What to do if you have neck pain when looking up

Neck Pain When Looking Up

Every time you look up there it is: that sudden stab of neck pain. It’s affecting your ability to talk to your co-workers from your desk. It makes your bird-watching hobby much less fun. The pain may even be happening when you move your head while sleeping. 

If this sounds like the type of pain you’re dealing with, you’re not alone; it’s reported that 54% of Americans have experienced an episode of neck pain in the past six months. Treating neck pain when looking up can seem like a daunting task, but there are some steps you can take to address this type of pain. 

Three steps that can help address neck pain when looking up

You don’t have to give in if you feel neck pain every time you look up. There are many steps you can take to treat your pain and even prevent it from coming back. Three such steps include: 

  1. Be sure to maintain good head posture — Poor head posture is a common reason that people feel neck pain. After all, the pressure on your neck is doubled when you’re holding your head just one inch farther forward than normal. Taking the time to work on your posture can help reduce this stress on your neck. 
  1. Stretch your neck regularly — Many of our normal daily tasks can lead to tense neck muscles. Such muscles can often feel painful when you look in a certain direction. Stretching your muscles is an effective way to reduce their tension. Even doing a simple stretch like neck rolls can help decrease tension and pain in your neck. 
  1. Go to physical therapy — If self-care doesn’t help reduce your neck pain, you should consider seeking help from a physical therapist. These specialists offer many techniques that can help reduce your neck pain, including: 

Want physical therapy that offers top-notch care for neck pain? Excel PT can help!

Our Excel Sports & Physical Therapy team is ready to help you treat a wide range of neck issues. This can include muscles issues or other problems that are causing neck pain when you look up. 

We’ll start by doing a comprehensive assessment of your neck, which is intended to allow us to pinpoint the root cause of your pain. Next, our physical therapists will put their therapy experience to work and build you a personalized therapy plan designed to reduce your pain. Such a plan can also help prevent your pain from returning in the future. 

Contact our team today for more information about our neck pain treatment services or to schedule an initial appointment.