Just as whacking your “funny bone” on the side of the desk is no laughing matter–well, not to you anyway, to those watching, it’s a different story.  Figurative and especially literal, neck pain, can make your life miserable.  We don’t realize how much we use any single body part until that free movement is impeded by pain or something else.  The neck is very much in that category, and quite crucial to our daily function.

The neck is in fact, an under-appreciated body part.  It is the least desirable part of a chicken or turkey, stringy, with not much meat.  And while people are often described as having “no neck” due to how they’re built, we rarely stop to consider what life would be like without one until we wake up one morning and can’t turn our heads without excruciating pain.  Then we realize just how vital the neck is.
Not to mention that it can be a lifesaver.

There is a Norse myth about their trickster god Loki, who was forever coming up with schemes that involved benefitting himself at other’s expense.  These schemes generally backfired, as when he tried to cheat some dwarf smiths in a bet about who could make the best magical items.  If he lost, the smiths were allowed to cut off his head.

When they discovered he cheated, the smiths and the judges deemed that Loki’s head was forfeit.  Not being a total fool, despite his schemes, Loki agreed that they could off his head, but he noted, they’d never said anything about his neck.  The dwarves couldn’t cut off his head without touching his neck, so by a technicality Loki’s life was spared.

Fortunately, very few us find ourselves in that kind of scrape these days.  However, sleeping in a very awkward position, or staying up too late saving the universe from aliens, can cause us to wish our necks elsewhere.  Depending on the level of pain, things we take for granted like getting dressed, talking on the phone, or driving are virtually impossible, let alone if our daily grind involves manual labor.

Trying to function through neck pain is extremely difficult.  The wrong move not only reawakes the neck pain, but either sends it shooting up into the head or down in the back and shoulders, or both.  Worse, the standard way most of us “treat” such pain, is through trying to move as little as possible, which only stiffens up all the surrounding tissue and ultimately exacerbates the pain.

Nor do most analgesics have much impact.  There is something about neck pain that resists anything but serious massage or chiropractic adjustment.  Taking enough pills to mitigate the pain can put other types of crimps into your day.

There is a reason why the phrase “pain in the neck” is used to describe something–or someone–that makes everything a little worse.  Neck pain causes systemic pain, as well as reducing the overall amount and type of movement you can engage in.  And it often requires a professional to eliminate the problem.