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Doctors Are Now Switching Off The Nerves In People’s Necks. Here’s What That Means For Your Neck Pain

Neck locked when you wake up? Can’t turn your head to back out of the driveway? Shots that wear off in days?Here’s what nobody told you about neck pain.

📅 Tue. Oct. 21st, 2026 | 8:47 am EST - 128.406 👁

By Barbara T., 63
Former Neck Injection Patient

I couldn’t believe it... the doctor pointed at the “worn discs” on my MRI, and later I found out almost everyone has them, including people whose necks never hurt.

I hadn’t turned my head to back out of my own driveway in 2 years.

Here’s what my days looked like.

6 AM: I wake up with my neck locked. I hold my head with one hand and roll out of bed, because sitting straight up hurts too much.
7 AM: Fifteen minutes of hot water on the back of my neck in the shower before I can turn my head even a little.
8 AM: Backing out of the driveway, I can’t turn my head. I turn my whole body and use the mirrors, or my husband Gary does it for me.
10 AM: Ten minutes of looking down at my phone or my knitting, and a deep ache starts at the base of my skull. By noon, it’s a headache.
1 PM: Hanging laundry, I can’t look up or hold my arms up for long. The tops of my shoulders are hard and sore.
4 PM: After an hour at the computer, two ibuprofen and a muscle relaxer that makes me sleepy for the rest of the afternoon.
10 PM: I can’t get comfortable on the pillow. I’ve bought four of them. I end up propped up with a rolled towel under my neck.

The next morning, it starts again.

I stopped driving on the highway, because I couldn’t turn my head to change lanes.

I stopped reading in bed, because looking down at a book brought on the headache.

A few years ago, I got down on the floor and played with my grandkids for hours. Now I can’t look down at them for long without my neck locking up.

I sat out the dancing at my nephew’s wedding.

I saw three doctors and a physical therapist. I want you to know that. I did the work.

$1,400 on two injections into the joints of my neck. The first one lasted five weeks. The second one lasted four days.
$1,560 on 26 physical therapy visits. I did my chin tucks every morning, and my neck still locked up every night.
$1,200 on a chiropractor every week for six months. A few hours of relief, every time.
$880 on an MRI and a spine doctor, to be told I had “arthritis in my neck,” “worn discs” and “bone spurs.”

And then he said, “Your next options are burning the nerves or fusing the bones.”

A neck fusion. Tens of thousands of dollars. Weeks in a collar. And no promise the pain would go away.

I have a whole drawer of things that didn’t work. Biofreeze. Voltaren gel. Salonpas patches. A soft collar. A TENS unit. A heating pad. A neck traction kit that hangs over the door. And four pillows in the closet.

$5,040. 2 years. And my neck hurt more than when I started.

Most People With Neck Pain Are Never Told Where The Pain Actually Travels

Here’s what I didn’t know and what nobody told me.

Your discs are the soft cushions between the bones of your neck. Everyone’s discs wear as they get older.

Doctors in Japan scanned the necks of 1,211 people who had no neck pain at all.

And here’s the part nobody told me: 87.6% of them had bulging discs. Even most of the people in their 20s did. And they felt nothing.

So where does neck pain come from, if not the discs?

Every bit of neck pain you have ever felt traveled on a few small nerves that come from the joints at the back of your neck.

And here’s the part that changed everything for me: if those nerves don’t fire, you don’t feel the pain. No matter what your MRI looks like.

I know, because doctors have started treating neck pain by switching those nerves off with heat.

In one study, people whose neck nerves were switched off had relief for a median of 263 days. People who got a fake procedure had relief for 8 days. The discs were exactly as worn as before. Then the nerves grew back, and so did the pain.

That only works if the pain was traveling on the nerves all along.

What I had wasn’t “just arthritis.” It wasn’t my age. It was something I’d never heard of. It’s called the Locked-Neck Relay.

The nerves in your neck become oversensitive. The muscles around them tighten and run low on cellular energy. And inflammation gets trapped at the base of your neck. Each one passes the pain on to the next, so it never gets a chance to stop.

Different cause. Different treatment.

And it doesn’t show up on an MRI.

An MRI shows discs and bones. It can’t show how sensitive your neck nerves have become, or how tired your neck muscles are. That’s why two people with the same MRI can feel completely different, and why so many people are handed the same answer, “arthritis,” no matter how much they hurt.

6 Signs Your Neck Is Stuck In The Locked-Neck Relay

I read this list at 3 in the morning and checked five of the six. Count yours.

If you checked two or more, keep reading. This is the part I wish someone had told me 2 years ago.

I Wish I’d Never Googled It

Left alone, the Locked-Neck Relay doesn’t stay the same. It gets stronger.

Every time a sensitive nerve fires, it fires more easily the next time. The stiffness lasts longer every morning. You stop turning your head, so your neck gets stiffer. You stop driving on the highway, stop reading, stop traveling. And for many people, it ends on an operating table.

Neck fusion: tens of thousands of dollars.
Weeks in a collar, and about 1 in 4 people develop new problems at the level next to the fusion within 10 years.

Every month, I was told “arthritis,” “worn discs,” “bone spurs.” And every month, my neck nerves got a little more sensitive.

And nobody checked why.

Then My Cousin Had The Fusion. And Her Neck Still Hurt.

My cousin Paula had two bones in her neck fused at 61. Weeks in a collar, then months of therapy.

A year later, we were on a drive together, and she still couldn’t turn her head to talk to me.

“The surgeon says the fusion looks perfect,” she told me. “So why does my neck still hurt?”

I found out later she isn’t rare. A fusion is mainly done for arm pain or pressure on the spinal cord. For neck pain alone, it’s much less reliable. And about 1 in 4 people develop new problems at the level next to the fusion within 10 years.

Think about what that means. The surgeon locked the bones together. And the pain was still there.

They fused the bones. They didn’t touch the nerves or the muscles.

That was the night I stopped asking what was wrong with my discs, and started asking what was actually hurting.

So Why Was I Told It Was “Just Arthritis” For 2 Years?

It wasn’t one bad doctor. I saw three. They were all doing what they were trained to do.

They had me turn my head side to side and tip it back. They pressed on my neck and tested the strength in my arms. They took X-rays, then an MRI.

My MRI said “degenerative discs” and “bone spurs.” And once they saw that, the conversation was over.

❌ Your age?
❌ Your posture?
❌ Your MRI?
❌ Arthritis?

Here’s a muscle relaxer. And an injection in your neck.

Every test they ran looked at my discs and bones. Not one of them looked at the nerves that were carrying the pain.

So you get a prescription for muscle relaxers, a sheet of chin tucks, and told to sit up straight. Then you’re sent home.

And when the shots stop working, the conversation turns to surgery. A fusion, for pain that was traveling on the nerves.

If this kept people awake from chest pain instead of neck pain, there would be a real treatment for it by now.

Every treatment they gave me. Pills, shots, collars, pillows.

All aimed at the discs and bones.

Every single one.

Nobody asked why my neck locked up overnight. Nobody asked why the tops of my shoulders were hard and sore. Nobody asked why the same worn discs most people have were giving me headaches every day.

They have waiting rooms full of people over 50 with the exact same necks. And they do the exact same thing every time.

That’s not one bad doctor. That’s a bad system.

And I’m the one who paid for it.

2 years of turning my whole body to back out of the driveway.
Of sleeping propped on a rolled towel.
Of looking at my grandkids from the couch.
Of sitting out the dancing at my nephew’s wedding.
Of watching my world get smaller every week.

And at the end of all of it, the next step they offered was a fusion. The same surgery that left Paula unable to turn her head in the car.

What Nobody Told Me. And What I Found At 3am.

I was awake at 3am, neck throbbing, sitting at the kitchen table with a heating pad around my neck, scrolling a neck pain support group.

A woman posted that she’d had the nerve-burning procedure. It worked for eight months, then the pain came back. When she asked her pain doctor why, he explained something to her about her neck that she shared in the comments.

And that’s why your neck hurts most at the same moments every day.

First thing in the morning: all night, your tight neck muscles had no cellular energy to let go, so they stiffened in place. You wake up locked.

Backing out of the driveway: turning your head stretches tight muscles and sets off nerves that are already close to firing.

Looking down at your phone or a book: your head weighs about 10 to 12 pounds. Tipped forward, a computer model estimated the load on your neck rises to as much as 60 pounds. Tired muscles can’t hold it, and the ache starts at the base of your skull.

On the pillow at night: no position lets muscles with no cellular energy relax, so you shift and shift and can’t get comfortable.

That’s why it gets worse every year instead of going away. The more your neck nerves fire, the more sensitive they get. The muscles tighten more, the inflammation stays, and the relay keeps going.

Not because you did anything wrong. Because your neck is stuck in a relay, and nothing you were given ever stopped it.

And Suddenly Every Failed Treatment Made Sense.

Neck Injections

Two shots into the joints of my neck. The first lasted five weeks. The second lasted four days. In a study, steroid shots into these joints did no better than numbing medicine, and the pain was half back in a median of 3 days.

Muscle Relaxers And Ibuprofen

Every afternoon for over a year. The relaxers made me sleepy, but they didn’t give my muscles any cellular energy to let go. And the ibuprofen is hard on your stomach, kidneys and blood pressure.

Physical Therapy And The Chiropractor

26 PT visits and six months of weekly adjustments. A few hours of relief, then my neck locked up again by evening.

Collars, Pillows And Cooling Rubs

A soft collar, four pillows, Biofreeze and Salonpas. The collar held my head still. The rubs cooled my skin for an hour. Underneath, the relay kept going.

And the traction kit?

Twenty minutes a day hanging from the door. It stretched my neck for a few minutes. When I took it off, the muscles tightened right back up, because they still had no cellular energy to let go.

And don’t get me started on the gadgets and supplements.

Glucosamine. Turmeric. A massage gun. A TENS unit. A heating pad. A cervical pillow that cost $120.

Hundreds of dollars on things that never reached the cause.

Every one of them was aimed at my discs or my posture. The relay kept going.

My drawer was full, and my neck still locked up every morning.

So that left the step I’d been trying not to think about.

A neck fusion.

It helps some people, mostly those with arm pain or pressure on the spinal cord. But it means surgery on the front of your neck, weeks in a collar, and months of recovery. About 1 in 4 people develop new problems at the level next to it. And it’s the one step you can’t take back.

My doctor’s other offer was burning the nerves. A needle procedure that works for months, until the nerves grow back, and then you go back for another one.

So What’s The Real Solution?

It’s simpler than you think.

Miss any one of the three, and the relay starts again.

Reset the nerves without releasing the muscles, and the tight muscles keep your neck locked. Release the muscles without clearing the inflammation, and it sets the nerves off again. Do both without resetting the nerves, and they keep firing at every turn of your head. You’re back where you started in a few weeks.

Not another pill. Not another shot. Not another surgery.

Stopping the relay where it happens.

What That Post Led Me To

The woman in the group linked something else in the comments.

A study.

Magnesium is the mineral that blocks glutamate from attaching to nerve endings. And in hospitals, when patients get magnesium during surgery, they need about a quarter less pain medicine afterwards.

But there was a problem.

Pills weren’t the answer. The magnesium pills upset my stomach long before they did anything for my neck. And anything you swallow spreads through your whole body instead of going to your neck.

Then I found out why nothing I’d tried had worked.

Bengay, Icy Hot and Biofreeze cool the skin so you notice the pain less for an hour. When the cooling wears off, your neck nerves are exactly as sensitive as before.

The muscle relaxers made me sleepy. But a muscle can’t let go without cellular energy, and a sleeping pill doesn’t give it any.

And the magnesium spray and Epsom salt soaks? Magnesium alone. Your neck muscles make cellular energy from NAD+, and magnesium is what turns NAD+ into cellular energy. After 50, there isn’t enough NAD+ left for magnesium to work with. That’s why the soak helped a little that evening, and my neck was locked again by morning.

My neck needed all three, together, right where it hurts.

It took researchers 3 years to solve that. And when they did, more than 1,000 people used it for their neck pain in the last 18 months alone.

Someone in the same group mentioned a rub-on formula built around exactly this. I ordered it that night, half expecting another drawer item.

Magnesium Aid™ by Bare Willow uses a 3-Step Reset, Release and Clear system that took 3 years to perfect:

Where you rub it matters. The tight muscles and the small nerves sit right under the skin at the back of your neck, from the base of your skull down to the tops of your shoulders. You rub Magnesium Aid over all of it.

Doctors already treat pain with rub-ons: arnica gel worked as well as ibuprofen gel in a study of 204 people with hand arthritis. Aloe vera helps Magnesium Aid absorb into the skin. Menthol and peppermint oil work on the cold sensors in your skin, which quiets the pain signals within minutes, and camphor makes the heat-and-pain sensors less sensitive. And because it skips your stomach, there’s no upset stomach and no sleepy afternoon. 3rd-party tested in the USA.

“But Isn’t It Just Another Cream?”

That’s what I thought too.

Bengay, Icy Hot and Biofreeze cool the skin. Then they stop. When the cool wears off, the pain comes back, because nothing changed in the relay.

In Magnesium Aid™, the cooling gives you fast relief, but it isn’t the treatment. It quiets the pain signals within minutes, so you can turn your head again.

Underneath, magnesium and B6 reset the oversensitive nerves. Niacinamide and magnesium give your neck muscles the cellular energy to let go. And boswellia, arnica and B6 clear the trapped inflammation. No other rub I’d tried did all three.

That’s the difference between cooling the skin and stopping the relay.

Here’s what happens inside your body:

In the last 18 months, over 1,000 people have used Magnesium Aid™ for chronic neck pain, disc problems and neck-related arm pain. The results:

The Shocking Truth About What Your Neck Pain Is Really Costing You

I added it all up one night. $5,040.

And at the end of it, a surgeon talking about fusing the bones in my neck.

Patricia M., 64, Verified User★★★★★

I spent almost $2,400 last year on injections and therapy. Nothing lasted. Now I can turn my head in the car without that sharp catch.

Your Neck Nerves Are Getting More Sensitive Right Now

This isn’t a sale that ends tomorrow. This is your body.

Every time you turn your head today, your neck nerves fire a little more easily tomorrow. Every night your neck muscles go without the cellular energy to let go, they stiffen a little more. Every month, the inflammation at the base of your neck keeps the relay going.

That’s why your neck is worse this year than last year. And it’s happening while you’re reading this.

I spent 2 years telling myself it would get better.

That maybe the next shot would last longer.
That maybe the next pillow would be the one.

It didn’t get better. It got worse. Every month I waited was another month closer to that operating table.

Left alone, this moves from a stiff neck in the morning to a locked neck all day, then to headaches every afternoon, and for many people, to a fusion. A fusion that doesn’t always stop the pain.

Not because they chose it. Because they ran out of time.

I almost ran out of time.

I was tired of spending money on hope. I wanted my neck back.

This was my last try before I said yes to that surgery.

Just Read Their Stories...

Carol, 64, Atlanta GA

★ Trustpilot

I was skeptical. Lord knows I’ve tried everything for my neck. Creams, pills, cortisone shots, two full rounds of PT... nothing worked for more than a few weeks. But this actually did. The stiffness and shooting pain went from unbearable to barely noticeable. My surgeon’s office called to confirm my pre-op appointment. I told them I wouldn’t be needing it. There was a long pause on the other end. Last month I drove myself to my granddaughter’s recital and turned to watch her perform without pain for the first time in two years. My husband almost cried when I told him.

★ TrustpilotUsed by 1,000+ people for neck pain

Frank, 61, Dallas TX

★ Trustpilot

Thirty years of warehouse work destroyed my neck. Couldn’t turn my head to check my blind spot. Had a pre-op consultation already scheduled. A friend told me about this cream and I almost didn’t try it because I’d tried everything. First morning after using it, I backed out of my driveway and turned my head to check traffic and I just... did it. Without thinking. Without bracing. I canceled the surgery. Now I drive my grandkids to school every morning. My surgeon’s office keeps calling. I keep not calling back.

★ TrustpilotUsed by 1,000+ people for neck pain

Dorothy, 69, Phoenix AZ

★ Trustpilot

The doctors told me I had to ‘accept’ my neck pain. Accept not being able to look down at my grandchildren without shooting pain down my arm. Accept not being able to sleep on my side. Accept being a prisoner in my own body. Well, I didn’t accept it. I tried this cream instead. Three weeks later I got down on the floor and played with my grandson for the first time in over a year. I could look down at him, turn my head to watch him, pick him up. He’s four. He didn’t understand why I was crying. I didn’t try to explain.

★ TrustpilotUsed by 1,000+ people for neck pain

What Happened In My First 90 Days

Day 4. I woke up and turned my head before I even got out of bed. No locked neck.

Week 2. I read a whole chapter in bed without the headache.

Week 5. I backed out of the driveway by turning my head. Gary noticed before I said anything.

Week 8. The tops of my shoulders weren’t hard anymore. I put three of the pillows in the donation bag.

Month 3. I drove on the highway to see my grandkids, and got down on the floor to read with them.

Under a minute a day

Rub a thin layer on the back and sides of your neck, from the base of your skull down to the tops of your shoulders, before bed, and again in the morning.
That’s it.

No pills to swallow. No shots. No surgery.

Most people keep the jar by the bed, and rub a little more in before a long drive, an hour at the computer, or any time the stiffness starts.

Your body does the rest: resetting the nerves, releasing the muscles, and clearing the inflammation at the base of your neck.

No guesswork. No hassle.

Your Results Are 100% Guaranteed — My Personal Promise

I know what it feels like to spend money on something and pray it works. I’ve done it too many times.

So here’s the deal. Try it for 180 days. Use it every day.

If you still wake up with your neck locked. If you still can’t turn your head to back out of the driveway. If your neck isn’t better than it is right now. You get every penny back.

No questions. No forms. No hassle. Keep everything.

I wish someone had offered me that before I spent $5,040 on things that didn’t work.

- Barbara

You Have Two Choices...

Choice 1: Continue down the path you’re on...

Keep turning your whole body to back out of the driveway. Keep paying for shots that wear off sooner every time and pills that leave you sleepy. Keep spending $300 a month on visits, prescriptions and pillows, and keep waking up with your neck locked.

In a year, you’ll have spent thousands with nothing to show for it but more sensitive nerves and a surgery date.

Choice 2: Invest $29.97 once to go after the cause...

Get the only rub-on made to reset, release and clear your neck at the same time.

Stop the relay where it hurts.
Skip the operating table.
Get your neck back.

- Delia T., 59★★★★★

“Surgeon had me scheduled for a neck fusion. Started this and canceled the consult six weeks later. Still using it.”

The Clock Is Ticking...

I waited 2 years. I told myself it would get better on its own. That the next shot would last. That the next pillow would be the one.

It didn’t get better. It got worse. Every month.

I think about the people who waited longer than me.

The ones whose stiff mornings turned into a locked neck all day.
The ones who had the fusion and still hurt, like Paula.
The ones still turning their whole body to back out of the driveway at 75.

I almost became one of them.

Don’t become one of them.

Why This Isn’t In Every Pharmacy

Magnesium Aid™ by Bare Willow is not a pill you stamp out in a factory. The rub-on formula that works through the skin at the back of your neck took 3 years to develop. Most supplement companies don’t bother, because a topical formula costs 3x more to produce than a capsule.

That’s why your cabinet is full of pills that didn’t work. They were cheaper to make.

We produce Magnesium Aid™ in small batches because the mineral complex can’t be rushed. When a batch sells out, the next one takes 4-5 weeks.

Right now it’s in stock. And the 180-day guarantee still applies. 3rd-party tested in the USA.

Excellent ★★★★★ 5,758 reviews

Try Magnesium Aid™ by Bare Willow Now Risk-Free with our First Time Buyer’s Offer!

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Add a comment ...

Donna Keller

Has anyone actually tried this for the morning stiffness and turning your head?

Like · Reply · 👍 5 · 18 min

Ruth Alvarez

Yes. I can back out of the driveway and check over my shoulder again. First time in over a year.

Like · Reply · 👍 8 · 33 min

Janet Price

I paid full price last month and now it’s on sale? Come on.

Like · Reply · 👍 3 · 1 h

Lisa Nguyen

How long does shipping usually take?

Like · Reply · 👍 2 · 2 h

Carolyn Brooks

Lisa, mine showed up in 4 days.

Like · Reply · 👍 3 · 47 min

Mark Ellison

My wife was scheduled for a neck surgery consult next month. She started this six weeks ago and canceled it.

Like · Reply · 👍 6 · 3 h

Tracy Owens

Hey Michelle, this might be better than another injection.

Like · Reply · 👍 4 · 3 h

Michelle Grant

I ordered two after reading the whole thing. The shots only lasted a few weeks and the stiffness always came back.

Like · Reply · 👍 7 · 2 h

Robert Hale

My wife spent close to $2,800 on injections and therapy. She’s driving the highway again without planning every head turn.

Like · Reply · 👍 5 · 4 h

Karen Walsh

Same thing with my sister. Almost $1,900 before she found this.

Like · Reply · 👍 2 · 5 h

Margaret Ellis

My daughter told me to try it after watching me turn my whole body to look at her.

Like · Reply · 👍 3 · 5 h

Susan Reed

Nobody ever told me the pain travels on the nerves. When I read that part I said “that’s it” out loud.

Like · Reply · 👍 2 · 4 h

Diane Cooper

It arrived well packed. After a few weeks the headaches are way down and turning my head is easier.

Like · Reply · 👍 6 · 19 min

Barbara Kim

I was on muscle relaxers every night. This is the first thing that actually helped the morning stiffness.

Like · Reply · 👍 4 · 6 h

Patricia Lang

I’m reading in bed again without that ache starting.

Like · Reply · 👍 8 · 5 h

Nancy Ortiz

I ran out for about 12 days and the stiffness started coming back. Set up auto-ship right away.

Like · Reply · 👍 2 · 6 h

Jennifer Shaw

Same thing happened to me. Ran out for 9 days and I could feel it. Not doing that again.

Like · Reply · 👍 3 · 5 h

Christine Boyd

If your friend is dealing with that morning stiffness, she’ll probably thank you for it.

Like · Reply · 👍 1 · 3 h

James Porter

My wife says it’s the only thing that actually worked. She can check her blind spot again.

Like · Reply · 👍 4 · 7 h

Rebecca Miles

No more injections.

Like · Reply · 👍 5 · 6 h

Linda Hart

I was skeptical at first. Bought a bottle and was surprised. Two friends ordered it after seeing the difference.

Like · Reply · 👍 6 · 8 h

Rebecca Miles

I ordered another one for my sister after she saw me turning my head normally.

Like · Reply · 👍 3 · 7 h

Angela Cruz

Six weeks in I can sit at the computer all afternoon without that ache starting.

Like · Reply · 👍 7 · 4 h

Rebecca Miles

Mine arrived today. Starting tonight.

Like · Reply · 👍 2 · 5 h