How To Avoid Neck Pain

One of the biggest reasons for neck pain is poor posture. So avoiding poor posture can be the simplest way to avoid neck pain. In good posture seating starts from lumbar spine and pelvis. Upright posture keeps the neck and head in the middle position and avoids stresses. Here are some of the tips to attain good posture.

1. Avoid sleeping on the stomach; it exerts twisting pressure on vertebral joints for the whole night. Avoid using large pillows or more than one pillow to keep the neck in the neutral position. It is preferred to use feather pillows than foam pillows. Because feather pillows easily take shape of your neck and head and avoids stresses.

2. While sitting care should be taken that knees remain lower than the hips, arms are held down, back is touching the support.

3. If you have to work on the computer, use larger screen so that upward and downward hunching of the neck is avoided. If possible call an ergonomist to arrange your work setup best to avoid neck stresses. Use larger fonts so that you have not to move forward to understand the small sized letters. If you are working on the laptop, make use of the docking port, because laptops are not suitable for long term use.

4. When you are driving a car adjust the mirrors to get the backside view after you have taken your position. When you move forward you will observe that you are not getting backside view. This will help to get you in the proper sitting posture.

5. Stretching exercises before sleeping and while leaving the bed helps a lot to relieve the stresses created in a daytime work.

6. Most important is care must be taken while lifting something. Even if for most of the people lifting might crate pain in the lower back, it is associated with neck pain also. Stand up close to the object to be lifted. Bend at the hip and knees keeping the head and neck in neutral position. Lift the object so that pressure is on hip and leg muscles and not on back and neck. Keep one foot in a slightly forward position so that feet are separated by the shoulder distance.

Neck pain in women:

Neck pain in women is often caused by muscle strain, tendonitis, arthritis or a condition called frozen shoulder. The shoulder gets stiff and can not move freely. Fibromyagia which occurs more often in women than men can also cause pain.

The neck is a ball and socket joint that is held together by muscles, tendons and ligaments that allow the neck a wide range of motion but also keep it stable. The reality that most women have less shoulder power than men does not make them more prone to neck injuries. Most women's shoulders are in fact strong relative to their body size.

What can make women more vulnerable to neck pain and injury is that their necks are naturally more lenient or loose than men's. This can make women candidates for displacement and impingement, in which tendons in the shoulder become strained against a bone. Women who participate in tennis, work as baggers in grocery stores or work at a computer keyboard are most likely to get neck pain.

Other problems:

A common problem for women is frozen shoulder. For various reasons, the ligaments that go around the ball-and-socket joint become inflamed. The ache causes a decrease in use of the shoulder. As a result, the ligaments do not get stretched and the shoulder begins to tighten up.

Saving shoulders:

People may be able to carry the world on the shoulders, but only if it is in good shape. Before starting in exercise or strenuous chores, warm up and stretch the neck to get them ready for exertion. Simple forward and backward arm circles can help limber them up. When the muscles are used for a sustained period of time to do things like clip the hedge, paint a room or turn over the garden, muscle fatigue and pain can result.

So taking a break is important. Watch the work surface. While lifting something pay attention to the position of the head and bend at the knees to pick something up and hold the item close to the body. The stronger the muscles in the shoulder, the more stable and less prone to injury it will be. Ask a physical therapist to put on a shoulder-strengthening program.

But make sure the therapist helps adjusting any weight machines to the particular size. Since weight machines designed for men are too big for a woman's frame, one might need to customize the machine by adding extra seat cushions and back pads.

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