what do you do to relax muscle knots and spasms?

[Marzipan]

seems I can't get a break. sciatica and now my neck, back, shoulders are beginning to knot up and spams now.

I know magnesium glycinate or malate can help...my mom and wife take it to fight night cramping that MS brings.

I'm trying to find the best medium to wrap my neck / shoulders with that I can put in the freezer for cold treatments and the microwave for hot treatment but there are bazillions of brands and products with no general consensus where one or two surface at the top.

 

[KaptCrunch]

soak in regular tub with hotist water can stand and roll neck around after soaking

 

[KaptCrunch]

smoke a joint after hot tub

 

[Skippman]

seems I can't get a break. sciatica and now my neck, back, shoulders are beginning to knot up and spams now.

I know magnesium glycinate or malate can help...my mom and wife take it to fight night cramping that MS brings.

I'm trying to find the best medium to wrap my neck / shoulders with that I can put in the freezer for cold treatments and the microwave for hot treatment but there are bazillions of brands and products with no general consensus where one or two surface at the top.

Honestly, those rice bags you can get are great for heat treatments. They thermal mass very well and can form nicely around your body. I usually pair that with a soak in a Epsom salts bath. I've also found using a foam roller to be helpful when I've had sciatica shooting down my legs after skiing.

 

[Cannon Fodder]

Chiropractor.......

 

[clshades]

Having just finished my physio for tenis elbow a couple things come to mind. I use a gel that does wonders but quite messy - gooey. Needs to be covered up.

The other two most important things are stretching and exercise. I felt less pain after 25 minutes on the treadmill than doing nothing at all. Stretches need to be held for 60 seconds to truly do anything positive for the muscles. Anything less than 30 seconds does nothing.

 

[Shadowmeph]

actually for me not much to do but keep moving taking it a little more easy then normal maybe tylonol with the muscle relaxer have and have . I break those pills ion have take then once in a while seems to help slightly

 

[Lysrin]

Chiro as @Cannon Fodder said depending on the source of the issue (bone placement vs muscularly-only), massage therapy is very valuable/helpful, and whatever level of exercising and stretching you can stand. Although it is the last thing you feel like doing, keeping mobility into those areas is key but not always easy without some intervention first.

I also have a couple of those shiatsu massage machines, one for low back and one for neck/shoulders. They never get tired as long as I keep them charged!

And more pricey, but when I was having a lot of low back/sciatic issues, my wife bought me an inversion table as my Christmas present that year. I didn't think it was the most exciting gift but after I started using it I was very happy to have it! It really helped a lot to stretch things out and free up the nerve impingement. I still use it when I have a flair up.

Hope you can get some relief @Mr. Friendly . I'm pretty good these days but I suffered a lot from an old injury that kept causing problems and these are the things that worked best for me. I now am pretty much in maintenance mode as long as I keep up the occasional chiro visit and exercise/activity. Never completely pain free, but nothing now that prevents me from doing what I want to do. So I ain't complainin' about that!

 

[3.0charlie]

Acupuncture and yoga sessions were required for my sciatic nerve and back spasms.

 

[CMetaphor]

I'd say get a solid physio clinic.
I've made no secret about my own health problems, and having a good physio clinic - had my issue not been very unique and unusual - was a fantastic boon. A chiropractor, acupuncturist/ dry needling expert, and massotherapist in one location was very helpful. And to be blunt, it was (for many, many people) a one-stop shop to go from pain to relief. You really need to see experts to get help, just stretching and using hot/cold probably isn't going to solve anything if you have any underlying issues.