Neck Pain Upon Waking Up, What You Can Do to Help

            No matter how you look at it there are only two things that can cause your neck to hurt worse in the morning than when you went to bed. These two things are:

1) Your pillow

2) The position you sleep in

or both.

            If you increase the strain on the tissues of your neck at night then you will wake up with your neck hurting in the morning. The above are the only two things that can do that while you sleep.

            Your pillow is often the key. If you sleep on your back all or most of the time then you want a thin pillow. Why? You do not want your head pushed forward all night. This will cause to much strain on the tissues of the neck all night and you will wake up hurting.

            If you sleep on your side all or most of the time then you want a pillow that is tall enough and firm enough to keep your head and neck straight in line with your spine. If the pillow is too soft or too short your head will fall down. If the pillow is too tall your head will be pushed up. Both of these are like walking around all day with your ear on your shoulder all day. Your head and neck need to be straight in line with your spine just like when you are sitting or standing. The height and density of your pillow are what control this when you sleep on your side.

            If you sleep on your stomach you must sleep with your head turned to one side all night. This is like walking around all day with your head turned to one side. Try that and see how you feel at the end of the day. Sleeping on your stomach will always cause this type of a neck problem eventually as it causes excessive strain on the tissues for a prolonged period of time.

            To break the habit of sleeping on your stomach just put a large pillow in front of you and one in back of you or one on each side of you to prevent you from rolling either direction on to your stomach. This will help to break the habit of sleeping on your stomach.

            The above corrections will often solve the problem of neck pain when you wake up when done properly, when they don’t you need professional help.