I have had a headache and neck pain, every day for the last 6 months. It is mostly behind my right eye. Could you help shed some light?

Neck pain is often a result of weakened muscles between the shoulder blades and over-used muscles in the back of the neck, often resulting from long driving journeys in the car cutting a tall and long hedge in the garden or a long day painting the ceiling.

If you suffer from neck pain regularly, you may also experience neck headaches or pins and needles in the arms or hands.

Neck headaches result from the muscles pulling on the case of the skull where you may feel some tenderness if you prod the area. The pain can extend over the skull and even be felt in the eye sockets.

Here are some exercises that we promise will take just 5 minutes to perform that should help strengthen the deconditioned and strained muscles of the neck:

  -  Standing, turn your head to look over your right shoulder for 10seconds, then you left shoulder for 10 seconds. Repeat twice more each side.

  -  Standing, drop your head to one side while continuing to look ahead. Hold for 10 seconds and swap sides. Repeat twice more each side. To increase the stretch, drop the opposite shoulder.

  -  Standing again, lower your chin to your chest, hold for 10 and then look up to the ceiling and hold for 10. Repeat twice more. A more advanced version of this would be to lie on your front on the end of the bed with just your head over the end. Slowly nod it up and down to strengthen those same mack muscles further.

  -  Finally, while sitting straight, jut your head forward and hold for 10, then all the way back and hold for 10. Repeat another 5 times and that's your 5 minutes done.

These exercises stretch and strengthen the neck muscles over 2-4 weeks when performed every other day.

If you need extra help, try 200mg magnesium twice a day with food and apply some Atrogel^® (Arnica) before bed and upon rising.

Best wishes

Earle