Neck Pain Relief – Buyer’s Guide

Neck pain affects a large percentage of the population at some stage during their lifetime. Neck ache, neck stiffness, neck muscle spasm, referred pain, muscle weakness and altered sensation are symptoms of common neck pain conditions such as whiplash, sciatica, herniated disc, cervical degeneration, osteoarthritis of the neck, wry neck, and spondylitis. Physiotherapy treatment, incorporating exercises that encourage good posture and awareness of neck care, is effective in most cases, but many self-help products are available too.

This Buyer’s Guide will help you to choose the best products to prevent and treat your neck pain.

Neck Rehab at Home

Physiotherapy treatment by a Chartered Physiotherapist is effective in the relief of neck pain in most cases, but there are many products that you can use at home to help you to strengthen the muscles of the neck and back, to improve your posture and to reduce neck pain and stiffness. The DVD: ‘Treat Your Neck and Arm Pain’, by Leading Chartered Physiotherapist Judith Pitt-Brooke, is essential viewing for anyone who suffers from neck pain. Whether your neck pain has come on suddenly or gradually, whether your bad neck is severe or mild, there is a great deal you can do to relieve neck pain and make yourself better, regardless of your age. This DVD will help you understand whether you have damaged any of the spine's structure or muscles, or whether you may be suffering with an age-related condition. It will also give you advice on how to treat the sports injuries that commonly affect the neck, shoulder and arm.

For the effective relief and prevention of neck ache caused by cervical (neck) degeneration, spinal stenosis and slipped disc (prolapsed disc), you can use a neck traction kit that fits to any door. You merely adjust the amount of traction on the neck by increasing or reducing the amount of water in the bag. Cervical traction works on the principle that a mechanical traction force applied to the neck can help to relieve the neck pain caused by a loss of disc height.

The Chattanooga Stabiliser Pressure Feedback is a useful device that provides a visual indication of whether you are working the correct postural muscles, in the right manner, when performing specific neck and back exercises. By using the Chattanooga Stabiliser Pressure Feedback to improve your postural or 'core stability' muscles in this way, you greatly improve spinal stability. Research has proved that this is very effective in the treatment of neck pain from conditions such as a herniated disc or sciatica.

Neck Rehab at Home Product Range

TENS Machines

The TENS system is recommended by back pain clinics and physiotherapy departments throughout the world because there is strong scientific evidence that it works to relieve back and neck pain. A TENS Machine passes an electrical current through the skin to stimulate nerve endings in the neck. The stimulated nerve endings send a signal to the brain and produce drug-free relief of neck pain. You just apply the electrodes to the area where you are experiencing neck pain and set the duration of the treatment to obtain instant TENS treatment of neck pain caused by common conditions, such as sciatica, arthritis and spondylitis.

TENS Machines Product Range

Pain Relieving Gel

Pain relieving gel contains Ibuprofen, a pain killer which acts directly on the neck muscles, plus ingredients that stimulate blood flow, making it ideal for the treatment of neck pain, wry neck, sciatica, general neck muscle stiffness, as well as neck pain resulting from sporting activities. Heat rubs, sprays and deep heat patches work in a similar way, though without a pain-killing ingredient, to deliver penetrating warmth to reduce neck pain. A warm bath, enhanced with a deep heat bath tonic, is an excellent remedy for general neck aches, pains and stiffness following exercise.

Pain Relieving Gel Product Range

Hot Packs and Wraps

By stimulating blood flow and improving the extensibility of joints and muscles, the direct application of therapeutic heat, by means of a heat pack or heat wrap is very effective in the reducing pain and stiffness in the back and neck, greatly improving your mobility. When you suffer neck pain or neck muscle spasms away from the home, where conventional hot packs are not practical, single-use Instant Heat Packs are ideal treatment. In the home a heat wrap - a wheat-filled fabric bag - can be heated time after time to deliver healing warmth to painful neck conditions. A wheat-filled bag can also be stored in the freezer so that, after an accident or a sporting injury, it’s immediately available to deliver instant ice-cold relief of acute neck pain.

Hot Packs and Wraps Product Range

If you suffer from low back pain conditions such as sciatica, slipped disc, herniated disc (slipped disc), degenerative disc disease, facet syndrome, back muscle strain, spinal stenosis, or you have undergone back surgery, it is important that you support your back when you are in bed. Memory foam is a modern material that moulds to the shape of your body and always returns to its original shape when pressure is removed. While you are asleep, memory foam mattresses and mattress toppers provide constant support to your spine, maintaining its natural curves, thus preventing and relieving low back pain. Similarly, a memory foam pillow does not squash flat, so it gives the head constant support and encourages correct spinal alignment, taking away strain and tension from the muscles of the upper back, preventing neck pain.

Pillows and Mattresses Product Range