1, the benefits of hot compress on the neck
The neck is only a small part of the body, but its function and importance are extraordinary, even affecting the whole body. If you want to promote your body function, start with a hot compress on your neck! Chinese medicine week has sorted out five benefits of hot compress on the neck. It turns out that a small hot compress can improve so many troubles.
(1) refresh your mind
There are two carotid arteries and vertebral arteries on the left and right sides of the cervical vertebra, which are responsible for supplying blood to the brain; The spinal cord in the cervical vertebra is an extension of the central nervous system of the brain. Frequent hot compress on the neck can promote blood circulation, and the brain is not deprived of oxygen, which can naturally refresh the mind.
② Promote metabolism.
Neck health also affects the smoothness of meridian qi and blood! Dr. Zhou said that five important meridians of the human body, such as Du Meridian, Bladder Meridian, Small Intestine Meridian, Gallbladder Meridian and Sanjiao Meridian, all pass through the back neck and shoulder. When the meridians are not smooth, their main functions will also be affected.
The circulation places of Du Meridian and Bladder Meridian correspond to the human spine, and the spine has 3/kloc-0 pairs of nerves, which respectively emanate from the intervertebral foramen between vertebrae and run through the whole body. Among them, the spinal nerve of the cervical vertebra is responsible for transmitting information between the brain and various parts of the body, so the hot compress of the cervical vertebra can promote the circulation of the neck, thus indirectly accelerating the metabolism of the whole body.
(3) Help sleep
Because neck hot compress can smooth the communication between spinal nerves and organs, and can also stabilize sympathetic nerves and parasympathetic nerves, it can stabilize nerves and help sleep. For those who have difficulty sleeping, try to apply hot compress on their necks before going to bed next time, which will help to improve insomnia.
(4) improve limb stiffness
The route followed by the small intestine meridian and the triple energizer meridian is the hand, and the hand is usually prone to numbness or chills in the limbs, which means that these two meridians are not smooth. Dr. Zhou said that the most common symptom in winter is morning stiffness. My limbs are stiff in the morning, and it takes some time to get better. From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, this is a problem of the small intestine meridian and the triple energizer meridian. As long as the cervical vertebrae and arms are compressed, the morning stiffness can be quickly relieved.
Because the neck has carotid artery and vagus nerve extending from the brain to the intestine, hot compress on the neck can promote blood circulation, relieve limb stiffness and reduce fatigue.
(5) improving sciatica
Normal cervical vertebrae have curvature. If you bend your head or lean forward for too long, it will straighten the curvature of the cervical spine and cause pain, and the surrounding muscles will be stiff due to tension. When most people stand, they are used to hunching their backs and stretching their necks forward like turtles. Although I feel relaxed, I actually put more tension on the cervical spine, and the gallbladder meridian is prone to problems.
2. What about stiff neck?
1, massage method
The method of self-massage after stiff neck is very simple. As long as you lift the neck muscles with your fingertips and pull them back, the strength can be slightly larger, so that patients can feel pain and numbness best. You can also choose to directly press the tender points with your fingers or palms, and knead while pressing. Strength is also beneficial to patients with pain and numbness.
2. Scissors method
The so-called scissors method is to use a pair of scissors to start from the back hairline of the patient's side neck and scrape it to the shoulder from top to bottom along the curve direction until the local skin begins to turn red. But it should be noted that the direction can only be from top to bottom, not back and forth. Control the strength and don't cut your skin. If you use scissors with massage, the effect will be better.
3. Acupoint method
Among the acupuncture points in the human body, Houxi point can clear the heart, soothe the nerves, dredge meridians and activate nerves, and Jianjing point specializes in treating various discomfort symptoms of neck and shoulder. If you are sleeping with a stiff neck, you may wish to press these two acupoints to relieve the pain and restore the neck to normal.
When taking Houxi point, hold it slightly, at the lateral rear of the little finger joint, at the posterior edge of the fifth chapter bone, at the red and white meat. Pressing Houxi point can be massaged with the tip of the thumb and forced in the direction of the end of the finger.
Jianjing point is located in the shoulder of human body, which is the midpoint of the connecting line between Dazhui point and acromion. Pressing Jianjing point can be pressed down with thumb and abdomen, which makes the patient feel pain.
In addition to the above two points, there are stiff neck points, Fengchi points, Hegu points and other points in the human body that can help treat and relieve stiff neck.
4, the pillow height is appropriate
We know that one of the reasons for stiff neck is that the height of the pillow is too high or too low, because it does not conform to the physiological curvature of human cervical spine. When sleeping, the muscles of the cervical spine and neck are subjected to external pressure for a long time, and they cannot relax well, resulting in neck injuries. Therefore, in order to treat stiff neck and prevent stiff neck next time, adjust the pillow to a suitable height, generally 8~ 15 cm.
5, pay attention to keep your neck warm
If you don't keep your neck warm, the cold will invade your home at night and you will have a stiff neck. Especially in hot summer, pay attention to air conditioning and avoid long-term blowing and direct blowing. Moreover, cold shoulder and neck will not only aggravate stiff neck, but also make the body more prone to shoulder and neck diseases.
6. Cupping method
When sleeping, you can try cupping therapy, because cupping not only helps to relax muscles and tendons, but also helps to take away the cold. We also know that the neck muscles can't relax when sleeping, and the qi and blood are not smooth, which is also caused by the invasion of cold. Cupping therapy is helpful to relieve shoulder and neck pain caused by stiff neck.
7. Paste the ointment
If the stiff neck is serious, after using the above methods, you can finally choose to apply external ointment to the painful part to relieve the discomfort of stiff neck. There are many kinds of ointment for external use in pharmacies now. Please consult the pharmacy staff for details.
8, hot compress method
If you get stiff neck and shoulders when you sleep at night, you can try to use hot compress to relieve the pain. It should be noted that this method can only relieve the stiffness and pain of the neck, but it can't help the neck to return to normal. Therefore, when using hot compress, it should be combined with other methods.
9. Other small methods
Slight stiff neck can be completely cured by massage. You can directly massage 10 times on the pain points of the neck muscles with your hands to relax the muscles and relieve the discomfort of the neck muscles. Then one hand holds the top of the head, the other hand presses the pain point of the neck with the thumb, and makes several flexion and extension movements of the neck with the cooperation of both hands.