If you’ve ever had an onset of neck pain, you know how it feels: one minute you’re fine, and a moment later you start seeing stars and you can’t even move your head. It seems nothing can save you from this torture but a good massage, and you’d give the world to get one. If there’s no one near you to give you this relief, don’t get upset — you can do it yourself! And the best part of it is that you’ll only need your hands and a towel.
Here at Bright Side we’ve picked a few self-massage techniques for neck pain relief, and we hope you can find the one that helps you best. And don’t miss our bonus point with neck stretches that can boost the self-massage effect!
A towel massage can help you unlock the tight muscles of your neck and bring back mobility. At the same time, a towel is soft and won’t let you apply too much pressure on your neck and harm it.
Sit with your back straight. Put your palms on the sides of your neck. Bring your head backward a bit and let it gently drop to the left. Squeeze the left back muscles of your neck so that they feel hard, but pleasant. Then let your head gently drop to the right. Now squeeze the right back muscles of your neck. Keep squeezing the right and left side muscles starting at the bottom of your neck and slowly moving upward. See this video for detailed instructions.
Tight and locked suboccipital muscles can bring about head ache, dizziness, and even nausea. To release these muscles feel the soft area right under the bone of your cranium, as shown in the picture above. With both of your hands, apply gentle pressure on the suboccipital muscles on the right and the left sides of your neck. Lean your head back and keep applying pressure in and up with your fingers.
Slowly bring your chin to your chest and, as you lower your head, move your fingers outward, bringing the right and the left hands apart and continue applying pressure. Your task is to separate and “open” the suboccipital muscles and reduce their tightness. Repeat the cycle a couple of times and make sure you don’t feel pain while doing this self-massage. See this video for detailed instructions.
Stand or sit with your back straight. Pull your chin down toward your chest, bending your head forward until you feel a gentle stretch at the back of your neck. Hold the position for a few seconds and lift your head back up. You can add a little bit of pressure and increase the stretch by gently pulling your head down with your hands, as shown in the picture above.
Stand or sit with your back straight and relax your shoulders. Gently lower your left ear to your left shoulder until you feel a pleasant stretch in the right side of your neck. Make sure your opposite shoulder is down. Hold the position for a few seconds and lift your head back up. Repeat on the other side.
You can add a little more pressure and feel more stretch if you grab your head with your hand and gently pull your head down to the side.
Make sure that you are not overstretching your neck since it may cause pain and discomfort.
The techniques of self-massage and stretching we have just told you about have proven themselves to be effective in many people. However, if you don’t feel that self-massage and other remedies help you to ease the pain, or if the pain gets worse with time, it’s better to visit a doctor and ask for professional medical treatment.
Have you ever suffered from neck pain? What remedies helped you to get rid of it?