Neck, shoulder pain : (

[Hollytree]

Has anyone here experienced neck /shoulder pain? I have got it now and it's soooo painful. I am a health anxiety sufferer, so I worry even more that its something else more serious. It scares me and i then get more worried and more anxious. This makes my shoulders hurt even more!!! i have taken painkillers and i have a hot water bottle on it. Is it anxiety, How do i relax?????

[Utility]

Hi

Please try to remember that neck and shoulder pain is very common in anxiety sufferers. And the more they worry about it the more tense they become and the greater the pain. You may not even realise that you are tensing the muscles in that area. Yoga can be very good for helping with this, but make sure you are shown how to do it correctly. Also, just even having a hot bath can ease these aches and pains.

[pinkpenny1uk]

hiya,

one of my main symptoms is neck and shoulder pain. i have suffered with health anxiety/panic attacks now for 3 years and have had this symptom since the start.

utility is right when she says the more u think about it the worse it seems to get. the worse it gets the more u think about it, its a vicious circle.
i have since taken up tai chi and yoga. gentle stretching has really helped me and i would highly recommend it (with a qualified instructor). also have you thought about trying meditation to help you relax?
it is anxiety but i know exactly how you feel. please try not to fret to much about it. if u need to anytime feel free to pm me.

take care
luv pen xx

[rainstorm]

Can you bend your neck so that your chin touches your chest?

I'd recommend a heat pad, one that has those microbeads in it. Throw it in the microwave on high for a few minutes and it's steaming hot, it works wonders for that kind of pain.

Also, try and stray away from painkillers...they only tend to make the pain worse, unless it's an NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) like ibuprofen.

[Hollytree]

Thank u for your response,

Yes i can touch my chest with my chin, thats ok.

i have a hot water bottle, that helps, i've been taking ibuprofen as well.

its just driving me crazy : (

[rainstorm]

Yeah, I know how you feel. Sometimes I get extremely tense and then the pain sets in. I usually have to wail my arms about like a madman for a few minutes every day in order to loosen myself up enough.

Having one of those exercise/yoga balls really helps, too, for stretches and whatnot. I find that moving my head in circles a little helps with stiffness and pain.

Also, rolling your shoulders forward, down, up, forward, down, up, etc, can loosen that area.

This is totally unrelated, but one time I had some really bad ankle pain. It was so bad it was probably an 8/10 on the pain scale when I moved the ball of my ankle any which-way. So...I took quite a bit of ibuprofen, and forcibly moved it around, and I "loosened" the joint enough so that the pain just vanished! It was strange.. one moment it was excruciating, the next, completely gone. I'm thinking that pains like this are probably either a pinched nerve or something like a joint that's just a little too rigid from lack of stretching or whatever, and the stretching "frees" up the tightened area.