Chronic back of head/neck tension - what's helped you?

[UserThenLotsOfNumbers]

As the title says really - any help and suggestions welcome please!

As not to drip feed:

I'm 38, female, slightly overweight but otherwise I'm good health.
Tension type headaches in back of head and neck for about 20 years, they aren't constant but wax and wane. Stress is a big trigger as is lack of sleep. Can be accompanied by nausea and brain fog. Very very rarely vomiting.
I have ulcerative colitis so can't often take ibroprofen as it can cause flare ups, which is a shame as it helps.
I have tried osteopathy which helps a lot but is £££
Hot water bottle on back of head helps a bit
I have a wrap around neck massager thing which helps a bit

I am looking for the holy grail of treatments here I know!

I've never been diagnosed with anything or had any scans (been fobbed off perhaps) however my osteopath believes it's an issue with my posture. I have assumed if it were arthritis or similar she would recognise this, so I'm going with tension!

Thanks!

Do you do any exercise at all?

I think yoga or pilates would help or any movement really.

Jaw relaxation! Look up TMJ etc. It’s all connected.

I walk quite a bit, either during the course of my work day or for a 3 mile walk in the evening. Agree yoga should help - I really need to incorporate it into my routine somehow! TMJ interesting thank you, will look this up!

Acupuncture.
Also strangely hiit training 5 x a week! I started in lock down and my neck pain disappeared. Returning when I stopped for a couple of weeks when I was ill. Must be the movement/blood flow etc.

I had this for years. I actually started eating an anti-inflammatory diet, including daily probiotics. Don't have the pain anymore!

Gosh, your post could read like me. Mine is triggered by bad posture while working on computer and sitting with tension while at computer. I also see an osteopath and he suggested building up my upper body strength. I do a fair bit of cardio but not a lot of strength. Have bought hand weights and am working on that. Mine is awful as well. I also get the brain fog when it is bad. If I wake up with it, it can be so bad if makes me feel sick. I have migraines as well and think the pain is worse than migraine. I agree with PP who mentioned the jaw tension. Get your osteopath to work on that, you might be surprised how much tension is in your face and jaw. I intend to try to go more regularly to osteopath. At the moment, I only go when it’s really bad and it’s too late then.

I had this for ages and then changed my pillow to a single, fairly flat one. Hardly had any aches since. I tried it in desperation and it's honestly been life changing.

@Authenticcelestialmusic

Acupuncture. Also strangely hiit training 5 x a week! I started in lock down and my neck pain disappeared. Returning when I stopped for a couple of weeks when I was ill. Must be the movement/blood flow etc.

Thank you. I have tried acupuncture but sadly it didn't work for me. Once my daughter is older I'll be able to get back to the gym for the workouts I hope!

@freshflowers2

I had this for years. I actually started eating an anti-inflammatory diet, including daily probiotics. Don't have the pain anymore!

Thank you, I am really interested in exploring this. If you could please recommend any websites or recipe books I would be very grateful!

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

I had this for ages and then changed my pillow to a single, fairly flat one. Hardly had any aches since. I tried it in desperation and it's honestly been life changing.

Yes to this as well. If you’re a stomach sleeper like me, it puts your neck in an awful position. My osteopath also suggested sleeping on a folded over duvet if your bed is too hard.

An appointment with a private physio and daily stretching.

@CatsForLife

Gosh, your post could read like me. Mine is triggered by bad posture while working on computer and sitting with tension while at computer. I also see an osteopath and he suggested building up my upper body strength. I do a fair bit of cardio but not a lot of strength. Have bought hand weights and am working on that. Mine is awful as well. I also get the brain fog when it is bad. If I wake up with it, it can be so bad if makes me feel sick. I have migraines as well and think the pain is worse than migraine. I agree with PP who mentioned the jaw tension. Get your osteopath to work on that, you might be surprised how much tension is in your face and jaw. I intend to try to go more regularly to osteopath. At the moment, I only go when it’s really bad and it’s too late then.

I'm so sorry to hear you suffer with this too. You sound just like me. It's awful isn't it. Sometimes the pain is so bad I can't believe it's "just tension"! I too tend to leave it too late before seeking help at times, not helped by the covid situation of course. I think I will schedule quarterly apts with osteo. I hope you find something that helps you soon

I came on to say look into how to rearrange your pillow - mine vastly improved after this, as well as changing from laptop to standalone screen when working at home.

I also clench my jaw a lot & grind my teeth which resulted in my dentist making me a protective thing to wear at night, seems to help as well.

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie

I had this for ages and then changed my pillow to a single, fairly flat one. Hardly had any aches since. I tried it in desperation and it's honestly been life changing.

Thank you. OMG I've tried SO many pillows it's unreal!! I never find a perfect one but I have a rolleka one from ikea which is ok, I also have a memoery foam type ikea one that I use sometimes too. Which one do you have?

I'm not a stomach sleeper, but always on the look out for the best pillow ever!

@LadyFuschia

I came on to say look into how to rearrange your pillow - mine vastly improved after this, as well as changing from laptop to standalone screen when working at home.

I also clench my jaw a lot & grind my teeth which resulted in my dentist making me a protective thing to wear at night, seems to help as well.

Thanks, yes I've done the same. I don't think I clench my jaws but it's something I've discussed with the dentist recently and I may get a mouth guard next time.

Hello I wonder if this might be migraine. Especially with nausea and being triggered by tiredness etc. For me, sometimes the neck pain is actually migraine rather than neck strain ( and sometimes neck strain makes migraine develop). I have found a few things helpful for this: try some simple neck exercises from Dr Jo on YouTube. She is a physio and is great. I do one of her routines every day

. Second I would go to your GP and ask if you might have migraine and maybe you should try some preventative treatment or some other treatment for the acute episodes. GP might want to see a diary of when pain occurs, what happened before ( such as sleep deprivation)etc. Take a look at the Migraine Trust website for more info on this. Good luck!

Physiotherapy.

Really helped.

As per pp, are you sure they aren't migraines? Sometimes mine are in the back of my head/neck. I often think they can't be migraines because of the location but try a sumatriptan (migraine tablet) in desperation and it helps. Might be worth speaking to GP and seeing what they think? The nausea/vomiting is an indication it's migraine and if not it's probably worth checking it's nothing else.

I'm a stomach sleeper. Not sure what pillow I'm using - I swapped a £25-ish John Lewis firm one for a random old M&S one from the 'rejected and saved for when the kids visit' pile!

Also - Adrienne does a ten minute neck and shoulder session on YouTube and that can be really helpful.

I've had this at times though never long term. Mine is caused by pillows of the wrong thickness, bad posture at the PC, and looking up to watch TV on the wall. It's improved a lot since we put the TV back down on a stand.
Oddly enough I've found washing up provides just the right sort of exercise to loosen the muscles in my neck. Hope you get it sorted OP.

Swimming, only basic head up slowish breaststroke, I'm not a good swimmer and it's not comfortable on my neck until I've done a fair few lengths, but after everything is looser. Exercise in most forms helps me with stiffness like this.

Intertwine you fingers at the back of the head, where your head meets your neck, arms at the side of your head, tilt your head up and then spread your elbows wide.

What pain relief do you use, the holy grail for me is Syndol but its a bugger to get atm. There's a muscle relaxant in it which helps massively.
I use a fairly flat pillow too, I sleep in my side mostly.
I also do some back and neck stretching Pilates. I started swimming in the summer and its improved my posture and loosens up my muscles.
I usually use a hot rub on my neck at bedtime, I'm also a fan of Vicks, I rub it on my sinuses before I go to sleep.