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!
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