A pain in the neck

Sore joints (arthritis) seem to be a universal companion of old age. Two ladies in their '70s that I know have had great problems with it.  One has had both knees replaced and the other has had both hips replaced:  Pretty gruesome but better than arthritic pain.  My problem is cancer -- now all under control -- but I was probably doomed to get arthritis too.  

I did.  I have had an arthritic neck for over a year.  I had a way of coping with it that worked well for a while but that gradually faded out and I was left with a very painful neck when I woke up in the morning. Aspirin fixed it but I had to wait a little while until the aspirin was absorbed.

So I tried something else.  I took Ibuprofen, which is basically an anti-inflammatory medication. I took it as I went to bed.  It was a miracle.  I woke up pain free.  

I have a long record of never taking any pills for my health or anything else, however, so I looked askance at taking Ibuprofen long term.  So I experimented.  For the last two nights I have taken NO analgesics.  And for two mornings I have awoken with only trivial neck pain.  My pain in the neck has just about vanished

How come?  I can only guess the answer to that.  My preferred explanation is that the Ibuprofen permanently reduced the inflammation in my neck.  My second theory is that I have been doing a physiotherapy exercise with some frequency lately and that should have helped. And my third theory is that maybe the steroid injections into my neck that I had three weeks ago have finally cut in

But maybe the pain will return and all three of those explanations will be knocked  into a cocked hat.  I will continue my exercises, though.