If you are one of the 10-15% of Australians who are suffering with acute neck pain at any given moment, you will know full well how unbearable it is. At its worst, even very slight head movements can cause excruciating discomfort in your neck, leaving you confined to staying in the one position until it becomes bearable again. Back and neck pain are both major reasons for people skipping work, and result in a substantial cost for the economy. A study released in 2015 revealed that absenteeism from work due to back and neck pain alone is costing the Australian economy around $45.7 million annually! Visiting a good chiropractor is of paramount importance in more chronic cases of neck pain. If your discomfort tends to plague you in sudden bursts of two to three days, there are some preventive steps you can take. Here are some causes of acute neck pain and tips on preventing it:

Electronic Devices: With the prevalent usage of tablets and laptops there is an unfortunate corollary of an increased risk of developing acute neck pain. The natural posture many people adopt when using these devices is to keep the head bent forward for extended periods of time to see the screen more clearly. This puts excess stress on the vertebrae, causing bouts of acute pain due to strain. Adopting a more ergonomic posture when using these devices is vital in preventing neck pain. A better posture is to sit with the back straight and your screen at eye level instead of hunching forward. Mounting brackets for tablets are a helpful purchase in achieving this posture. Taking a break from your computer every 20 minutes is also a good preventative measure. 

Vitamin D Deficiency: Having a poor diet contributes to outbreaks of pain in your neck. If you are not getting enough vitamin D from your diet, chances are that you will experience more frequent back/neck pain. The results of a 2013 study established a link between herniated discs and vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D is crucial in maintaining healthy bones as it helps with absorbing calcium; the mineral that builds strong bones. The best way to get your daily Vitamin D is to spend some time in the sunshine, but not everybody has a lifestyle that caters to this. The recommended intake of Vitamin D by The Endocrine Society is 2,000 I.U (International Units) per day. A bottle of 200 capsules of Vitamin D will set you back around $16, a very cost-effective measure of preventing this kind of discomfort. 

Dehydration: The discs between each vertebra in your cervical spine (and the rest of your spine) are mainly composed of water. It may come as no shock therefore, that dehydration is a common cause of acute soreness in the neck. Surprisingly, around 75 percent of Americans suffer with chronically mild dehydration, a statistic which is likely mirrored in other areas of the developed world. This mild form of dehydration can contract the vertebrae, which increases pressure on the nerves in your neck, sometimes causing flare-ups of acute neck pain. Ample daily water intake is an easy way to combat this problem. The current recommendation is 2.6 litres daily for men and 2.1 for women. The problem is that people spend a lot of their day engrossed in work or college and have a tendency to forget about refilling their water bottles. Setting a regular reminder on your phone is a simple, yet effective solution to ensure you are drinking enough water and thus reducing the risk of neck pain.

For more information on how to deal with neck pain, contact a company like Coogee Chiropractic.

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