Other Treatment

Other types of treatment for neck pain may help relieve your symptoms, restore movement, and strengthen the muscles around your spine to help prevent further injury.

Other treatment choices

Other types of treatment include:

• Physical therapy. At home, you can use heat and massage to improve blood flow. A physical therapist can teach you stretching and strengthening exercises that you can also do at home. Physical therapy can also include treatments like heat therapy to improve blood circulation (ultrasound) and manual therapy. For more information, see the topic Physical Therapy.
• Cervical (neck) collars. These may be used for short periods of time to help reduce pain by restricting neck movement. See a picture of a cervical collar.
• Traction. This is a technique used to stretch the neck and relax the spinal nerve root openings. It may be used if there is no risk of instability in the neck.
• Low-level laser therapy. This uses targeted light energy to decrease pain and promote healing. A review of studies suggests that it can help both sudden (acute) and long-term (chronic) neck pain.⁴

Complementary and alternative treatments

Complementary and alternative treatments are sometimes used to relieve pain and restore neck mobility. Although the effectiveness of some of these treatments has not been proved, they seem to be helpful for some people and may relieve stress and improve quality of life. They include:

• Manual therapy, such as that found in massage and physical therapy and in chiropractic and osteopathic treatments. The goals of manual therapy include relaxation, decreased pain, and increased flexibility.
• Yoga, a program of exercises to help improve flexibility and breathing, decrease stress, and maintain health. The basic components of yoga are proper breathing and posture.
• Acupuncture, which is done by inserting very thin needles into the skin. Acupuncture is used to relieve pain and to treat many health conditions.