7 Surprising Everyday Habits That Can Cause Neck Pain

Up to 20% of adults in the United States are dealing with some form of neck pain at any given time. If you’re one of them, you want relief ASAP — especially if your neck pain is persistent, intense, recurrent, radiating, limiting, or all the above.  

As a board-certified pain management specialist who serves Houston-area patients at Interventional Sports and Pain Management Associates, Dr. Okezie N. Okezie knows that getting to the bottom of your neck pain problem is the first step toward attaining relief. 

In many cases, everyday habits can play a significant role in causing neck pain or worsening an existing problem. Here’s what you should know. 

Common causes of neck pain

It’s not surprising that neck pain (cervicalgia) is a common complaint: The seven small bones, intervertebral discs, nerve roots and branches, muscles, and connective tissues that make up and support your cervical spine are susceptible to: 

• Stress and tension
• Strain and overuse
• Aging (normal wear)
• Degenerative changes
• Injury and damage

Long-term (chronic) neck pain is often rooted in normal, age-related wear combined with degenerative changes, or in damage from a traumatic neck injury like whiplash. In such cases, diagnostic imaging is more likely to reveal a condition like arthritis, spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, disc herniation, or nerve compression. 

7 Habits that can hurt your neck

While any of the above conditions can make your neck feel perpetually stiff and achy, certain daily habits can also give rise to persistent neck pain — even in the absence of an underlying condition. 

Daily habits that strain your neck can lead to short-term (acute) pain that resolves with habit changes. But when such habits become ingrained patterns, they can accelerate age-related wear and effectively set the stage for a chronic neck pain problem.   

Here’s a closer look at seven common habits that can be hard on your neck:

1. Tech neck positioning

“Tech neck” occurs when you spend hours each day looking down at your smartphone while scrolling, texting, or reading. As a leading cause of habit-triggered neck pain, it occurs when constant forward head posture strains the muscles in your neck and upper back. 

You can also get “tech neck” pain from computer work if your desk setup keeps you looking down at your screen all day.  

2. Slouched sitting posture

While you’d be right to associate slouched sitting posture with lower back pain, hunched positioning can also strain your shoulders and your neck — especially if you tend to do it while you’re driving. Sitting in the driver’s seat with a relaxed core and rounded shoulders causes you to lean your head forward as you watch the road, placing increased pressure on your neck.

3. Shouldering a heavy bag

Whether your typical day has you commuting to work, knocking out errands, or running around a college campus, carrying a heavy bag — especially if it’s just on one shoulder — can create asymmetrical muscle strain that shifts your spinal alignment and becomes a constant pain in the neck.  

4. Sitting most of the day

Even if you get in a solid cardio workout each day, inactivity throughout the rest of your day (i.e., sitting at a desk without frequent standing breaks) can lead to increased muscle tension and stiffness, especially in your spine—from your lower back to your neck.  

5. Holding on to stress

Do you frequently feel stressed out or stretched to the max? While daily stressors are part of life, living in a state of ongoing stress can lead to strain, fatigue, and tension that easily sets the stage for neck pain and headaches. In fact, many people “store” their stress in the neck and upper back as unrelenting muscle tension. 

6. Teeth grinding (bruxism)

Bruxism, or unconscious jaw clenching and teeth grinding, is a common effect of unmanaged stress. Whether you do it when you’re under pressure at work, when you’re asleep at night, or both, increased jaw tension can lead to muscle tightness and pain that radiates through your neck — and possibly all the way into your shoulders.

7. Poor sleep positioning

Sleep positions that take your neck out of neutral alignment — such as on your stomach with your head twisted to the side or on your back with your head resting on a high pillow — can misalign your cervical spine and strain its supporting muscles for hours on end, leaving you with a stiff, achy neck every morning.  

Neck pain relief in Houston, Texas

Is neck pain limiting your activities, making it hard to sleep, and disrupting your life? Dr. Okezie can get to the bottom of the problem, assess any habits that may be contributing to it, and create a treatment plan tailored to your needs — including expert guidance on establishing more neck-friendly habits. 

To learn more, schedule a visit to your nearest Interventional Sports and Pain Management Associates office in Humble or Baytown, Texas, today.