Every once in a while someone will wake up with a lot of neck pain and a loss of motion in one direction.
They won't be able to turn their head one way and will feel that their muscles are in a spasm.
This is called an acute facet based/locked wry neck.
Sometimes a simple hot pack and slow pain free repeated motion will do the trick. Other times people need repeated end range motion, joint mobilizations, kinesiotaping, or Mulligan mobilizations.
But another option that may provide immediate results is dry needling.
In fact, a recent study showed immediate and long term improvements in pain and range of motion after just 12 minutes of dry needling.
So next time you wake up with a funny neck, find a physical therapist that does dry needling.