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Best Treatment For Neck Pain

In our previous blog we established that around a quarter of us will experience neck pain each year. We also looked at the top causes of mechanical neck pain which include everything from ‘wear & tear’ to muscle strains and poor posture.

From the outset it is important to state that the best treatment for neck pain starts with a comprehensive assessment, accurate diagnosis and structured treatment plan. I would really encourage you from jumping onto YouTube exercises (even if they are ours!) until you have been assessed by a physiotherapist. What may be helpful for one condition, may be unhelpful for another.


So what are the best treatments for neck pain?

As we discovered in our previous blog, there can be multiple reasons for neck pain. That means there are probably multiple treatments that will help.

Pain relief

Whether you have a sprain of the muscles of your neck or you have early signs of wear and tear – there is a high likelihood that there will be an inflammatory element to the pain. Simple painkillers like paracetamol or anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen are relatively safe, cheap and readily available. We cover pain killers in detail in this blog so be sure to check it out before nipping to the supermarket! Another excellent and simple way to relieve neck pain is heat. Either a hot water bottle or a wheat bag that you can wrap around your neck.


Move, move & move some more

Nothing beats good-old-fashioned exercise for musculoskeletal pain. You don’t have buy expensive equipment or join the gym (not that there’s anything wrong with that). It is recommended that you do 150 minutes exercise per week which is 20-30 minutes per day. This can be anything so long as it gets you breathing a bit harder and your heart beating a little faster. You could have a game of tennis with a friend, go for a swim or simply walk around the park. However, to shift neck pain this often isn’t enough. If you have neck pain you need to move regularlyapproximately every 30 minutes. This could be a few squats at your desk, walking to the coffee machine or standing up to take a phone call.


Hands-on treatment

There is lots of evidence for the use of manual therapy or hands-on treatment for neck pain. Hands-on treatment like massage, joint mobilisation and manipulation can restore movement and provide pain relief. Often patients will report that they “just need someone to get to the pain”.

We are huge advocates of manual therapy and have advanced education in these techniques.

Optimise your workspace

As we discovered in our previous blog poor posture is the top reason for mechanical neck pain. Workplace ergonomics is now a big business and lots of work places and offices may even have their own occupational health department or service they can refer to.

Luckily I am pretty active in my day to day work – lots of delivering manual therapy, demonstrating exercises and general moving around. However I do see lots of patients who have more static positions at work, particularly office and computer based jobs. If that’s you, optimising your workspace can help enormously – especially a sit to stand desk. We go into lots detail on sit to stand desks and information on working from home in this blog.


Physiotherapy treatment for neck pain

At the start of this blog we stated that best treatment for neck pain starts with a comprehensive assessment. This cannot be overstated! From an accurate diagnosis and hands on treatment to exercises and helpful advice, physiotherapists are best placed to guide the treatment for neck pain. So if you are one of the 25% of people who are currently experiencing neck pain – our expert team can help…