Question
the back of neck has been bothering me for a year I did not hurt it. I am a typist, at first I thought it was just from sitting at the computer but know the back of my neck bulges a lot it almost looks deformed. I've been having problems sleeping if I sleep more than 6 hours I feel like my whole back is broken. I thought it was the bed but with the process of elimination it isn't. I feel awful all the time. I don't have insurance and I'm not sure how to take away some of the pain (either hot or cold)?

Answer

Hanna Somatic Educatio Hello, Janet.

Neither hot nor cold will address the cause of the pain, which is muscular contractions in your neck.  Those contractions, caused by brain-level conditioning from injuries and stress, change the shape of your neck and also cause the pain in your back.

You say you did not hurt your neck.  You may not remember the incident or think it was serious, but you did have an injury; those kinds of contractions don't occur arbitrarily and just by themselves.

To address the condition, you need to learn to control the tension of those muscles to free them, a process called somatic education.

May I direct you to some writings:

http://somatics.com/back_pain.htm
http://somatics.com/whiplash.htm

There are clinical practitioners of somatic education and there exist self-help/self-care programs.  The process works very efficiently and in a relatively short period of time.

Please contact me if you wish a recommendation.

regard,
Lawrence Gold