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.
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