A spasm is a reflexive consolidation of muscle in your body. It may lead to severe neck pain quite frequently. This neck pain can last for minutes, but sometimes can even stay for hours, or days after the muscle moderates and the spasm abate.
Neck spasms can cause in any part of your body where there’s a muscle, so it includes your neck.
If you feel a neck spasm, you’ll experience an unexpected and excruciating pain in one or more areas of your neck, profound in the muscle tissue. The pretentious muscle might also feel tensed or tight and can become quite painful to the activity of your neck around. So, if you are looking for an escape route from this, you should visit a pain center for pain management in Singapore.
Neck spasms: Causes
There are several possible causes of neck spasms and you might come down with a neck spasm if you:
- Tensed neck due to improper exercise
- Lifting something heavier
- Put a lot of weight on one of your shoulders
while carrying a backpack
- Keep your neck in an unusual position for an elongated period, such as when keeping a phone in between your shoulder and ear or when sleeping in a bad posture
Other common causes of neck spasms are,
- Emotional stress
- Bad posture, like slouching or head leaning
- Dehydration that can lead to muscle cramps and spasms
Some of the least common but more
significant causes of neck spasms are,
- Meningitis, a very critical infection that
leads to inflammation in the brain and spinal cord
- Cervical spondylitis, a type of arthritis
that can damage the spine
- Ankylosing spondylitis, an issue that leads
to vertebrae in the spine to merge
- Spasmodic torticollis, which is also known
as cervical dystonia that happens when neck muscles get stiffed
involuntarily and make your head tilt to one side
- Whiplash
- Herniated disc
Home remedies
Before seeking effective neck pain treatment in Singapore, you can go through any of the following home remedies to get relief from neck spasms.
Over-the-counter pain relievers
To decrease neck pain from a neck spasm, it might be helpful help to use an over-the-counter (OTC) medication, such as
- Aspirin
- Ibuprofen
- Naproxen sodium
- Acetaminophen
Most OTC pain relievers mitigate muscle stiffness by decreasing inflammation that can aggravate the pain of a neck spasm.
Ice pack
Application of an ice pack or cold compress to stiff muscles in your neck might provide solace from pain, especially during the first few days after you encounter a neck spasm.
Remember not to put ice directly on the skin of the neck area, but wrap an ice pack or bag of ice in a thin soft towel. Apply the wrapped ice to the stiff neck area for around 10-15 minutes and reapply the wrapped ice as frequently as once an hour for the first 48 to 72 hours after experiencing a stiff neck.
Read Also: Shoulder Cracking: What Should You do About It?
Heat therapy
Heat therapy might also help relieve pain in your neck and you might find it comfortable to take a warm shower or wear warm clothes or use a warm water bottle or heating pad around your neck.
To avoid burns, always review the
temperature before applying the heat therapy to your neck. If you’re applying a
warm water bottle or heating pad, put a thin cloth in between it and your neck.
One more thing – try not falling asleep with a heating pad on the neck area.
