Home Treatment for Neck Pain

Neck pain troubles many people day after day. There is a very simple method to treat neck pain at home: muscle stimulation. Simple and effective! In this article you can learn about treatment with a muscle stimulator.  

What causes neck pain?

These days neck pain is most often a "civilization ailment."

• "I slept awkwardly on my neck." It's a well-known and common problem to wake up with one-sided neck pain. It is caused by muscles that were overstretched during sleep. You fell asleep sitting in front of the TV or a crumpled pillow under your head left a neck muscle in a prolonged strained position.
• Work-related stress: the tension and stress of the whole day can cause tightening neck pain by afternoon or evening, which can radiate forward toward the temple and, via the trapezius muscle, onto the neck, shoulders, and even the upper arm.
• Poor posture: you use a computer all day because of your job. However, when your workstation was set up, no attention was paid to your health. Your monitor is too low and you have to look down. Your neck stays in a forward-bent position all day. By evening it becomes really stiff.

If you also do not exercise regularly, do not train the neck muscles, and do not release tension, the problems can become particularly severe.

Home treatment for neck pain

Obviously the most effective approach would be to eliminate lifestyle causes: remove stress, change a bad workplace environment. However, these are often not solvable, because—especially in rural areas—there may be no other job options, you cannot replace or change your boss, and the employer may not be willing, for example, to provide monitor stands (to correct poor posture).

Muscle-relaxing drugs for the neck do not have a substantial effect, because they cannot solve muscle overuse. Medication does not affect the actual condition of the muscles (at best you may experience side effects like stomach pain, acidity, ulcers, etc.).

Muscle stimulator – effective for treating all muscle pain

The programs of a muscle stimulator device for muscle relaxation and muscle strengthening can help a lot.

• muscle-relaxing (stiffness-relieving) programs: suitable for reducing and eliminating established tight, painful muscle tension
• muscle-strengthening programs: by strengthening the neck muscles they help prevent complaints arising from posture problems. Stronger neck muscles tolerate the load better and, even if you slump in front of the screen, they can "take the strain."

Which devices are good for home treatment of neck pain?

If you don't have other problems, the simplest devices such as the Rehalito or the Myolito are suitable.

If you have other complaints, multifunctional, more capable devices are worth considering for their treatment: Elite SII, Genesy SII, MyoBravo, Elite, Elite 150, Premium 400, Genesy 1500, Genesy 3000, Cycling Pro, Moto Pro, Runner Pro, Soccer Pro, The Champion, Activa 700.

How to apply it?

For neck pain you need at least a 2-channel muscle stimulator device.

Preparation

Take out the

• device
• 2 stimulating cables
• 4 self-adhesive electrodes; 5×5 cm ones are most suitable. The ValueTrode, UltraStim and PALS electrodes are all good for this purpose. The more expensive electrode transmits the impulse more effectively, resulting in better treatment results and less discomfort.

Connect one end of the cables to the device and the other end to the electrodes.

Placing the electrodes

Stick the electrodes to the neck muscles.

• The two electrodes connected to the same cable should be on the same side of the body!
• In the illustration the CH1 (that is, channel 1) electrodes are placed on the left side, and CH2's (channel 2) on the right side.
• For muscle stimulation I think polarity is irrelevant, that is, it doesn't matter whether the positive or negative pole is higher. Some believe the positive should be lower (further from the midline and head). Try it! If you feel a difference—though I don't think you will—use the arrangement that feels more effective to you.

neck muscles

Program selection

When you're ready, turn on the device and choose the muscle-relaxing, stiffness-relieving treatment program.

• Rehalito: Program 03
• Myolito: Program 05
• Elite SII: Program 82 or 83
• Genesy SII: Program 28 or 29
• MyoBravo: Program 23, and also try programs 21 and 22.
• Elite, Elite 150, Premium 400, Genesy 1500, Genesy 3000, Cycling Pro, Moto Pro, Runner Pro, Soccer Pro, The Champion, Activa 700:
  Program list / Sport / Stiffness relief
  Program list / Sport / Active regeneration or Post-competition regeneration

Adjusting intensity

Choosing the program does not mean the treatment has started. If you look at the display, the current will show 0 mA (milliamps). Find the + and – buttons on your device. Each channel has its own. Pressing + increases the current, – decreases it.

Everyone feels the current differently and reacts differently. You will feel it differently even on different days. That's why the device always starts from zero. You must find the right value for you.

If you raise the intensity step by step, you'll first feel a fine tingling caused by the current. Then you'll feel small twitches in your muscles. These weak contractions still have no effect, so you need to raise the intensity further.

The higher the intensity, the stronger the contractions you will experience.

However, a certain (individual) current strength can already cause pain. This is caused by the voltage passing through the skin.

At that point reduce the intensity by a few mA!

For muscle-relaxing, stiffness-relieving, circulation-enhancing treatments the intensity should be medium. You should feel definite contractions, but this should not be uncomfortable or painful!

Using too low a current in muscle stimulation is a mistake! If you do not feel definite muscle contractions, the treatment has no effect.

Treatment duration and frequency

Contraction (that is, movement) is natural for your muscles. You can move as much as you want—of course fatigue sets a limit. It's the same with stimulation: you can use it as much as you like, only muscle fatigue limits it.

As with physical exercise, overdoing stimulation is not good, so you don't need to stimulate all day!

Device programs are set by doctors and physiotherapists based on decades of international treatment experience. Every program has a pre-set, default duration. You do not need to change that.

If you feel pain, perform one treatment. This usually lasts 15–20 minutes. I do not recommend a single very long stiffness-relieving treatment. Instead try doing one every 3–4 hours.

I do not recommend more than 3–4 treatments per day (although it has been shown that even up to 10 treatments have no side effects or risks).

Treatment effect

The effect of a muscle stiffness-relieving, relaxing, regenerative treatment is most often felt already during the treatment and lasts for several hours. Repeat treatments as needed.

As I mentioned at the beginning, alongside muscle stimulation regular physical exercise is very important. Include traditional exercises/workouts/physical activity in your daily routine. This preserves the condition of your muscles and after 2–3 months you can use stimulation only as a supplement.

After-treatment steps

When the treatment time expires, the program finishes and the impulses stop.

Turn off the device, remove the electrodes from your skin, and immediately put them back on the plastic backing. Handle them carefully—grab the electrode edge and do not pull by the cable.

Tip: if you store the electrodes in the refrigerator (not the freezer!), the adhesive lifespan will increase.