good pillow to prevent neck pain
 

i still have a tremendous amount of neck discomfort which tends to cause symptoms when it gets really bad. i've been trying out pillows without much luck, has anyone found one that they really like?

pulse ox
 

anyone have any suggestions for an overnight pulse ox? one that i could sleep with. i would like to see if my oxygen saturation drops at night during sleep.

I just bought this one CMS 50F Pulse Oximiter.

I haven't received it yet, but read good reviews, and hoping to track my oxygen levels through the night as well.

cool thanks rr: let me know how you like that one. i'm a bit confused because i see some that cost well north of 200 and some that are 30. also trying to find one that i could reasonably sleep with

I am in the same boat as you. I can't for the life of me figure out a pillow that works for me. I sleep on my back and my side. I have tried several pillows too. I can't figure out why I still have so much neck tension and headaches from my neck.

This may seem overly simple, but have you considered muscle imbalance? It is often the source of incorrectly diagnosed problems, I experienced this with prolonged neck issues following a whiplash injury. For the longest time I would have neck soreness and could not stop rubbing it. What helped me was 5 sessions of prolotherapy to treat the damaged muscles, then muscle imbalance correction with simple gym exercises aimed at re-activating the muscles that have become stretched out, and by stretching out the muscles that have gone tight.

For me, i found that my chest was extremely tight (pulling in), and my mid back muscles weren't activating. As a result, my neck muscles were pulling down and was were i had become symptomatic. I'm not too sure if the prolotherapy was completely necessary, but treating the muscle imbalance was how i recovered. There are lots of good workouts posted on the internet that offer good muscle imbalance workouts. The key is to start with body weight at very low reps and only a couple sets per day.

For some background reading, Dr. Phil Maffetone has written extensively on muscle imbalance. I learned about prolotherapy through my naturopath, but there is good information available on the web, if you filter through all the garbage (including the negative information). Muscle imbalance correction is easy to research, even Men's Health Magazine can be trusted with this.

Cheers,

Hains

I found that a memory foam contour pillow works the best for me. It took me several tries to find the right one.
Good luck!

Hains,

How did prolotherapy help with muscle imbalance ? It is usually targeted at tendon and ligament issues were healing is needed.

Did the prolo cause you to need to rest the muscles being treated ?

My Physical Therapist uses myofacial release to work with muscle imbalance. The result can be miraculous and sustainable with a few treatments.

For those readers who are unaware, the idea behind prolotherapy is induce an inflammatory response to a chronically injured area. To artificially induce the natural healing process.

Mark,

First, the prolo was used to reduce chronic inflammation with injections made on the most tender and inflamed areas of my neck. After the inflammation went down, we uncovered several overactive trigger points and nerves that required a couple injections to suppress. Once the trigger points were uncovered and suppressed I was able to gently strengthen the neck muscles with physio, correcting the imbalance. I know have no neck pain or restrictions to physical activity as a result.

Prolo causes you to feel pretty beat-up in the area of treatment for about 24-48 hours. Recovery times will decrease as the treatment progresses. The idea though is to keep the treatment area active and move it around. It is a mistake to immobilize the treatment area afterwards. I had my treatments performed once per month, and during each appointment numerous injections were made.

I usually followed up prolo appointments with a massage the next day. Instructions to the massage therapist were to be gentle, but not avoid the treatment areas. The massages I received were not myofacial. However, I am completely behind myofacial release and actively use it in my treatment plan as ongoing maintenance, specifically the Barnes method.

PS. Mark, I'm crafting a response to our discussion in the Calcium thread. It will take a day or two :)

Cheers,

Hains