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[meganursula]

-- A couple of years ago i complained of frequent stiff necks. My wonderful LJ contingent suggested i get a new memory foam pillow, which i did, which seemed to fix the problem. For a while.
I'm back to having a stiff neck on more days than not. It seems to help if i can be very careful about how i use the pillow and what position i sleep in, but i can't always seems to keep myself in a decent position. (And sometimes when i think i've been careful i still wake up with a stiff neck.)
It really does seem to be a posture, positional thing. I'm not sure if maybe my ergonomics at work are exacerbating things? Or if it is just sleep?
But, whatever, my neck is killing me today, again.
I wonder if yet another new pillow would help? (I'm pretty sure a massage would be a good thing for me right now, but finding the time and money to get one is proving to be difficult.)

++ Spring break is over. We have to deal with undergrads on campus again, but, the coffee line is open. This greatly increased my quality of life. My coffee this morning was also tasty, hot, and full - it was a good day even by free coffee standards.

++ Madeleine seemed to have a good weekend. She appears to be making some progress on the potty training, managed to sit pretty still at multiple meals, had a good time with Dad, and generally is really cute and sweet.

++ I got a ride to work from my friends this morning. Getting a ride to work makes me feel really really spoiled. It also lets me easily transport my bag of running gear, snacks for the office, and lunch. That also makes me happy.

Comments

[via-lens.livejournal.com]

Muscle pain for me comes about when the spine is misaligned and my body does little things to try and compensate for that, until the muscles end up stiff from all the extra weird effort. No doubt you know this already.

When my back went out on Thursday (from riding a recumbent bike at the gym that had pedals set too wide) I was really worried I wouldn't be able to ride on Sunday, so I got pretty aggressive about resolving it. I determined which rapid movements hurt (standing up straight) and which weird positions felt comfortable (sitting hunched over). This told me that the alignment of my back while straight was out of whack and exacerbated by the stiff muscles. It hurt too much to do any serious stretching yoga poses (like Cobra).

So I laid on my back flat for several half-hour stretches, and at first the position was really uncomfortable but it got better as time went on. This basically let my spine realign and my muscles stop spasming. It took two days, but got it sorted.

A massage will help your sore/stiff muscles but only proper positioning will help your neck's alignment (or a visit to a physical therapist/chiropractor -- I never see chiros who aren't also PTs). If you can't get in to see a PT/chiro, try taking an analgesic/anti-inflammatory and then laying on your memory foam pillow in a position that keeps your neck correctly aligned while you are awake and can concentrate on staying in that position, maybe for 20-30 minutes. If you treat this like yoga (proper breathing, focusing on relaxing the muscles) it will probably make a big difference.

[mh75.livejournal.com]

I can't figure out what i'm doing that causes it, although i do know some things that seem to aggravate it.
I can not find a good stretch for that area, either, despite a lot of trying. Nor strengthening exercises that may help in the long run. It is an odd location.
I could see a chiropractor or pt being useful, but, i think i've used up my 'go to the doctor for a relatively minor but irritating complaint' card for this season. The difficulty of scheduling and price is making it hard to act quickly.
(I doubt that lying in bed in a good position is going to help. The only thing that really takes pressure off my back and neck is an inverted pose - hard to sleep in. I could stand to stretch more in general, though.)

Thanks for your advice, though!!

[via-lens.livejournal.com]

It's possible that you are aggravating an underlying issue that does not ever get totally resolved if this comes and goes, always in the same location, and presenting as muscle pain. I don't know if that moves it from the "annoying" category into a more serious one or not. Also, if that's the case and you still have the same memory foam pillow, it is probably worth getting a new one just because they do tend to break down.

I hope you can get it sorted. Neck pain is the worst for me because it turns into headaches, and I am pretty much useless when my head hurts.

[mh75.livejournal.com]

Heh, but even if it is an underlying problem the presentation says to me that it is a posture and core strength problem - not life threatening, and not really much for me to do beyond what i already know to do (unless someone like PT could identify a more precise axis of the misalignment).

The stomach issues only got dealt with because they could have been indicative of life-threatening disease. But that pretty much used up all my doctor organizing and funding for a little while.

[sinthrex.livejournal.com]

Is it possible that memory foam pillows are like running shoes? IE: You got your two years of good out of it and now it needs replaced?

[mh75.livejournal.com]

Yeah, maybe. It is a good deal softer.

[msde.livejournal.com]

It crossed my mind too, but I think it depends on how much support you actually needed from it.

[cheesepuppet.livejournal.com]

Just a pillow data point: I bought a memory foam pillow shaped like a wave. It's the standard sort of thing people get for stiff necks. It seemed to help at first, but then the effect appeared to wear off.

Now I have a hybrid pillow. It runs on electricity! Just kidding. It's one that is shaped like a normal pillow, and has memory foam on one side, and I believe down fill on the other. I sleep on the fill side, and that thing is reaaaaaally comfy. I've definitely had much less problem with my neck since I bought it a few months ago. I really notice the difference when I sleep at J's.

Now I use the other pillow for reflexology clients. I worked on my other friend Megan (MOFM - I have about five I think), and she fell asleep in about ten minutes.

[mh75.livejournal.com]

Heh. Where did you get the new pillow?
maybe i just need to go back to my normal pillows?

I really blame my shoulders for all this - i never had this problem until a shoulder injury forced me to stop sleeping on just my arm.

[cheesepuppet.livejournal.com]

Ah, yeah, your shoulder theory sounds very reasonable. :\

I got mine at Fred Meyer. In Ellensburg. Which means that in Seattle you could probably buy one anywhere.

You might try going back to your normal pillow for a few nights, just to see. The one I have really doesn't seem like it should make a big difference, but for my body at least, that softness that has the stiffer foam underneath really seems to help. I notice when I flip it over and try to sleep on the memory-foam side, I don't like it nearly as well.