The neck is a delicate balance of bones, muscles, and ligaments that support your head. It’s often weakened by things like bad sleeping habits and poor posture.
You can usually get relief from neck pain at home using a few simple strategies. However, if your symptoms don’t go away within a few weeks, you should see a health professional.
Rest and ice
Neck pain is a common problem that can have many different causes. These include car accidents, sports injuries, aging, and other things that may cause the muscles or vertebrae in your neck to be injured.
Rest and ice are the most commonly recommended first steps to treating neck pain. This involves reduce inflammation and swelling through cold therapy, which involves applying an ice pack for 10–20 minutes several times a day.
You can also use moist heat to soothe the aching muscles. You can use a hot bath or shower or place a moist heating pad directly on your achy neck.
Using heat can also increase blood flow to the affected area, which increases oxygen and nutrients. The body will then speed up the healing process. However, you should not apply heat to a fresh injury or strain, as it can actually cause more inflammation and swelling. If the pain persists or worsens, or if you experience other symptoms, consult a doctor to determine the extent of the injury and develop a treatment plan.
Painkillers
There are a number of painkillers that are commonly used to treat neck pain. These include acetaminophen (Tylenol and similar products) and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
Other painkillers that may be prescribe to treat your neck pain are Pain O Soma 350, which can help relieve chronic pain when other medications have failed. These include codeine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone.
These medicines work by blocking the action of a particular enzyme called COX-2. They can also reduce fever and inflammation.
Aspadol can be use to treat your neck pain. This is a device that creates a mild electric current that may reduce the intensity of pain in the affected area.
If your neck pain is not improving with self-care and conservative treatments, it may be time to speak to your GP. They can rule out a serious underlying condition and recommend the best treatment for you. They can also refer you to a pain management programme, which will teach you better ways to cope with your neck pain and improve your quality of life.
Muscle relaxants
If you’ve tried over-the-counter painkillers like acetaminophen (Tylenol) or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and aren’t getting relief, your doctor may recommend muscle relaxants. Muscle relaxants are design to be use as one element of a comprehensive recovery strategy that includes rest, stretching, and physical therapy.
Tizanidine (Zanaflex) and Baclofen are skeletal muscle relaxants that are use for spasticity, where the muscles become tight and stiff. They’re use to treat patients with multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and spinal cord injury, but they’re not a first-line treatment for acute neck or back muscle pain.
Methocarbamol (Robaxin) is also an antispasmodic muscle relaxant that is use to treat severe back and neck pain. It’s prescribe either orally or intravenously in doses up to 1500 mg. It can cause drowsiness and dizziness in some people, but it’s less sedative than most muscle relaxants.
Surgery
The good news is that most neck problems can be diagnose and treated with nonsurgical treatments. Rest and ice, painkillers, muscle relaxants, and physical therapy can often relieve or prevent pain and other symptoms.
If these nonsurgical treatments fail, surgery may be an option. If a doctor can confirm that the pain is cause by nerve root or spinal cord compression, surgery might help relieve it.
One common surgery is anterior cervical discectomy with spinal fusion (ACDF). It removes a herniated disc that puts pressure on the nerve roots or the spinal cord.
Another treatment is laminectomy. This removes the lamina, which is the bony plate that covers and protects the spinal cord.
If surgery is recommend, you should be able to stay home for a few days after the procedure. Your doctor will prescribe medication to reduce the discomfort you feel during recovery a physical therapist may visit you for rehabilitation exercises to strengthen your neck muscles.
