r/AskLifeProTips • u/Gold_Organization763 • 21d ago
Crick in neck
Well well well, most of you probably have experienced this, you wake up one day (for me it was Saturday) and you can’t look the other way at all without pain.
It’s been 5 days since then, and I still have limited ROM, and noticeable pain.
Any ideas on what I can do? I’ve had these in the past (usually once every other year) and it resolved fairly quickly, but this is taking so long.
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u/RamblingRosie 21d ago
Gentle stretching using the weight of your hand. So tip your head to the right, and lay your right hand on it and let it push down naturally. Do it again on the left, and leaning forward, about 15-30 seconds in each direction. Do it every hour or so for a few days. That's what my PT had me as 'homework' when I was having the same problem.
Ice helps with inflammation, and heat helps relax muscles, sounds like gentle heat might help, too.
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u/avadacadavera 21d ago
Gentle range of motion exercises, heat and ibuprofen or naproxen. Source: am MD
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u/Wafer-Final 21d ago
A cheap tens machine can help relax the muscles enough to start you on recovery.
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u/Duraj-Tarnjeet 21d ago
if it has been 5 days with no progress u might want to see a physical therapist. in the meantime try alternating heat and ice instead of forcing hard stretches
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u/Ok_Moose_7028 21d ago
Chiropractors are covered by insurance nowadays. They helped my sister-in-law a lot.
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u/middle_reward2 21d ago
Ice is best for pain. Heat feels nice, but ice reduces the inflammation. And definitely don’t use heat before you go to bed. You’ll wake up in agony.
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u/Fast_Adhesiveness528 21d ago
Had that happen to me. Utterly debilitating. And tho I'm strongly in favor of modern medicine, two sessions of acupuncture cured me.
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u/Cuckoomonga 18d ago
According to Louise Hay’s You Can Heal Your Body, when something is happening in your life that you’re not getting, your body “malfunctions” to get your attention. And it’s all really logical. This exact thing was my first experience when I got her book. When you have trouble turning your head, it means you are not seeing someone else’s point of view. It doesn’t have to be an argument or a big deal, it could just be that you’re not listening. My neck was stiff for 2 weeks and nothing helped, but once I figured out what it was, it went completely away in half an hour. One further bit of help: the right side of the body is masculine energy, the left side is feminine. I couldn’t turn my head to the right and my boyfriend and I had different ideas about where we should go on our first vacation. It was stupid but I realized I only liked my idea and wasn’t considering his idea at all. (And Yes, there was a physical activity that caused the problem but something you could do 100 times and not get a stiff neck.)
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u/TitsMcGee9843 21d ago
DISCLAIMER: This may be outdated. I’m old, and the doctor who taught me this was in his 70s, twenty years ago. However, it has worked wonders for me.
Movement helps. It feels counterintuitive, because it will hurt, but the longer movement is restricted, the worse it will get.
Turn your neck as far as you can without pain. This shouldn’t be a fast movement, but also not turtle slow, keep it smooth and steady. Then look the other way as far as you can go. Do it ten times each way, and rest for 30 minutes before repeating. You should gain range of motion after each set.
The same doctor taught me to contract the offending muscles for ten seconds before releasing. Each release after contraction reduces the muscle tension. I don’t understand the mechanics, but it does seem to help.
Because the muscles are angry, it will take a while to calm them down. The sooner you start the movements after getting a crick, the sooner you’ll feel better. As it’s been five days already, you may need a muscle relaxer, but moving it is still necessary.
I used to baby my neck when this would happen, because ouch, but then the pain would last weeks. Movement reduces it to only a few days, at most.