Your neck is a highly complex area of your body that is tasked with supporting your head and protecting nerves that run throughout the rest of your body. Your neck is also subject to a lot of stress throughout the day, especially if you’re constantly on your laptop or smartphone. All this stress can lead to a feeling of tightness and restricted mobility in the neck. Below, we look at what’s going on in your neck when this tightness develops, and how to treat it.
Tightness In Your Neck
Neck tightness, also sometimes described as stiffness, soreness or tension can develop for a number of different reasons, but the most common is due to overstressed supportive muscles and ligaments in the area. Some people also experience neck tightness after physical trauma like whiplash. But for tightness that is not due to an acute injury, overstressing the soft tissues in the area is usually to blame.
But how are we overstressing these tissues? The most common way is when we overload the neck through poor posture. As our head gets out in front or behind our shoulders, our neck is tasked with handling that added stress. So if you’re slouched in front of a computer or constantly craning forward to look at your cell phone, it’s your neck that’s going to feel the brunt of this stress.
Other factors that can contribute to neck muscle strains and stiffness include:
- Poor driving posture
- Poor sleeping position
- Carrying heavy backpacks or purses on a regular basis
- Unaddressed temporomandibular jaw pain
- Psychological stress
- Repetitive lifting or turning movements
Treating Tightness In The Neck
The good news is that neck tightness can usually be treated with some simple non-operative options. Some common treatment options include making sure that you have good posture throughout the day, regularly moving as the day goes on to avoid keeping your neck in one position for extended periods, doing some gentle stretching exercises, limiting the weight of purses and bags, taking anti-inflammatory medications, giving up smoking and consuming a healthy diet.
For more serious cases, a spine specialist may recommend muscle relaxers, but it rarely gets to this point. Surgery isn’t typically needed to address cervical tightness, but if acute trauma led to more significant injuries for which neck stiffness is a symptom, then an operation may be needed for the larger underlying issue.
Neck stiffness can typically be treated at home with conservative treatments, but if it becomes chronic, consider setting up an appointment with a back specialist like Dr. Sinicropi. He can provide you with a quick and accurate diagnosis, and from there he’ll walk you through all your treatment options. For more information, get in contact with his office today.
