The rule of thumb is:  Ice for nervy pain and heat for muscular pain.

If you use heat and feel slightly worse afterward, that means heat is not the correct treatment.  Use ice instead.  You can find more information in the “Heat & Ice” Category right here at SimplePainRelief.com

Tiny movements are more beneficial to help relax tight muscles than large neck movements.  Muscles that are in contraction won’t necessarily stretch but small repetitive movements can help them warm and relax.

Here’s one small movement you can use:

Pretend a pencil is attached to your chin.  Pretend to “draw” little tiny circles with the pencil.  Make them the size of a dime or smaller.  Try to make circles rather than triangles.  You want to make the movement as smooth as you can.

When muscles cause pain in your neck and back, you can often “treat” them yourself naturally.  You have a smart body that wants to be well and right now it just needs a little help from you to get rid of your neck pain.  Check out Back Pain Natural Relief. They offer lots of self-help pain relief ideas.