Why did I wake up with neck pain?

Waking up with a 'kink' in the neck is a quick way to put a damper on anybody's day. It's painful, debilitating and overall annoying. There are a few different reasons why this happens that this blog will go over, and fortunately it is often very easy and quick to treat. 

Look at your pillow

A question the doctors at Gallatin Valley Chiropractic get on a weekly basis, is what kind of pillow is the best? We rarely recommend specific brands of pillows, instead we look at a couple different aspects. A good rule of thumb is to replace your pillow every one to two years. 

• You should look at the quality of the pillow making sure it's not getting lumpy or developing uneven portions from over use. 
• You should also look at the thickness of the pillow. This is important, as you don't want the pillow to be too fluffy or thick because it will put the spine out of alignment over your shoulders. In other words your ear will be angled too far towards your shoulder. You don't want the pillow too thin as it will also put the spine out of alignment over the shoulders the opposite direction as the pillow being too thick.

Look at the day before...

Pain can often be due to multiple factors. 

• Have you been more stressed 
• Have you been eating well
• Have you been exercising exercising
• Have you been sleeping well

These are just a couple factors to consider. For example, If the previous day you had to move out of your apartment and were doing more heavy lifting than you typically do, there's a good chance your muscles will tighten up over night and placing more strain on your vertebrae, resulting in you waking up with neck pain. If stress is the issue, there will be an in flux in cortisol in your body resulting in a hypersensitive nervous system, thus amplifying your pain reception. 

How do you fix neck pain from sleeping wrong?

Chiropractic care is a great way to quickly alleviate neck pain from sleeping in an unfavorable position. Chiropractors are trained to assess and treat misalignments in the cervical spine that are causing pain, as well as eliminate other more serious causes of neck pain. Once the vertebral segments are moving healthy again and are more symmetrical, the chiropractor will also perform specific muscle work to alleviate the specific muscles causing pain. Once treatment is completed, the doctor and patient will often go over proper sleeping posture as well as prescribe exercises and stretches to further help alleviate the problem. 

To schedule call us at 406-551-2177 or 

go online to gallatinvalleychiropractic.com