Tbi/Pcs Patients With Head and Neck Pain-I Have Something for You to Try!

My doctors prescribed me a variety of different prescription medication, none of which helped me at all.

When I had my accident I got hit in the front of the head and the back. I got a lot of whiplash effect on my neck. My neck sometimes still hurts as bad as the day of my accident.

It is also irritated by the fact that I lean on my walker so much when I walk that I feel like that is a lot of pressure on my neck.

I also have lost my peripheral vision and so I have to turn my head around a lot more than I ever did to see around me.

I will have neck pain that creeps up into the back of my head and causes a headache. Sometimes it is the opposite, sometimes it is a headache at the top in the front of my head that ends up down in my neck. One leads to another.

Not being able to get around well is awful. Not as bad as having a constant headache though. Luckily for me, I learned a technique in PT that always makes me feel at least a little bit better.

Laying on a heating pad loosens up my neck, and helps to relax those tense muscles.

I use the sunbeam heating pad. It has 6 heat settings, I like it as warm as it goes! It has an automatic shut off after two hours, meaning it is safe to go to bed with because it will shut off automatically. It is also a really nice rectangular shape that is just the right width and length to be perfect to lay across your pillow under your neck.

Then after you have the heating pad on your neck and you are laying comfortably, put an ice pack across your forehead. Cover your eyes with a towel so the light can't irritate you.

It may sound crazy, but the combination of the heating pad on the neck and ice on the forehead for me is one of the only things that can calm my headaches and migraines.

It is a way I can count on to bring a 6-7 headache down to a 4 or 5. If I feel a migraine coming on and I use this technique it sometimes will help relax me and fall asleep before a migraine comes on.

If I have a migraine, it will help me to relax and usually calms my head and neck pain down enough to allow me to fall asleep and at least rest somewhat comfortably.

I use the sensacare therapy packs as my icepacks. They can also be used for heat therapy as well.

I know it sounds super simple, like probably almost too simple to believe it will help that much. It really is great though, and I highly recommend you try it.

This is the very first thing my PT teacher had me do the first day I met him, and we still do it at every PT lesson. Not to mention, I use this technique at home every day to help me be more comfortable.