Whether you’ve already been diagnosed with a bulging disc in your neck or just think you may have this common and painful problem, there are things you can do to get some relief. While bulging disc pain can sometimes create a debilitating condition, it doesn’t always have to. There are actions you can take right away to improve your life. Even something as simple as a cervical neck pillow may make a huge difference.
If you haven’t already seen a doctor for your bulging disc pain, that’s the first step. Medical professionals have more solutions for back and neck pain than ever before. Pain medicines and anti-inflammatory drugs work better and faster than ever before, and today’s surgical options are less invasive and often require less healing time.
But if you’ve already seen a doctor and still aren’t getting relief, here are four specific things you can try that may make your everyday life better:
1. Exercise. Your doctor probably told you to avoid heavy lifting, but some types of exercise may be okay, and the stretching aspects of some exercises can make a significant difference for bulging disc pain in your neck. There are books and DVDs available that are tailored to your exact trouble and can help you decide what kind of exercises are right for you. When you follow the directions the professionals on these DVDs or in these books offer, you’re likely to get good results that reduce your pain.
2. Learn yoga. Much of yoga is simply stretching, and this very specific kind of exercise is something you can learn from a DVD. Better yet, find a local yoga class. When you first start out, many poses will be difficult because of the pain in your neck, but once you start to loosen up a bit, you’ll find that you can do most poses. Just remember not to do anything that causes moderate or severe pain, but try to push your limits slightly so you can gain movement and ease your pain and stiffness over time.
3. Change your pillow. Your neck may benefit from a new pillow-top bed, but there are less expensive changes you can make too. One of them is to try a neck support pillow for your bulging disc pain. Your doctor may have already recommended this. A good choice is the Arc4life Cervical Linear Traction Neck Pillow — available from Amazon. It can help increase blood flow and encourage a good sleeping position. You may also benefit from a memory foam mattress topper or foam wedges.
4. Avoid making things worse. You may not appreciate this advice, but you can save yourself a lot of hassles by simply avoiding making things worse as you get over the most critical stages of your condition. This means avoiding the situations that injured neck in the first place and admitting to friends and coworkers that you have a neck problem so they won’t depend on you for any heavy lifting for a while. It doesn’t make sense to hide your neck pain or do something that you know will hurt you. When everything is out in the open, that will reduce your stress — and interestingly, that could actually help reduce your neck pain as well.
And of course, there are many other actions you can take to decrease the bulging disc pain in your neck. You don’t have to suffer, and if you’re suffering now you can take action to make things better. Whether getting the best neck pillow you can find will help or not isn’t something I can tell you for sure, but taking no action isn’t going to solve the problem either.
So learn yoga or at least some stretching exercises if your doctor allows it. Then get your bedding in order. And whatever you do, don’t let people talk you into doing things that will make your neck pain worse.
You may have been told that the herniated disc in your neck will cause you a lifetime of pain, and it might. But it’s possible to eliminate or at least manage the pain in many circumstances if you take the right actions.
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