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If you’re dealing with chronic neck pain, stiffness and soreness, you may already take some medication recommended by your doctor. Nonetheless, you shouldn’t overlook natural treatments and the power of exercise in alleviating neck pain and in relieving tension that builds up when you spend several hours at your desk, staring at a computer screen. This article will show you some of the best ways how to relax neck muscles naturally and reduce tension in this area of your body quickly.

A Massage Therapist Can Relieve And Relax Neck Muscles

Massage and heat seem to be effective in inducing a relaxation of your muscles. Find a good massage therapist and try one session. You may never want to find out how to relax your neck muscles, as this method will fit you like a glove. There are only a couple of drawbacks, but they may not necessarily be deal breakers. One of them is the price. If you want massage therapy to relieve tension in your neck muscles, you need to be prepared to pay for two or three sessions per week. The other drawback is that you’d have to go to a massage therapy center or clinic. If time is a problem, you may want to find a therapist willing to come to you.

The Best Way To Relax Next Muscles Begins With Preparation – Sleep

All too often we wake up to a stiff and painful neck. Not realizing what exactly is causing the pain, we get on with our work day. By lunch the pain is unbearable and we need to go home and treat this pain.

All of this could have been avoided has better sleep preparation been taken. The neck is a very fragile part of our bodies, yet on that is often abused. The key to relaxing the neck starts with letting it relax and recover during the night. This is done by sleeping in the correct posture. Typical pillows wont assist too much in this. This is why a orthopedic pillow designed to relieve neck and shoulder pain is critical to the process. These pillows are simply a must for anyone that suffers neck trauma.

How To Relax Neck Muscles From Home

A stiff or sore neck can often be the result of sleeping in a bad position. Unfortunately there is no way to stop this actually happening while we sleep due to the brain not recognizing the condition until you are awake. So a visit to a massage therapist may not always be the most practical course of action. Especially if it’s a early start at work that day.

Fortunately there are several ways in which you can relax your neck muscles from home naturally using the tools of the trade. Many therapists use these tools themselves, so why not arm yourself with a couple in anticipation of a bad neck from a poor nights sleep.

Neck Massagers

In particular Infrared Neck Massagers. These devices are super powerful at relieving neck pain and relaxing stiff muscles. The infrared models are different to your typical massager with heat. Infrared is technically invisible but penetrates much deeper into the core of the constricted muscle than your standard heat can. You can buy infrared devices without it being a massager, but why not get a nice massage at the same time right. As this technology evolves, I expect to see a greater variety of Infrared massaging devices come available.

Heating Pads

A heating pad can be the perfect way to unwind and relax the muscles after a tough day at work. Especially heating pads for the neck and shoulders. These types of devices hug your body so to speak so that they don’t fall out of place should you turn your head or move from the couch. So unwinding on the couch is very relaxing when using these neck wraps.

Again, there are a small amount of models which offer Infrared technology. Which is always going to be my #1 recommendation for relaxing and relieving neck muscle pain naturally.

The benefits of a heating pad over a massager are that your don’t have to do anything. No self massage is needed. But at the same time you don’t get the benefit of a massage. They can typically run longer than a massager with the heat on due to requiring less power to operate.

Cervical Neck Traction Devices

Depending on the severity of you neck pain, a cervical neck traction device/brace may be just the thing you need. The inflatable variety can even help relax your neck while you are sleeping. We previously discussed the best cervical neck traction devices and listed our top recommendations.

People have different experiences when it comes to these types of devices (Not bad of course). Some believe they are the cure to neck pain, while others think of them merely as a temporary fix to neck problems. Whatever the case is for you, if it makes the stiffness and soreness disappear, then it’s a winner in my books. The way they work is by shifting the neck vertebrae back in alignment which in turn unlocks pinched nerves, relaxes stressed muscles and makes you feel instantly better.

Yoga Relaxes The Neck Pain

Yoga is one of the most effective things you can do to correct your neck problems. But it isn’t immediate relief that you may be seeking right now, but still a skill worth mastering if you have chronic neck problems.  For instance, downward facing dog at the wall is very easy to learn, and it proves to be one of the most powerful solutions. The cobra pose is another good way to stretch and strengthen your neck and back muscles. You can search for these poses online to see how to do them properly.

Alternatively, you may want to join a yoga studio, so that you can benefit from adjustments and additional explanations given by an experienced trainer. Once you learn the correct poses, you can go ahead and do them at home. Ideally, you should create your own yoga practice, and do it at least five times a week. Ten or 15 minutes should be enough for you to reap the benefits of yoga. The first results should appear within the first two or three weeks, but you should maintain this habit for the entire rest of you life, if you want to prevent your neck pain problems from returning.

You can also learn how to relax neck muscles at home, so that you don’t need to go to a yoga studio for that. Neck stretches are simple movements with huge effects on relieving the tension and relaxing your muscles. Consider doing several series of seated neck tilts, chin to chest stretches and standing neck stretches. All these exercises can be found online, and they are fairly easy to replicate without the help of a personal trainer.

Self applied acupressure Method

Self applied acupressure is another relief that could work. You need one sock and two tennis balls. Alternatively, you can use a quality foam roller to apply pressure on the trigger points on your neck. Either way, this is an inexpensive and handy solution to get rid of your neck stiffness and alleviate the pain. The same effect can be obtained by massaging these points using your thumb and forefinger. You can identify these trigger points by the rope like feeling you get when you pass your fingers over them. Moreover, you’re going to feel a certain discomfort, which is a sure sign you’ve touched a sensitive spot.

Do What Works For You To Relax The Body

If you can’t or you don’t want to use any of the above described methods, you can simply apply a heat pack to your neck muscles for 20 minutes at a time. Heat is very good for reducing spasms and for relaxing tensed muscles.

This is how to relax neck muscles and obtain immediate pain relief. Choose the method that suits you best. For better results, you may want to combine two or more methods. Whatever your choice, always remember to discuss your intention with your doctor before trying any relief. This is how you can prevent creating more severe problems. Besides, it’s not a bad idea to have a medical specialist monitor you. Should you observe any abnormal symptoms, discontinue all procedures and seek for urgent medical attention. Relieving neck tension is good, but only when it doesn’t affect your overall health and well-being.

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