How You Can Hurt Yourself in Bed

A mysterious ache crept into my neck and head as I slept. The pain lasted three days and nights, travelled down my arm, and impaired my right hand. How could something as innocuous as sleep summon a horrible headache and weak wrist? Or was another bedtime activity the cause?

Upon reflection, I realize that Paul Theroux is to blame. I’ve been reading Ghost Train to the Eastern Star each night, lying on my back with an extra pillow propped under my head and one under my knees. The compelling story and mellifluous writing have kept me up late many nights in a position that strained my upper spine. (I realize that the extra pillow is really to blame, not Theroux.)

Injuries are quite common when we get lost in our head (or in a book or watching TV), only peripherally aware of our bodies. The answer is to use the best possible ergonomics when involved in risky activities like reading in bed or working at a computer. I’ve piled up more pillows to create a back rest so I now read more upright. It also keeps me from reading for too long.

Pillows can cause neck pain when we’re fast asleep, too. A pillow that is too tall overstretches muscles and ligaments. A pillow that is too flat causes the muscles on the up-side of the neck to contract for hours. The answer is to adjust the pillow height to match your neck, and the sleeping on your right side might require a different pillow than sleeping on your left or on your back. My pillow has a different height on each side. The hard part is remembering to turn it when I roll over at night.

If you wake up with a headache or neck pain, evaluate your pillows and bedtime activities. A little investigation will help you troubleshoot the problem. Hopefully the solution will occur to you a little faster than it did to me.

Exercise of the Month: Nose Circles

The British may be known for their stiff upper lips, but Americans may be known by our stiff necks. Tension at the base of the skull, limited range of motion in the neck, and headaches are experienced by many adult Americans – especially if you sit in front of a computer. Here’s a quick and easy exercise to take the pain out of your neck, called Nose Circles.

1. Sit with good posture so your spine is aligned, shoulders are relaxed and head is not forward.
2. Put your palm flat against your nose. Draw a circle with your nose on your hand. The smoother you can make the circles, the more tension you will release.
3. Go the other way.
4. Spiral in and out.
5. When you get the hang of it, you don’t need your hand against your nose. You can just draw the circles in the air.

This contracts and relaxes the suboccipital muscles at the base of the skull so the head can float more freely on top of the spine.

This exercise is excerpted from the newly published, 7 Undulations to Relieve Office Tension, available for free by clicking on the link.

Scarf it Up

Even though it hasn't dipped into the freezing temperatures yet, it is still the time of year to wear a scarf every morning if you are prone to develop stiffness, soreness or pain in your neck.

Trigger points can be activated by cold, according to several sources. Even the time it takes from walking out the front door until your car warms up is enough to aggravate any latent trigger points in the trapezius or sternocleidomastoid. (Don't be afraid of the long names, they are just muscles in your neck.)

Also, when you are sleeping make sure that your blankets cover your shoulders and around your neck to avoid waking up with a stiff neck or headache.

(Photo from http://www.twinsoup.com/.)

Core Muscles of the Neck

This is the third and final article in the series of core strength. As previously noted, the core isn’t limited to the abdomen, but each section of the body depends on active function of core muscles to work optimally. The neck’s unwieldy task of balancing a 10 pound head makes deep muscles vitally important in this fragile part of the body.

Most people feel tension in the superficial muscles of the neck. The trapezius and sternocleidomastoid muscles are common headache culprits. While the usual complaint is pain in the back of the neck, many of the core muscles are located in the front, such as the longus colli, longus capitus, and scalenes. When these muscles aren’t used, they become stiff and inflexible and the neck loses its ability to manage the weight of the head. (Imagine trying to balance a full one-gallon milk jug on a wooden dowel.)

Core muscles are small, so it is best to use small movements to strengthen them. In addition, their slow twitch muscle fibers contract and relax more slowly than other muscles. Keep this in mind when doing core exercises and be patient as these muscles develop.

Exercising the core muscles in your neck, shoulder, hips, spine, and torso will make all other movement easier and reduce your risk of injury. The core muscle exercises described in this series are easily done and won’t even cause a sweat. Devote time every week to keeping your core—and therefore your entire body—strong.