Ever get that sudden, PAINFUL catch in your neck?

It hurts like hell and you can't even turn your head!

Here's a major reason this happens, and super simple tips to prevent and ease it:

Do you ever get that sudden catch in your neck? The one that hurts like hell and all of a sudden you can't turn your head anymore? The one where you're driving but you can't even look out the side windows, so you have to try not to swerve as you change lanes because you have to turn your whole body to see what's beside you? And it just sticks around and hurts like crazy?!

Why does this come up? What can you do to prevent it, AND what can you do if you're already feeling it?

This time of year is where I see this come up the most in my clients, and I'm starting to feel it creeping up on myself too!

If this sounds like you, give me a call - Let's have a no-charge consultation to customize your solution for rapid results right away: Call me direct at (636) 751-3150

So why does this come up?

One of the major reasons this sudden catch and lack of mobility in your neck suddenly comes up can be because of a shift in the weather, ESPECIALLY in the Fall and the Spring when we have big shifts in temperature in less than a 24 hour time period. Here in the Saint Louis area, it's common to have as much as a 40 degree temperature shift overnight!

Now some people have those one of those nifty thermostats that will switch itself from heat to air conditioning and back again as it needs to. My office has that and I love it! But my home does NOT have that, so I have to go down the hall and kick it over from heat to cold or vice versa depending on what's going on. If that's your situation, you might have gone to bed with the air conditioner set for the warmth of the day before, but as the temperatures drop throughout the night, that heat is not gonna kick on unless you go down the hall and push the button. BUT you're asleep and you're bundled up in your covers! And it's getting colder. So you bundle the covers up tighter and tighter until eventually you're spending several hours scrunched up in a ball. That's NOT a good posture to hold for hours on end! 

Or maybe you're outside doing your end-of-the-year gardening cleanup, or working in your basement like I was last night for a couple of hours. (Spring Cleaning and Fall Releasing - to the thrift stores!) As you're doing those activities, the colder temperature creeps in on you and you may not realize you're tensing up your neck and shoulders more and more as time goes on.

Why do you tense up like that?

Because there's a whole lot of really important blood vessels all through your neck that go up to this super important organ called your brain! And your body will do whatever it can to make sure the blood flow to your brain is carefully regulated. So when you're cold, the muscles in your neck will tense up to keep those blood vessels warm, so that your brain is nice and happy and healthy. AND they will do that at the cost of your comfort and your mobility if they have to! If those muscles stay tightened up for too long, you can get a sudden sharp, painful muscle spasm, and now you can't turn your head any more!

So what can you do to prevent this from coming up in the first place?

Number one: wear a scarf!

Or wear a hoodie. Both options provide warmth around your neck. Once I started noticing I was tensing up in the basement last night, I went upstairs put on a hoodie, so that my muscles weren't having to keep me warm all on their own.

Same thing if you're out working in the garden or exercising outside while the temperature is dropping. Check your weather app before you go out. See what the hourly forecast is, and prepare with a hoodie or with a scarf.

You also want to have a scarf or hoodie on hand even if you're just doing a quick run from the car to the office or from the car to the grocery store. Yes, you might only be outside for a whopping 30 to 60 seconds, BUT if you are warm and toasty in your cart and then you go outside where it's 30 or 40 degrees colder, that neck spasm is likely to happen! So put on the scarf before you get out of the car and again before you leave the building. You can take it off after the car warms up. 

Number two: check the temperature forecast before you go to bed!

If you have a thermostat that you have to manually switch over from cold to heat, keep the temperature fairly consistent in your home by setting it for the evening temps before you go to bed each night, and for the daytime temps when you wake up each morning. (Bonus tip: This can also help prevent the early morning sniffles and throat drainage if you keep your home's temperature consistent from day to night.)

What can you do to ease the pain if it's already happened to you?

Try applying some gentle heat. Those muscles are tight from trying to keep the blood vessels in your neck warm, so put some gentle heat on your neck to keep the area warm while also easing and relaxing tight muscles. Do not apply heat for more than 15 minutes at a time - after that you can actually end up more sore than you started. (And as always follow your doctor's advice!) You can try dry heat using a nice warm rice-filled sock: throw it in the microwave until it is comfortably warm, and put it around the back and sides of your neck, reheating it as you need to. Or you could try moist heat: take a hand towel, get it wet, heat it in the microwave to where it is comfortably warm, and lay that around your neck. With dry or moist heat, apply for no more than 15 minutes at a time, and you can apply as often as once an hour.

You could also try a combination of massage therapy to relax the muscles as well as chiropractic care. Gentle chiropractic

care will relax tight muscles as well as make sure that your joints are moving at their very best. Because sometimes when you get that muscle spasm and tensing, the joints get locked up too in such a way that blocks your full range of motion. And when that happens, just relaxing those muscles does NOT always free up those joints, and they stay stuck. It's kinda like when the sliding door in your closet gets knocked off the track. You can rearrange the clothes inside to where they aren't pushing the door off kilter anymore, but the door is still gonna be off the track! Gentle chiropractic care restores your joints' ability to move fluidly and easily along their tracks

So now you know what to do when you get that sharp sudden spasm pain in your neck and you can't turn your head  anymore. It is such a pain! BUT it doesn't have to be that way!

Do you need assistance with easing your seized up neck, or preventing it from happening? Reach out to me and let's customize your solution!

For your no-charge consultation, give me a call at (636) 751-3150, or text 'Consult' to (636) 751-3150.

Go out and have a wonderful - and warm - day! (And remember to grab your scarf!)

~Dr. Vicky