Home remedy for back pain may be of help in alleviating pain, swelling, and rigidity associated with a neck problem.

Place ice and cold packs on the painful area.

Put ice or cold packs on the painful area for 15 to 20 minutes, 3 to 4 times a day or at least once per hour for 1 or 2 days. Cold helps reduce swelling and pain. Avoid direct contact with your skin by putting a towel between your skin and the ice in case it may damage your skin. Be sure not to fall asleep with ice on your skin.

Try ice massage. Massage the injured spot with ice for 2 to 7 minutes, long enough to numb the pain. Ice frozen in a foam cup works well. Be careful not to damage your skin (frostbite).

Gently massage or rub the injured area to lessen pain and speed up blood circulation. Stop massaging the injured area if you pain increases.

Be sure to avoid such things as showers, hot tubs, hot packs, or alcoholic beverages for the first 2 days after an injury as these things may aggravate your swelling.

After two or three days, if swelling has disappeared, you can use heat. Use a warm pack or heating pad set on low. According to some experts, alternate use of heat and cold therapy is more effective. It is believed that the combination of gentle exercise and moist heat may assist you in regaining and keeping flexibility.

Keep your daily routines if you don’t have acute pain in neck and back. Change or stop any activity that increases your pain.

Keep good posture. Poor posture such as slouching or a head-forward posture may aggravate your pain.

Put a pillow not under your head but under your neck to have your neck supported when resting in bed.

So long as the pain is lessened, start doing neck exercises. Start each exercise with 5 repetitions twice a day and gradually increase to 10 as you are able. Stop doing any exercises that increases pain.

If tension adds pain to your neck, massage may be effective.
Stop smoking. Smokers require longer time to heal than nonsmokers because smoking reduce blood circulation and slow tissue repair.

Nonprescription drugs

Take a nonprescription medicine to treat your fever or pain:
Acetaminophen, such as Tylenol
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs):
Ibuprofen, such as Advil or Motrin
Naproxen, such as Aleve or Naprosyn
Aspirin (also a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug), such as Bayer or Bufferin

Consult your child’s doctor before you use alternatively between doses of acetaminophen and ibuprofen. Alternative use of two medicines puts your child under the risk of taking much medicine.

Safety tips

Keep these safety tips in mind when you use a nonprescription medicine:

Make sure you read carefully and follow all directions on the drug bottle and box.
Do not to take too much dose, do as advised.
Avoid a medicine if you are allergic to it before.
If someone has told you not to use a certain medicine, consult your doctor before taking it.
If you are or are likely to be pregnant, acetaminophen is the only choice unless your doctor gives you some other alternatives.
Be sure not to take aspirin if you are no more than 20 years old unless your doctor tells you to.

New or increased weakness or numbness occurs in your arms or legs.
Loss of control of your bowels or bladder occurs.
Pain gets worse or lasts for more than 2 weeks.
Symptoms do not get better with home remedy.
Symptoms become get worse and more frequent.

Usually, small neck problem will arise in most people now and them. Our body movements do not often result in problems, but symptoms aggravate due to everyday wear and tear, excessive use, or injury. Neck problems and injuries usually stem from daily routines such as sports or recreational activities, work-related tasks, or projects around the home.

Neck pain may feel like a “knot,” rigidity, or acute ache. Pain may extent to the shoulders, upper back, or arms, or it may lead to a headache. It may constrict the range of neck motion, and usually you can turn to one side more than the other. Neck pain includes pain in the injured area or referred pain anywhere from the area at the base of the skull into the shoulders, including:

The bones and joints of the cervical spine (vertebrae that support the body’s weight).
The discs that separate the cervical vertebrae and absorb shock as you move.
The muscles and ligaments in the neck that hold the cervical spine all together.

Neck pain may occur if one or more of the above area is injured, or it may be caused by some other problems. Neck pain home treatment has been found to be effective in alleviating neck pain resulting from minor injuries.

Activities that may lead to neck pain

Neck pain is often the consequence of a strain or tightness of the neck muscles or inflammation of the neck joints. The following are common causes that tend to create this kind of small injury:

Maintaining your head in an improper position while working, watching TV, or reading, such as keeping your head in a forward position or odd position.

Sleeping on an improper pillow that is too high or too flat or cannot have your head supported, or sleeping on your stomach with your neck bent or wried.

Resting your forehead on your upright fist or arm (“thinker’s pose”) for long.

Stress. Tension may result in tightness and pain in the muscles ranging from the back of the head to the back of the shoulder (trapezius muscle).

Doing things that uses the upper body and arms, such as painting a ceiling.

Sudden(acute) neck injuries

Minor injuries may occur from tripping or falling a short distance or from excessive distortion of the cervical spine. Acute neck injuries may occur from whiplash in a car accident, falls from high position or heavy blows to the face or the back or top of the head, injuries caused by sports, a stab, or pressure on the outside of the neck, such as strangulation.

Injury may result in sudden and severe pain. Bruising and swelling may aggravate shortly after the injury. The following are the common sudden injuries:

An injury to the ligaments or muscles in the neck, such as a sprain or strain. When neck pain results from muscle strain, you may have aches and stiffness that spread to your upper arm, shoulder, or upper back. Stinging that moves down the arm into the hand and fingers can be a symptom of a pinched nerve (nerve root compression). Stinging is more serious if it occurs in both arms and both hands rather than just one arm or one hand.

A ruptured or dislocated spine. The may bring about injury to spinal cord, which may result in lack of movement and feeling for ever. We must be cautious when fixing and moving the injured person in case that it may lead to long-lasting paralysis.

A worn and broken disc. If the wear is very severe, the jellylike material inside the spinal disc may run out and exert pressure on a spinal nerve the spinal cord (central disc herniation). You may get a headache and dizziness. In addition, you may have sickness in your stomach and ache in your shoulders or arms. First aid is a must for a neck injury that damages the spinal cord. Symptoms of a spinal cord injury include paralysis, numbness, shooting pain, inability to control the muscles of the arms or legs or to control bowel or bladder.

Conditions that may cause neck problems

Neck problems may have no link to an injury.

Meningitis is a serious illness caused by viral disease or bacterium. Meningitis leads to inflammation around the tissues of the brain and spinal cord. The most common symptoms of meningitis are headache and neck stiffness associated with fever or vomiting. Its symptoms arise very quickly. The neck stiffness makes it difficult or unable for patients to move the chin to the chest.

The flu, which usually is not severe, can lead to symptoms resembling meningitis. If flu results in neck pain, the neck as well as the rest of the body is quite likely to have pain, but there is no acute neck stiffness.

Neck pain that is accomplished by chest pain may result from severe heart problem, such as a heart disease.

Pressure and compression may lead to tightness and pain in the muscles ranging from the back of the head across the back of the shoulder (trapezius muscle). Pain may occur when you move your head.

Torticollis is the consequence of acute muscle contraction on one side of the neck, in which the head is made to tilt toward one side. And the chin turns to the opposite side. There are congenital torticollis, which is present at birth and acquired torticollis, which result from injury or disease.

Treatment for Neck Pain and Injuries

Many measures can be taken to treat a neck problem or injury. Among them are first aid, physical therapy, manipulative therapy (such as chiropractic or osteopathic), medicine as well as surgery. Treatment is determined by:

The area, type and severity of the injury.
Your age, health status, and daily routines (such as work, sports, or hobbies).
Consult the First Aid and Check Your Symptoms sections to decide whether and when you need to consult the doctor..

What is whiplash?

Whiplash is ache and rigidity in the neck due to an injury that has led to a sudden distortion of the neck.

Whiplash Causes

It arises when the head is compelled to move forward or backward, and then head snaps occur in the opposite direction. In most cases, this kind of movement is caused by a car accident in which people is push forward by a sudden thrust due to the crash of car. Sometimes, it might be caused by a fall, a sports injury, or if you are roughly shaken. The movement leads to stretching or tears (sprains) of muscles and ligaments in the neck, and it may cause nerve damage. In rare situation, it may result in fractured bones.

Symptoms of Whiplash

Symptoms of whiplash reported by sufferers include: pain and rigidity in neck and back, severe ache in your head, chest, shoulders, and arms. You also may have a headache and dizziness.

Before you are injured, you might have no symptoms at all. Or your symptoms may disappear but then come back after several days.

Whiplash Diagnosis

Symptoms may indicate that you have a more severe injury include:
Severe pain in your neck.
Referred pain down one or both arms.
Pain that return after disappearing for a few days.
Numbness or shooting pain in your hands, arms, chest, or legs.
Weakness in your arms, hands, or legs.
Difficulty in moving your head.

Your doctor will have a careful inquiry of your neck injury and your past health status, and he or she will also have your head and neck examined. Your doctor may recommend you to have X-rays test to decide whether there are fractured bones in your neck. He or she may also recommend you to have an imaging test such as an MRI or CT scan to decide other injuries.

Treatment for Whiplash

Most whiplash is relieved with the aid of home care. You can take the following measures:

Take a nonprescription drug such as aspirin, acetaminophen, or ibuprofen. Your doctor may prescribe pain relievers and muscle relaxants to treat persistent or acute pain.

Firstly, apply ice or a cold pack to your neck for 10 to 15 minutes once for the first 48 hours to 72 hours. Secondly, try alternative use of heat and cold to decide which is more effective for you. As a matter of fact, most people claimed that they respond better with cold. Avoid using heat when you have swelling as heat may increase swelling.

Stop taking activities such as lifting and sports that increase pain and rigidity.

Use a cervical pillow with appropriate height or a tight towel roll to have your neck supported while sleeping. Pay attention not to use the common pillow.

Relieve neck pain by supporting your neck with a soft foam collar, which is available at a drugstore. Usually, you can only wear the collar for 48 hours to 72 hours if your doctor doesn’t advise you to wear it for longer periods.

Consult your doctor to find out whether physical therapy is efficacious for you.
Resume your normal daily routines as quickly as possible.
Generally speaking, healing for neck pain will last for at least 3 months, even though most pain may go away in less time. More acute whiplash may need longer times. But it usually alleviate within 6 months to a year.

Try exercise such as neck and back stretches to make them work better after your neck pain disappears. Your doctor or physical therapist can recommend the best exercise to you.

Whiplash Prevention

To avoid the occurrence of whiplash when driving, make sure that you wear your seat belt and your headrest is in the proper height to have your head rested back comfortably.