This blog is divided into 4 parts:
Here we are going to cover the causes of neck pain, posture correction, exercises and at last the stretches.
A. Causes of neck pain
1. Poor posture while driving a car or walking is a very common contributor of neck pain.
2. Worry or stress: Mental stress can cause the muscles to tighten. Which builds up tension & pain in the neck and back muscles.
3. Sleeping with your neck in a bad position, We spend almost a third of our lives sleeping. That is a third of your life that you can be putting your neck in the wrong position so always try to align your neck along the spine while sleeping.
4. Carrying heavy bag: Carrying a heavy shoulder bag or purse can also cause neck pain, specially if you're carrying it in one side.
5. Technology: Using a mobile or computer with a bent neck puts excess pressure on back & neck muscles.
B. Posture Correction
To summaries almost all the cause of neck pain these days is poor posture where the head and eyes are looking down something like this.
This way the trap & neck muscles are overworked which cause the pain in the cervical region.
To fix this,
Always look straight, with chin back, ears above the shoulder, so that pressure doesn't come on one particular neck muscle.
If you travel a lot then use the cervical collar for neck support so that it gets rest and heals faster.
Buy Cervical collar: https://amzn.to/2Jfr7Ic
Cervical Pillow: https://amzn.to/3mGBulT
C. Exercises
If we can make muscles surrounding neck stronger then less pressure will come on disk and joints in cervical region,
First exercise is chin tuck : With the help of your fingers tuck your chin in as shown.
You can do 10-15 reps of this with 5-10sec hold.
Avoid pushing your chin down as shown below
Now Let's look at some isometric exercises (Isometric exercises strengthen muscles without putting it through full range of motion, i.e. without moving the body parts, one such Example is plank, where we strengthen our core without movement)
For first neck isometric exercise, push your forehead as shown & resist that force with your neck muscle
2nd you can push from left side, then right side and at last push from back of your head and resist with your neck muscle.
Hold in each for 5-10sec.
4. Stretches
Gently Stretch the neck Muscles from all sides as shown.
Note that you should not try to overstretch in any direction.
Use a towel for this Stretch and look up while gently pulling the towel with both hands.
Next you can cross your hands and stretch your neck left & right with the help of a towel. You'll feel stretch and relief at the back of your neck. (Watch Video)
You can do the same stretch using your hands.
Neck & shoulder Stretch- Pull your one hand while bending to one side.
You can also cross try foam rolling your neck:
Buy a Foam Roller: https://amzn.to/38ibTKI
Upper Body Foam Rolling Video: https://youtu.be/txza3Nj14ik
If there are any stretches or exercises which you find uncomfortable then avoid it.
Some Bonus tips you can use for neck pain:
Include healthy fats in your diet like omega 3 ( buy a fish oil supplement)
Drink plenty of fluids & eat lot of fruits and vegetables.
Avoid heavily processed food.
Write down your queries & feedback in comments :)
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