Relieve Neck Pain At The Base Of The Skull On The Right Side Or Left Side

What Causes Neck Pain At The Base Of The Skull On The Right Side Or Left Side?

Getting pain at the base of the skull is common among Americans.

For the most part, we sit a lot:

Sitting at a desk, driving a car, watching television, reading on our phones, etc.

And if you sit for a long time with poor posture, that can lead to neck pain at the base of the skull.

That's particularly true if you sit with a forward head posture.

Sitting with forward head posture can cause stiffness in the muscles below the skull, the suboccipital muscles (sub="below", occipital="skull").

Additionally, there's a nerve called the greater occipital nerve  that runs through your suboccipital muscles and goes to the base of your skull.

If your suboccipital muscle are tight, they can put pressure on this nerve and cause neck pain headaches at the base of the skull.

Why Do I Only Get Base Of Skull Pain One Side?

If you're purely sitting with your head in a forward posture, you'd think that you'd get neck pain on both sides of the skull, right?

Overall, that's primarily true.

However, people don't always look straight ahead.

Sometimes if require a little closer look into the repetitive activities that you do every day.

Some common examples include:

• Is you computer monitor right in front of you of off to one side?
• Is the chair or couch where you watch television right in front of the TV, or is it to one side so that you have to turn your head to see the TV?
• Do you hold a phone against a shoulder with your ear?
• Do you carry a purse primarily over one shoulder?
• Is your pillow too high or too low?

All of these things can cause muscle imbalances that if done repeatedly over time, can cause neck pain more on either the right or the left.

Many people with neck pain DO have pain on both sides of the skull, but often one side is worse than the other.

If you have neck pain at the base of your skull on both sides, try this stretch.

However, if your neck pain is more on the right or the left, try the stretches below to relieve neck pain at the base of the skull on the right side or left side.

How To Relieve Right-Sided Neck Pain At The Base Of The Skull

1. Put your left hand on top of your head
2. Push down on your head with your left hand as you tip your head slightly to left side
3. As you tip to the left, keep pushing through the top of your skull so that the pressure is down and slightly to the right
4. This helps isolate the stretch to the muscles just underneath the right side of the skull.
5. Hold this position for 1 minute

How To Relieve Left-Sided Neck Pain At The Base Of The Skull

1. Put your right hand on top of your head
2. Push down on your head with your right hand as you tip your head slightly to right side
3. As you tip to the right, keep pushing through the top of your skull so that the pressure is down and slightly to the left
4. This helps isolate the stretch to the muscles just underneath the left side of the skull
5. Hold this position for 1 minute

Hopefully this stretch helps you relieve neck pain at the base of your skull on either the right or left side.

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