An involuntary contracture causing pain and blockage of the neck, torticollis has quite obvious symptoms to observe and often trivial causes. How to treat it?

Tips for a common stiff neck.

Be careful, chronic or spasmodic torticollis must be managed medically. Here we discuss the common stiff neck that at least one in 10 people have already experienced.

As soon as the stiff neck begins:

• Don’t force yourself into thinking that stretching your tight muscle will give you relief. On the contrary, it may make your stiff neck worse. Respect the pain and stay in the least painful posture possible.
• Take paracetamol, the painkiller most frequently found in a family pharmacy (Doliprane®, Efferalgan®, Dafalgan®, etc.). It should give you relief. Do not take any other anti-inflammatory or pain-relieving medication without medical advice.
• Use the heat that helps to relax the muscles: hot shower, hot bath, hot poultice, hot water bottle, heat bag, even pebbles soaked in hot water to apply, find the most practical solution that will help relieve you . A practical technique: the use of a hair dryer sending hot air to the affected area. Be careful not to burn yourself!
• Massage the painful area by pinching, stretching, or using a ball that you wedge between your neck and a wall or against the back of your sofa.

If the stiff neck lasts more than 24 to 48 hours.

A common stiff neck usually lasts less than 48 hours. If after 24 hours things are not getting better and you are still in so much pain, you can:

• Buy a foam necklace at a drugstore, and wear it day and night. It will relieve your neck.
• Make an appointment with an osteopath or chiropractor. A few manipulations can help your neck get better.
• Or see an acupuncturist because acupuncture can help relieve stiff necks.
• And if that’s not enough, see a doctor. He may also prescribe muscle relaxant medication. Sometimes neck pulling techniques with weights can cause stiff necks to break down. And then, your doctor will look for a specific cause for this torticollis to know if it is indeed a banal torticollis and not another problem or a spasmodic torticollis which is a completely different disease.

Complementary treatments for torticollis

homeopathy

Bryona 5 CH: 3 pellets every hour.

Lachnantes 5 CH: 3 granules 3 times a day if feeling cold and head tilted to one side.

Dulcamara 5 CH: 3 granules 3 times a day if torticollis is accentuated by cold and humidity.

Actea racemosa 9 CH if the torticollis was triggered by movements 3 granules 3 times a day.

Essential oils

Massage yourself with a mixture of essential oil 3 drops and 5 drops of vegetable oil. The essential oils can be for example according to what you have the essential oil of rosemary with camphor, essential oil of wintergreen, tarragon, lemon eucalyptus, helichrysum. The ideal vegetable oil would be arnica or St. John’s Wort, but if you don’t have one, use table vegetable oil! Better to massage yourself quickly than to wait until you have the ideal mixture.

And we can also take action to prevent stiff necks.