Common causes of neck injury leading to neck pain include bad posture, car accidents, especially whiplash injuries, sports accidents and sleeping without adequate neck support.

Here are suggestions for alleviating the pain:

Avoid over the counter medication. These only disguise the pain by preventing the brain from receiving the signal that something is wrong. They’re good for short term situations but nothing more.

If your neck pain lasts more than a few days it’s wise to seek help from a chiropractor. Chiropractors have the knowledge and skills to assess and correct neck and spine problems. They can realign the spine and muscles back into their correct positions, thus taking the strain off the neck. This relieves the pain and reduces its chance of returning.

Examine the pillow you’re using. If you have chronic neck pain, your pillow could be part of the problem.  Your pillow should be keeping your spine in a neutral position, neither pushing your head up towards the ceiling nor dropping it down towards the bed. Your best choice is an adjustable pillow. The Mediflow Waterbase pillow is a good choice. It’s infinitely adjustable to provide exactly the right amount of support and comfort for each individual; just adjust the amount of water in the water bladder.

Neck pain is one of the most common symptoms reported to General Practitioners. The causes can vary from a simple muscle strain to a major spinal disorder. With the spine bearing the entire weight of the body, it experiences significant wear and tear. As a result, it’s no wonder that trauma to the neck and spine are so common.

A large majority of individuals with neck pain have simple muscle strains which can be treated through management of posture, nutrition, exercise, physiotherapy or occupational therapy. It’s rarely necessary to resort to more invasive means.

And after you’ve had your neck pain treated, a supportive pillow is helpful in maintaining proper neck position during sleep. The Mediflow Waterbase pillow is the only pillow that has been clinically shown to relieve neck pain. Simply by adjusting the amount of water in the water bladder you can tailor the support level to suit your individual requirements.

In a new study which was published in the medical journal "The Lancet", it was reported that low-level laser therapy yielded promising results in the treatment of acute neck pain. The study found that the reduction of pain occured immediately and also that after successful treatment, pain was relieved for up to 22 weeks.  In fact, the results from low-level laser treatment compared favorably to other forms of traditional treatment for neck pain, particularly pharmacological interventions. It was further found that benefits from treatment occur when the laser is used alone or in conjunction with exercise and stretching programs. Subjects treated received anywhere from 1 treatment to 30 treatments administered over a 5 week period. The study group was 80% female with a mean age of 43 years and a symptom duration of 90 months.

Studies such as these point out that there are many alternatives to drug treatment or surgical procedures for chronic neck pain. If you have experienced chronic neck pain, you should take some time to investigate all available therapies fully and see if you can find a course of therapy other than drugs or surgery that might work for you.  While undergoing therapy it is very important to eliminate possible sources of neck pain so that treatment will be enhanced and its effects longer lasting.  One major item to examine is the pillow that you spend 1/3 of your day on!  If your pillow does not provide proper cervical support you need to change it right away.  The Mediflow Waterbase pillow is the best choice for neck pain because is the only pillow clinically shown to reduce neck pain.  3 major published studies including one conducted at Johns Hopkins University have shown that the Mediflow pillow relieves neck pain and improves quality of sleep.  If you suffer from neck pain, you should be sleeping on the Mediflow pillow.  Get one today.  You'll see why 4 million people trust their sleep to Mediflow. 

Unlike most chronic pain, neck pain can occur sporadically, coming and going at times for no apparent reason. Being able to identify when the neck pain is only minor and when it is a major neck pain is important in deciding when to seek treatment.

Common characteristics of minor neck pain are slight shoulder pain associated with the neck pain, a throbbing ache that is reduce by massage or a cold pack, or pain that does not become worse and begins to fade after 24-48 hours.  If any of these symptoms describe your neck pain it is most likely that you are experiencing minor neck pain and should try treating it with massage or possibly an ice pack.  If you do not experience any relief almost immediately or if the pain becomes worse, then the neck pain should be considered major neck pain and you should seek professional treatment. Minor neck pain does not get worse before it gets better like the common cold, only major neck pain will become steadily more painful.

After you have successfully treated you minor neck pain, it is a good idea to try and determine what triggered the discomfort.  One of the most common causes of minor neck pain is a worn out or inappropriate bed pillow.  The best pillow choice you can make to treat and avoid neck pain is the Mediflow waterbase pillow.  The Mediflow pillow is the only pillow which has been clinically shown, in 3 major studies no less, to relieve neck pain and improve quality of sleep. You can find the pillow along with all of the clinical study information at www.mediflow.com. Also you will find links to major retailers that sell the pillow.  Pay close attention to what their customers who bought the pillow have to say.  You'll be glad you did.

The holidays are upon us and inevitably, that means busy days and late nights as we shop for presents, attend parties and other events and eat and drink more than we should.

Because of all of these holiday activities, most of us do not get enough sleep! Our bodies need at least 7 hours of sleep at night to allow time to boost our immune systems.  In fact, a major study was published recently that found that those who slept less than 7 hours were 3 times more likely to develop a cold than those who slept just 1 hour more. Ever wake up after a scant few hours of sleep and look in the mirror to see black circles under your eyes and wrinkles in your skin?  Those are just the outward symptoms of the stress your body is under when you don't get enough sleep and your body can't replenish itself properly.

It's hard to find the time at this time of year to get the sleep you need to replenish your body and wake up feeling truly refreshed and rejunvinated.  A very easy way to make the most out of those precious hours of sleep is to improve the quality of sleep in the hours that you have.  How easy?  It's as easy as choosing the pilllow clinically shown to improve the quality of sleep above all others tested at Johns Hopkins University, the Mediflow Waterbase pillow.  If you improve the quality of your sleep, you get to sleep faster, wake up less often and maximize the time you have during the holidays to replenish your body, your immune system and wake up more refreshed and able to fight off the germs and viruses that you come into contact with at this time of year.