Diagnosis

Since neck tensions have many different causes, it can sometimes be difficult to make a diagnosis. In the case of stress-related causes and signs of wear and tear, such as osteoporosis or arthrosis, a visit to the family doctor can be helpful. Malpositions of the spine can best be visualized with imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In most cases, a general practitioner or orthopedist will be able to make a meaningful diagnosis.

Therapy

There are a variety of approaches to individually release neck tensions, at least partially. It is important to prevent future tensions by correct posture.

Heat can often be helpful.
Cherry stone pillows or hot showers can usually alleviate the symptoms. However, if there is additional inflammation in the neck area, heat is counterproductive.
Movement is especially important to avoid keeping the neck in an unnatural position.However, gentle movement (e.g. swimming) and jerky movements should be avoided.
Meditation and autogenic training serve to relieve stress, so that the whole body and thus also the tense neck area can relax again.
Regular physiotherapeutic massages are especially helpful.
Specially performed massages can also relieve the pain. For this purpose, so-called trigger points are sought by stroking the tense areas with your head tilted forward and both hands.
These are individual muscle hardenings that can be released with gentle but steady pressure. To do this, the hardened areas are slowly circled with the fingers. This is uncomfortable at first, but after a while it is much less painful.
Muscle Exercises
Oils
Surgical procedures that relieve neck tension by eliminating the cause are also possible if a special diagnosis is made.

Get used to including neck exercises in your daily routine several times a day.

For this purpose, it is best to choose several exercises that you feel comfortable with and can perform during everyday activities, such as brushing your teeth. exercises:

For the first exercise, place your hand on your forehead, then on both temples and the back of your head and press lightly on it with your head for 10 seconds each time. This provides a brief and gentle pressure on the neck muscles, followed by a relaxation phase of the muscles.
This also applies to the brief lifting of the shoulders on both sides. Repeat this 5 to 10 times.
The next exercise describes the lateral stretching of the neck. To do this, grasp the head with one hand and pull it gently to one side for about 15 seconds until a feeling of stretching occurs on the other side.
Be careful not to pull too hard and not to strain the neck too much. Hold this exercise for about 15 seconds and take care not to pull too much on the neck.
To mobilize the spine, you can raise and fold your hands to chest height while standing. One leg is lifted at an angle and turned to one side, while the hands pull to the other side of the body.
Keep your upper body and hips as straight as possible and repeat this exercise 10 times before lifting the other leg and straining the other side.
Circling the arms and shoulders also loosens the neck muscles. To do this, simply raise your arms and circle 20 times forward and 20 times backward or alternatively hold your arms to your body and, without much effort, circle your shoulders back and forth.
Another exercise is the massage of the head-turning muscle (Musculus sternocleidomastoideus). To do this, turn the face in one direction until the head turner muscle protrudes visibly or palpably on the other side.
Massage it gently from ear to collarbone and stroke it out.
So-called ‘CAT-COW’s help to relax the back and neck area. To do this, press your back down again and again while standing on your four feet and make a ‘cat hump’ towards the top. Repeat this 10-15 times.

With chronic neck tension it is important to move regularly and build up muscles.

In this way, the pain is relieved, tension is partially relieved and new tension is prevented. However, it is important to choose the right type of movement. Especially for people with chronic neck tensions, some types of sports are counterproductive.

These sports include tennis, squash or badminton. Any sport that puts unilateral strain on the neck or one arm aggravates the clinical picture. One should make sure that the sport one chooses puts strain on the whole body.

An important additional factor is the reduction of stress during sport, which can prevent further tension. In all sports, it is important to include an appropriate warm-up phase in which all muscles and ligaments are stretched before stress occurs. This is an absolute must, especially for people with tension.

A ‘cool down’ phase after the effort is also important.

Swimming is one of those sports that gently exercise the whole body. However, breaststroke, in which the head is held too far out of the water and thus the neck muscles are compressed, should be avoided.
Backstroke and crawl are suitable.
Cycling, soccer and inline skating are all sports that require several muscle groups.
Jogging, as a gentler endurance sport, ensures good blood circulation. This helps to release tension.
Dancing trains posture and the ability to move correctly.
Yoga and Pilates strengthen the whole body and help to relax at the same time.

If the neck tension is not due to an inflammation, heat will effectively help with tension. If a deep heat is generated, it will cause the blood-carrying arteries to dilate, which leads to better blood circulation and oxygen supply to hardened muscles.

This warmth can be generated by a cherry stone pillow heated in the oven or microwave. Hot-water bottles, which are filled with hot water, or rolled up towels, which are partially covered with hot water, also provide short-term warmth. A therapy with red light can also help in the long term.

For this, a red light lamp is needed, which shines on the tense region at a distance of about 40 to 50 cm and an irradiation period of 10 to 15 minutes. Also ointments and heat plasters, which are available in the pharmacy, can be helpful. Heat plasters provide heat for up to 12 hours.

Acupuncture is a Chinese medicine. It is based on the belief that the energy of the body, called QI, flows through the body on certain paths. If the energy flow is disturbed, it can be restored by fine acupuncture needles, which are inserted into the skin at certain points.

The needles remain there for about 10 to 30 minutes to restore the balance. During this time, heat may appear in the treated area. Except for a possible slight injection pain, only minor pain is usually felt.

The needles can be modified by heat or stimulation current to achieve better and specific effects. Side effects may include slight bleeding or bruising at the site of insertion, but these occur only rarely, if at all, because the needles are very thin. The duration of a session varies from person to person, depending on how painful and long-lasting the neck tension is.

Acupuncture is an alternative healing method and is not yet scientifically proven. However, there are smaller studies that show less pain in patients treated with acupuncture than in patients without it. One explanation for this is that the needles placed in the nerve tracts release pain-relieving messengers, which leads to a reduction in pain.

Osteopathy describes a complementary medicine that considers the body, mind and soul as a whole. This is influenced by the individual environment. If each individual body structure is mobile, the body as a whole with its nervous and vascular system is mobile and thus able to heal itself.

If an organ or a muscle is restricted in its movement, the osteopath tries to find the cause and treat it. During a session for the treatment of neck tension, the head and body posture is observed and assessed after a medical history. Afterwards, the spine, back muscles and neck are palpated.

In many cases, the osteopath can spontaneously relieve the pain by just performing a few movements. The kinesiologic tape, also known as physio tape, is an elastic tape made of plastic, which is treated with polyacrylate glue, stuck to certain parts of the body and is supposed to achieve therapeutic effects of various kinds there. It can remain stuck to the skin for between four and seven days and is waterproof.

It should be applied on dry and clean skin. Before that, it may be useful to remove hair from the respective body parts. The therapeutic effect is achieved by the tape moving and adapting to the movements of the body, thus stretching and massaging the tissue and skin under the tape.

This stimulates the blood circulation, lymph flow and nerve tracts in this region and tensions can be released. There are several ways to apply the tape. It makes sense, especially in the neck and back regions, not to do this yourself, but to ask your partner or at best seek professional help who can choose and explain the best way to apply the tape.Taping not only helps with tension in the neck, but also with muscle inflammation, arthrosis or migraine/headaches and is therefore versatile.

Gels, ointments and tablets can be helpful to improve the symptoms for a shorter period of time. It should be noted that ointments and gels usually have far less influence on the organism, as they only act locally at the point of application. However, in some cases they do not have the same intensive effect as painkillers, as they only penetrate into upper tissue layers.

Various ointments provide warmth, pain relief or combine both. The warming effect is usually triggered by the active ingredient capsaicin, which is extracted from chilli peppers. Veins under the skin ensure better blood circulation in the muscle areas by expanding them.

In addition, the release of pain messenger substances is inhibited. These ointments usually work for several hours. Well-known and helpful pain ointments are for example Voltaren Pain Gel, Thermacare Pain Gel, Kytta Ointment and Traumel Ointment.

Heat patches have a similar effect, their effect lasts for a similar length of time and they often use the same active ingredient. If painkillers are chosen, there is also a large selection of these. Paracetamol reliably relieves pain, as the pain signals cannot be transmitted to the brain.

However, too high doses of this can cause liver damage. Ibuprofen is another option, but often combined with digestive tract and stomach intolerance. The same applies to acetylsalicylic acid, ASS or Aspirin®, which suppresses the production of tissue hormones (prostaglandins).

At night the painkiller Naproxen can help, which relieves pain for up to 12 hours. There are few known side effects of this painkiller. It is important not to resort to pain medication permanently, but to actively do something against the neck tension!

Homeopathy is an alternative treatment method. Here natural substances, which were made from plants or animals, are used for therapy. A homeopathic treatment consists of a conversation in which the symptoms are defined as far as possible to find the right homeopathic remedy for the individual person.

There are also some remedies for neck tensions which can be helpful. The remedy “Ruta” is often used for this. This remedy is effective for neck tensions caused by poor posture, but can also be used for conditions such as bone fractures, sprains and bruises.

The remedy “Cimicifuga” is also effective for particularly strong tensions that radiate into the arms and back. Nux vomica” is recommended for tensions that are most severe at night and in the morning and become more painful due to movement. Those that become more painful through heat and movement can be treated with “Bryonia”.

The listed remedies are some of many alternatives. It is therefore advisable to seek professional advice. In some cases, neck tensions can also be relieved or at least improved with the help of home remedies in order to ease the pain and be able to go about a normal everyday life.

Heat is the most important and simplest measure here. A cherry stone pillow, which is heated in the oven or microwave, a heated hay flower sack or a spelt pillow is suitable for this purpose. A hot-water bottle or a heating pad on which you can sleep are also warming alternatives.
Warm clothing, such as scarves and turtlenecks, can also make a significant contribution to improving tension. Another option is treatment with a warm quark wrap, which you place on the affected area. It can also be beneficial to visit a sauna or steam bath.

However, it is important to make sure that the cause of the tension is not an inflammation, on which heat would have a counterproductive effect!
The next step is to choose a mattress that is gentle on the back, especially with emphasis on the upper back and neck area. A suitable neck cushion also improves the sleeping position.
Another proven household remedy is St. John’s wort oil, which is drizzled on a absorbent cotton pad and then placed on the painful area. This is covered with a foil and a cloth and left there for some time.
Camomile oil can also be helpful when used as a bath additive. In combination with camomile oil, the warmth of the water has an increased effect on tense muscles.
Tiger Balm is a combination of various remedies and essential oils that stimulate circulation and warm the skin. Especially Tiger Balm RED, which additionally contains cinnamon and cloves, is said to be helpful for hardened muscles.