Tense body

Hi,

This may not be a DID-specific question, but maybe you also deal with this: collecting (muscle) tension in your body. My neck and shoulders are completely locked up and slightly painful and I think it's what's giving me a headache. How do you lessen this tension?

I know massages tend to help, but I'm not in a position that I can have one.

it is typical PTSD tension.
massages do help but it's been 2 years since we had the last one...

warmth helps too. some people own heating pads for this, others warm a cherry pit pillow or something similar. warm water bottle is a little impractical but would do too.

we also use essential oils that help muscles to relax. put them in some carrier oil and massage in. Lavender, camomille, majoran is good against the pain, peppermint, rosemary, jasmin and juniper.

stretching excercises can help a little bit but they have to be done very carefully. if you are extremely tight and the muscle is not willing to stretch under any circumstances you might actually pull it. light fluid neck stretches like those recommended for people working at the desk all day can help.

for prevention you could stop during the day and lift your shoulders up as far as you can, then let them drop as far down as they will, and repeat that a couple of times to have them really drop all the way down. this and the computer job neck stretches during the day to keep it from building up.