There is nothing more frustrating than waking up in the morning with neck pain from sleeping on it funny – which is actually a terrible expression since there is nothing funny about it. Nonetheless, it will completely throw you off for the day and possibly even longer depending on how long the pain lasts. If you are suffering from constant and chronic neck pain you should immediately make an appointment with your doctor to get a good reference for a chiropractor. However, if you find yourself occasionally experiencing mild neck pain, then there are a few steps you can take to reduce that pain.

Adjust the way you sleep

Many studies have shown that sleeping on your back is the best position for reducing neck and back pain. Although this is also the worst position for minimizing snoring, you might need to make that sacrifice if your neck is hurting. The reasoning behind this is that your head fits naturally in the pillow by putting less pressure on your spine. However, you do need to make sure you have the right pillow. A bigger fluffy pillow is usually the best pillow for neck pain so that your head and neck are properly supported. However there is such a thing as too much support, if you are using two pillows to support your head you may be putting more unnecessary stress on your neck and spine. There are special pillows as well with specific head indentations to help properly support your head.

Try a patch

Patches, such as Icy Hot and Salonpas, contain the ingredients menthol and methyl salicylate which are anti-inflammatory to help to provide temporary pain relief.

Warm water and stretching

This is a more natural way to open up the neck muscles. Stand in the shower and focus the warm water on your neck and then slowly move your head side to side. The warm temperature will help to relax the muscles and then by moving your head slowly side to side will help them stretch out.

But again, since you do not want to injure yourself any further, it might be worth a trip to the doctor just to make sure that everything is okay.

Written by Lizzy Jude