Have you ever woken up with a stiff neck or can’t turn your head side to side without pain? Your first instinct might be to head to your medicine cabinet and look for a pill to solve the problem. But, do you know what is the main cause of your neck pain? Diagnosing and understanding the source of pain can provide you better options in managing or resolving your pain naturally. As there are many muscles in the back of the neck that can cause neck pain or stiffness, we’ll quickly review two of the more common muscles that can cause this.
Levator Scapulae Tension
A common muscles is is the levator scapulae. This muscle originates in C1, C2, C3 (the top three vertebrae in your spinal column) and attaches to the your shoulder blade (specifically, the superior angle of scapula). When this muscle is tight, it will be hard to turn your neck and the tight muscle also holds the shoulder up. It can cause pain from the occiput (top of your neck and bottom of your skull) down to your shoulders.
Common way to decrease pain: Look down to your armpit on the opposite side of the tight muscle and pull with one hand on the head and the other hand on the table if sitting.
SCM Strain
Do you feel a dull pain along the path of the injury, accompanied by sharp pain when turning or tilting your head? What about stiffness, muscle fatigue and difficulty holding your head upright? If so, your sternocleidomastoid (or SCM) muscle may be strained. This muscle stretches from your breastbone, attaching to your collarbone and connects to the base of your skull under your ear. You have an SCM muscle on each side of your neck and helps to rotate and tilt your head to the left and right. While it is common to default to over-the-counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to relieve some of the pain associated with the strain, there are other ways to try and stretch out the muscle first. Wearing a neck brace to support the weight of your head can temporarily relieving the stress on your SCM muscle.
An SCM strain may cause headaches, especially at the muscle’s attachment point at the base of your skull. Other symptoms may include face or head pain, ringing in your ears, dizziness and blurred vision. Pain and stiffness can disrupt your sleep, which can lead to irritability, fatigue, memory problems and difficulty concentrating.
Common way to decrease pain: Squeeze the SCM muscle by tilting your head forward and turning to the opposite side to relieve some stress. You will decrease a lot of the pain and get rid of your headache by trying this method. If you have a partner who can assist, you can perform this while lying down on your back to minimize any additional strain from the weight of your head due to gravity.
