Guidelines to Wear Cervical Collar

Cervical collar also known as neck brace is a medical device which is mostly used for providing support to the injured neck. Doctor’s consults their patient to use cervical collar to reduce any kind of discomfort in the neck.

1. If you’re suffering from neck pain then the best thing would be to first consult your doctor about what type of neck brace should I purchase.
2. To lower discomfort in your neck you need to wear cervical collar at all times. You cannot get better if you’re going to wear it for just an hour and hoping that your pain will go.
3. It will be better if you buy two set of cervical collar in case if one is damaged or you need to clean your brace, in that situation you can use the spare one. I know you’ll be thinking that why should I pay extra money when I only need 1 collar. But trust me, when your neck brace gets damaged, the spare one will be the life saver.
4. Always keep checking your skin under the neck support for redness, drainage or tenderness. These are very common problems that you may face while wearing collar for a long period of time.
5. Make sure that whenever you get up or sit down while wearing your surgical neck collar you take the help of a chair that has arms. It becomes easier to stand up or sit using the arms; it lowers the risk of strain on your neck.
6. Avoid any object that can misbalance your body while moving and check your surroundings for throw rugs and electric cords that increases the risk of falling down.
7. Use non slippers bath mats, shower chair and grab bars in the bathroom to avoid accidental fall. There’s a high risk of fall while taking bath, so be sure to grab these things that one should have in their bathroom to avoid any further accidents.
8. You should not lift heavy things while wearing cervical neck collar, it puts strains on your neck.
9. The best thing would be take a nap as much as possible but it doesn’t mean you need to stay in the bed all day.

Ask your doctor about physical therapy that will result in betterment of your neck. Don’t perform neck exercises when wearing any type of brace such as knee brace or neck brace and start moving your head up or down or side to side without consulting your doctor first.