Ouch! What Causes Those Pains In The Neck?
Jul 16, 2010; 12:28 PM ET
This morning I woke up and felt like my neck had been painfully twisted and locked in place with me looking up and a little to the left. Awkward--but a lot better than the pain that pulsed through my neck and shoulder when I tried to resume normal posture. Although the tightness went away by the time I was through a few cups of coffee, I started wondering--what sleeping sin did I commit that caused me to wake up that way? Was it my position (stomach down, head turned to the right)? Something about my bed or pillow? I decided to find out if there was anything I could do to roll out of bed pain-free.
What Is It?
Whether it's short lived, like mine, or chronic, plaguing us for more than a few weeks, most of us experience neck pain at some point in our lives, according to the Mayo Clinic. When we wake up with stiffness, it probably means that one or more of the tiny joints running up the back of the neck has become locked. When this happens, the small muscles surrounding them tighten, which unconscious reflexes control. The muscles follow the joints' lead, contracting to protectively hold the joint in place because, well, that's their job. This prolonged contraction, which can sometimes cause swelling in the joints, causes that expletive-inducing pain when we try to pick up our head out of bed. And it takes a few hours to get over it because the muscles take a little coaxing to loosen up.
What Causes It?
Why does this happen on particular nights and to certain people more often than others? I asked my chiropractor, Brett Thomason, about the first-thing-in-the-morning pain: "There are a ton of things that can cause neck pain, depending on lifestyle, sleeping habits, and genetics, so it can be tricky to pinpoint," he says. He broke down some of the most common culprits to help me shed some light on how to wake up expletive-free.
Muscle strains
Bad posture during the day means that our necks hit the sack seriously strained. After a day hunched over the computer, neck muscles are bent out of shape, literally, and wake up sore as we would from a tough workout. Other strainers include reading in bed in an awkward position, spending a lot of time holding the phone between our ear and shoulder, and grinding our teeth. Breaking these habits is the only way to free your neck from the soreness.
Allie Firestone for DivineCaroline.com
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