To think I shouldn't have to pay to be free of neck pain (also asking for helpful pain reducing suggestions?)

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As an ex teacher still working in school I have always held my tension in my neck and shoulders. I have 'shoulders of steel' they are that solid and last term (the busiest in a school year) it was quite busy/stressful and tension in my upper back caused a day off as it 'snapped' that I couldn't move without agony. At the end of half term, having done some Youtube yoga a couple of times, and some neck exercises my neck and shoulders are still painful. I'm dreading going back to work as it can only get worse.

Mentally/emotionally I do do things to look after my wellbeing.
Workload cannot change.

When I talk to people they recommend a Pilates class, a masseuse, physio, chiro etc. All of these cost money and I cannot afford it. I once went for a good thai type massage where the woman really worked hard on my tension and told me she could get rid of it if I had a few sessions with her (a few hundred pounds later...).

AIBU to think that I should be able to find a load of exercises or yoga practice or something that can eventually reduce this tension significantly without paying out?

If anyone is tempted to talk about investment in health etc or a 'few sessions' - thank you - but please don't as financially I really cannot do this.

If anyone has any suggestions of exercises they have seen online that have worked for them, or something similar, I'm looking for this. It just seems unfair that if one doesn't have money, you can't be pain free :(

Thanks

Have you tried every free you tube video on neck stretches and yoga shoulder tension release in existence for free online?
Have you tried every creative visualisation that teaches you how to mentally reduce pain and release it?

I've learned that if you want good health in UK these days, you have to pay. The NHS is broken.

I get a massage every half term or so, but you don’t want to hear that.

Wheat pack in the evenings

Deep Heat if you don’t mind the smell, or ice stuff if you don’t want the Deep Heat smell.

Yoga with Adrienne has a couple of specific neck/shoulder videos.

Pilates videos on you tube?

I have the same currently and have an apppintment with the acupuncturist to release the tension with needling. But you don’t want that.

Have you seen your gp? In recent months I've been referred twice to physiotherapy on the NHS (because apparently holistic care can't happen they're treating both issues separately even have separate physios but that's another thread). The waiting list wasn't as long as I thought it would be. Referred beginning of May and seen in September. Already had mri, advice on some exercises and have a follow up next week.

Daily yoga stretches - books & Youtube - followed by exercise that will loosen all the muscles gently without putting any strain on them.

A gentle run with your arms moving should help. Little and often, don't overdo it.

My GP suffers with neck pain too so gave me exercises and was very helpful.
Also, sleep with one pillow or as flat as possible.

I get this too - sympathies. Something I find effective is one of those plasticky neck helper things that are usually blue for some reason. I lie on it for a few minutes once a day when I’m having trouble. I bought mine after being in a cramped position on a long car journey and it helped hugely.

Try leaning forward, letting your shoulder take the weight of your arm, relaxing all the muscles as much as you can and just swing your arm in small circles. 1-2 minutes each arm in every hour.
It looks odd (we call it monkey arms) but it has really helped DH who like you also holds tension in shoulders.

Whereabouts do you live? We are in England and can self refer to NHS physio services.

Doing this for a bad shoulder has got me a series of exercises to help improve things, instruction on how to strap things up with tape when it was bad, along with some (free) infra red treatment, and an invitation to a pain clinic which helped immensely in the mental aspects of dealing with continual pain. (All in the last 6 months )

Do not suffer in silence, explore any NHS free options available.

I had terrible shoulder pain for years. GP suggested self referral for NHS physio. Waited a few months. First session the amazing physio identified the problem (joint of spine and one particular rib) and literally bounced on the joint for a minute. It rendered me immobile for a day, but I went back a fortnight later for the same, and since then it's been so much better. I also got a massage pillow from Amazon (Xmas present) and found a cheap community hall style Pilates class which I did weekly for a year (until covid meant it shut.)
But the other thing which previously helped neck and shoulder tension was leaving the job which was stressing me out...

Sorry you’re in pain. I’m the same and at times it gets so bad all I can do is lie down in the house.

See if you can get on the NHS list for a physio.

Hot and cold gels work temporarily. I use Biofeeeze and Jointace.

Wheat packs and I’ve packs (the ones the come as a gel and you can refreeze them).

I have an electric neck massager but it’s nowhere near as good as physio.

I’ve found sports massage better than physio (once you know physio the exercises you can do then at home, you’ll be able to find them online). I know you don’t want to hear it but truthfully it is the thing that helps me more than anything else and I’d sacrifice a lot of other things before giving it up because it makes such a difference to my life. Do you have a partner or friend who could learn to loosen the muscles off for you?

the other thing that helps a lot is posture, sitting in a decent chair at work, not carrying a rucksack / carrying a lighter rucksack, and getting enough sleep.

If you see a decent physio, you will pay for an appointment if you can't wait for an NHS one, but in my experience they then recommend series of exercises to continue with and if you follow the exercise plan, it will work - eventually. I found that small outlay for one appointment well worth it for the results, and every time it's come back it's because I've stopped the exercises when I felt better - but I know now what to do to stop it getting worse.

Whats your posture like? Do you push your head forward? Do you slouch at your desk? Is your mid back rounded and your arms pulling in towards your chest?

I keep a handle on pain with a combination of

Shaped neck pillow
Decent posture
Weight training to ensure back muscles hold me up
Other exercises to stretch and strengthen
Using a foam roller to help ease put tightness

The most expensive thing is gym membership at a fiver a week - but that's the one that's reduced the pain the most.

Yes to this. Switching to one fairly flat pillow made a huge difference for me.

It is not free but I bought a home massager that has made a massive difference, definitely cheaper than seeing professionals for sessions.

There are excellent free resources - Lottie Murphy Pilates on youtube for example.

But you haven't had a diagnosis, something "snapped" and you couldn't move without agony. I think you need to know what that was, what is safe for you to do, and then work out how to do it.

In many areas, NHS physio is really overstretched, and people do go private if they can, yes. I wouldn't let anyone but a qualified, registered HCP go anywhere near me after the random pain you descibe.

Physio is incredibly helpful.

Focus on your posture - are you hunching? Just reminding yourself repeatedly through the day to push your shoulders down helps.

I would also ask for a desk assessment at work, if you spend time at a computer - plus just google what to do for your home setup. Right chair, screen raised and a keyboard tray can make a huge difference. If you use a laptop get a tray and separate keyboard. Look up tech neck, it's a huge problem.

On the same note, if you are in the car a lot check out your driving position and steering wheel. The relief when I moved the steering wheel position!

Pillow height in bed - your head should be in a straight line with your neck, not pushed up. I did go through a lot of different pillows to find the holy grail but again, amazing relief.

Finally general upper body exercise, just use a Youtube vid. I swear my shoulders have moved after just a week of cardio. My shoulders may have been tense but they weren't strong.

In my area you can self refer to nhs physio ..

I find that the nhs are useless with pain but it's worth a go !

I know the feeling! Two things that have really helped me are Stretchit (it’s an app - you have to pay a monthly subscription but it’s not a lot and has loads of stretching programmes for including back/neck) and a neck cloud - you can get them on Amazon and it mimics the sort of traction hold that osteopaths do at home so can do it everyday.

Are you at a Local Authority school? Local authorities quite often have access to free physio.
Regular stretching probably would help, remembering to do it daily is tricky.

You CAN tackle this to a large degree with little money,
Do yoga stretches for 15 minutes daily without fail, follow tv or video.
Swim at your local swimming pool as often as you can particularly backstroke and breast stoke, use the sauna after.
Use a microwave heatpad each evening before bed.

After a serious whiplash injury, broken spines in my neck, my GP recommended 'treat your own neck' by McKenzie, a physio from New Zealand. It has exercices to do when it hurts, and ones to do when it doesn't.

I have had good results by adding a daily walk with natural arm swing (not carrying a bag / phone / anything) - ideally for me it needs to be 45 mins to an hour to get proper muscle relaxation benefit, but anything helps

Plus gentle arm / neck stretching every day - usually I do it before bed but ideally it would be a few times a day

Both things are very cheap, but do require time. Otoh the expensive treatments usually require time too so I try to remind myself of that!

Guided body-relaxation meditations are really good too (free on headspace app etc) and I find them helpful but don't do them as often as I should.

Hope you find something that suits you

School funded some physio sessions for my DS (Teaching Assistant) while he was waiting for NHS physio - maybe worth a discussion.

I’d recommend physio to at least try and identify the cause of the issue. They can also give you exercises to help. Private for sooner but seeing as you can’t afford it at least get on the NHS list. They can be long.

in the mean time lots of useful suggestions about neck exercise. I find the Adrienne yoga short neck/shoulders ones help. But I find general yoga helps my stress which I do tend to carry in my shoulders anyway. Just be mindful of what you do.

Heat packs and volterol gel help my dodgy neck/shoulder pain when I get it.