Hot rice is nice

Last week I sent my husband to my new wonderful massage therapist and he came away with an injured neck.  So the least I could do was offer to make him a therapeutic rice “collar”.

It’s interesting how different people are affected by any sort of healing treatment.  He loves the sessions with his chiropractor.  I came away feeling not so good the last time I saw the same doctor.

The massage therapist is exactly what my body needs.  For my husband, his work was just a little too deep.

I had heard from Rayna about little pillows made of rice that you throw in the microwave and then apply to whatever hurts.  I went out and bought a big bag of long-grain rice and got out my scraps of material to make one. 

One design on the Internet suggested a horseshoe shaped thing.  But that seemed wrong to me because our shoulders are not flat. 



So I came up with this one that is more like a quarter moon.  Inside the soft outer cover is a similar shape with 30 “pockets” of rice.  I determined the rice had to be sectioned off so it wouldn’t all slide to the outer edges.  I learned that you can sew through rice without breaking a needle!

I added some French lavender to the inner pocketed structure to give it a relaxing smell.

My first attempt wasn’t long enough in the back.  So it went back the drawing board for the addition of another row of rice pockets.

This one is adjustable.  By using the second button, you can bring it up higher around the neck.



Just 90 seconds in the microwave provides at least 20 minutes of heat.

Hopefully the warmth of the hot rice and the sweet smell of lavender will soothe his aching neck! I will definitely not be sending him to Bill, the rolfer. Oh no!