is causing the pain include eating a healthy diet, regular exercise to relax such as yoga, avoid over indulging in alcohol and taking at least 10 minutes for yourself each day. Even if this is simply putting your feet up and telling yourself to “relax.”

Regardless of your reason for neck pain, I highly recommend my Neck Pain Relief program. There is no strain involved, the exercises are simple to do and best of all, they don’t stress the already injured neck muscles.

EL331002

As a long time neck pain sufferer (more than 10 years before I found relief), I have not only sympathy for my clients who complain of this ailment but also a great deal of empathy.

I’ve always been a positive upbeat person but I will admit that after living with chronic neck pain and associated side affects like headaches, even I wanted to throw in the towel more than once.

If you are frequently experiencing headaches as a result of neck pain, one clear indicator will be stiffness or pain in the posterior neck muscles (back of the neck). 

Generally these types of headaches are mild to severe with no throbbing sensation.  The pain is generally alleviated when pressure is applied to the neck muscles.  Pain generally lasts between a few hours and a few days.

The pain is generally on one side of the head and sometimes the shoulder of the same side but can sometimes spread to both sides of the head.

In some cases, the headache can worsen and symptoms of migraine headache can occur.  The following symptoms have also been reported:  nausea, vomiting, dizziness, blurred vision on the side of the headache, difficulty swallowing and sensitivity to light and sound.

They are most often caused by overuse of the neck muscles, stress and poor posture.  The poor posture is generally a forward extension of the head and rounded back.

Take a moment while you are reading this article and notice your posture.  Is it the very posture I just referred to above? 

This is typical of computer users.  These days, there’s very few of us who don’t spend at least a couple of hours per day on the computer.

How could this be?  Think about positioning a bowling ball on top of your head.  If your posture is perfectly correct, this would be no problem.  Now lean forward just a few inches – it’s now nearly impossible!  Don’t underestimate just how heavy your head is in relation to the neck that’s supporting it.

Neck related headaches account for 20% of headaches, with women are reporting this type of headache 4 times as much as men.  In an effort not to sound gender biased I encourage you to do “people watch.”  How many men compared to women tend to stand with their shoulders straight and head up?

Of course, correcting one’s posture is the simplest answer to correcting neck related headaches along with an ergonomic chair if you sit all day at a computer.

Sometimes though, as in my case, my neck pain was caused by trauma and I was therefore, compensating by using other muscles including jaw muscles and shoulder muscles.

This is why I highly recommend my all natural Neck Pain No More  program.  There is no strain involved,  the exercises are simple to do and best of all, they don’t stress the already injured neck muscles which have cause you to seek relief!

El331002

Like many people, I suffered severe neck and upper back pain due to an automobile accident years ago. The pain was relentless and I even began to alter my upright position to a sort of curved stance. Sudden accidents (such as those occuring in cars) can be life changing due to the onset of pain that won’t seem to subside.

I have friends and clients whose neck pain causes and symptoms are extremely diverse as far as causes and amount of pain involved.

Common causes are injury or trauma to the neck (e.g., whiplash) disc and/or nerve problems within the neck and arthritis. Triggers can include stress, sleeping in an awkward position and prolonged strain on the neck as with sitting at one’s computer for too long, etc.

Neck pain can be acute – sudden and painful and/or chronic – lasting for more than three months, depending on the cause (fibromyalgia is one of the more common causes). Sometimes there is no definitive diagnosis.

Pain has been described by sufferers as including one or more of the following: muscle stiffness, soreness, stiff to the touch, acute pain strong enough to force the neck to turn to one side (torticollis), pain in the base of the skull, one or both-sided headaches, pain radiating down the back and/or arms, tingling arms and/or fingers and general weakness in the neck and/or arms.

Women tend to report neck pain more than men.

While most type of neck pain is more discomforting and disappears within a day or two, there are rare but potentially life-threatening situations when neck pain is a symptom of something larger.

One such condition is meningitis. This is an inflammation of the brain and spinal cord who’s causes can be both viral (most common but not as devastating) and bacterial (less common but an extremely life-threatening disease).

In addition to neck pain and/or stiffness, be on the lookout for a sudden rash development, fever, pain in bending the neck, nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light and severe back pain.

Neck pain can also signal serious issues arising from head trauma. Other symptoms to check for are headache, nausea, vomiting, loss or complications in vision, hearing or balance, pain localized behind one eye and weakness in arm and/or leg muscles.

What can one do to avoid neck pain? For pain not caused by serious neck injury or illness, it’s important to try to go about your daily routine as much as possible. That is of course, unless your daily repetitive routine is the cause. It might be time to consider an ergonomic solution.

If you are given a neck collar, try not to use it more than a few days, as this will further weaken the neck muscles. This of course leads to exercise – daily exercise will help to improve fitness and that includes the neck muscles.

An important thing to understand about pain such as this is that all the muscles around your neck, back and head are connected together. It is extremely important not to ignore those muscles. My Neck Pain Relief program addresses this in an all natural way. It’s coming very soon and I hope you’ll give these exercises a chance - as I did and realize there is in fact an end to such a pain in the neck!

El331002