I can’t move my neck! What to do?

Waking up with a pain in the neck that prevents you from moving isn’t a great feeling!

Driving the car is especially hard (how do you check that blindspot?!)

Everything feels limited and headaches often follow.


A ‘wry’ neck is a common musculoskeletal dysfunction which presents by a sudden onset of stiffness and pain in the neck or upper back region.  It is quite common.

Most people will experience stiffness in their neck at some point in their lives.


Initial relief may be attempted through use of gentle stretching or use of heat or ice packs. This can often provide some relief but rarely a return of full comfortable movement.

Seeking help early from stiffness and pain can prevent a Wry Neck from getting worse and can help resolve the problem quickly.

Physiotherapy can be used to quickly restore movement and give you advice and exercises to help prevent a recurrence.


Treatment often involves

  • Joint mobilisation: this frees the locked joints
  • Massage – relaxing the surrounding spasm that develops, generally a protective mechanism against pain as the body instinctively avoids movement
  • Dry needling – another way to ease muscle tension and provide pain relief
  • Movement based exercises
  • Advice on when to use heat or ice, pillows, resting positions, etc


Remedial Massage, either as a standalone treatment of part of physiotherapy, focusses on relaxing the tight neck muscle and restoring range of movement.  Remedial Massage aims to assess and treat the muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia. A number to techniques that are used are:

  • Deep Tissue Massage
  • Trigger Point Therapy
  • Passive Stretching


Benefits of treatment are:

  • Restoring full movement
  • Reducing pain
  • reduced muscle tension
  • reduced inflammation
  • assists in the healing process

Seeking treatment early is when stiffness is noticed is the best course of action to help prevent a wry neck.

Book your appointment today

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