In this video, I'm going to show you how to fix pinched nerve
pain in your neck and shoulder. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
Saint Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go over
easy exercises that can give instant relief for sharp pains
in the neck and the shoulder being caused from a pinched
nerve. A note, all of these exercises work just a little
bit differently. To get the best results, go through them
all, use what works best for you. As a bonus, all of the
exercises can be done at home require no equipment and they
offer quick relief even within 30 seconds. So, with that being
said, let's get started. So, let's start with an overload
cause of pinched nerve pain in the neck and the shoulder which
is a build up of tension and tightness that leads to
compression of nerve roots causing sharp shooting pain.
So, here's a really easy way to knock out that tightness pretty
much anytime, anywhere. We're going to take our fingers,
interlock them like this, point our thumbs down towards the
floor. We're then going to put our hands right over the back
of our head and position our thumbs right at the base of the
skull. What we want to do with this exercise is focus on a
light massage. We're only going to go over muscles so avoid the
spine or anything that feels bony. I like to start right off
to the side of the spine right here and then do a light
circular massage for about five to 10 seconds and over that
time, just kind of put a little bit more pressure in there to
deepen that self massage but only to your comfort level.
Afterwards, see how you feel. If it feels pretty loose, just
move over towards the side and repeat. Doing this pretty much
from the spine right here all the way over towards the ears.
If any spot feels like it needs more tension, just keep doing
this over and over again until everything is nice and loose.
You're probably going to find that one certain spot might
have a big muscle knot spasm just feels really tight and
aching. It won't release. If you feel that, what you want to
do is then attack the muscle fibers at different angles. So,
instead of doing a circular massage with it, what you want
to do is take your thumb and hook right over that spot and
then pull it towards your and do that for about five to 10
repetitions. You may find it finally will release at that
point. You can also go up and down with it diagonally. I
would experiment with different motions and go with what works
best for you. So once we have the top right here nice and
relax. We're then going to do the same thing and move down
over the middle part of the neck. Repeat and then go all
the way towards the base of the neck and then towards the top
of the shoulders. Again, focusing on any spot that just
needs it a little bit more. From there, I like to is one to
the next level by putting some more neck motions in that will
allow us to dig deeper into those spots and get some more
relief. So, let's do the same exercise but what we're going
to do first is rotation. So, we're going to turn our head
towards one side. When you do this, you're probably going to
find that one certain movement like let's say turning your
head towards your left right here is what causes pain or
discomfort. So, what you want to do is keep turning your
head, build into it as much as you can but stop before the
point of pain or discomfort. You're going to hold that
position and now what you're going to do is that self
massage. You'll probably find that one pinpoint spot pretty
quickly that you need to focus on. So, keep attacking that
tightness until everything is relaxed and then afterwards, do
the same thing. What you're probably going to notice is you
can turn your head just a little bit more with less pain
because those muscles are loosening up. So, just keep
doing this over and over again until everything is nice and
loose or you're not getting anymore improvement. So, the
movements that I would focus on while doing this, turning your
head to look over one shoulder, left and right and then, I
would also do a bending motion. So, keeping your nose straight,
taking your ear towards your shoulder. You should feel a
deep opening stretch on the other side and when you do this
one, really focus on trying to get into the top of the
shoulder right here but it's just a good way to knock out
muscle tightness pretty much anywhere and I hope that gives
you a lot of relief. With this exercise, we're going to on
taking pressure off a pinch nerve through a decompression
traction exercise. Think everything right now is getting
compressed and at that point, what we need to do is open it
up with a deep pulling stretch. This one can be done standing
or seated. It's very easy to do. So, we're going to take two
fingers, put them right on our chin and gently press our head
backward like this as much as we can. As you do this, you're
going to feel a really good activation of the muscles in
the neck. The key with this exercise, don't to the point of
pain or discomfort. If you start to feel that, back off
slightly. You're then going to hold this position, take your
other hand, put it right on the back of your head. Now, gently
push your head backward and then also with the other hand,
hook and pull your chin forward towards your chest as much as
you can. You should feel a really light, gentle stretch in
the neck starting at the top right here, the base of the
skull that works towards the middle towards the base of the
neck. Keep doing this as much as you can. Once you feel that
deep but comfortable stretch, you're going to hold this for
20 to 30 seconds but if it feels good, you can hold it for
longer. From there, you're going to relax and then, you're
going to repeat this three to five times and with each
repetition, try to build into it just a little bit more. So,
this is how we can take it to the next level and try to find
some relief positions that will give us more pain relief. So,
for this one, what I like to do is instead of keeping my nose
straight, turn your head slightly towards one side then
repeat. You're going to notice it opens up the neck just a
little bit differently. So, go all the way towards the left.
Go all the way towards the right. If you find that one
certain spot just offers the most relief, that is your
relief position and that's one that you want to make a note of
and throw more repetitions in at that point. Here's another
decompression exercise that can quickly take pressure off a
pinch nerve in the neck. This one's going to focus more on
bending or tilting motions so if that movement offers you a
lot of relief, give this one a try. You can do it standing or
seated. So, a quick note about this exercise. Whatever side
that you have pain, you're going to tilt away from the
painful side only. So, if you have a lot on your right, bend
towards the left only and vice versa. Let's say I have a lot
on my right side. To get into position, we're going to take
the painful side's arm, bend our elbow at 90 degrees, and
now slide it across our lower back as much as we can. You
should feel a gentle activation of the muscle on the top of the
shoulder going to the side of the neck. This is the upper
trapezius. Let's hold this position. Now, we're going to
take our hand on the other side, hook the side of our head
and now slowly, you want to do this one slowly. Pull your ear
towards the other side shoulder. As you do this, you
should feel a deep stretch form on the painful side into the
side of the neck towards the shoulder. It usually feels
pretty good. You only want to go towards a deep but
comfortable stretch. If you feel any pain or discomfort
back off slightly. At this point, you to hold it for 20 to
30 seconds but if it feels good you can hold it for longer and
do nice slow control breathing let out as much tension as you
can relax take a breather and then repeat this three to five
times and with each repetition try to build into it just a
little bit more you should notice that you have more pain
free range of motion every time that you do it if you want to
take this one to the next level and give a more intense stretch
give this a try get back into the original stretch but now
turn your chin upward towards the ceiling. So, it's kind of
like rotating your head towards the painful side. Do this one
slowly. It really intensifies the stretch but if this
position offers more relief at that point, throw more
repetitions in. With this exercise, we're going to focus
on nerve gliding. Think opening up the pathways where the
nerves travel to break up adhesions and tightness that
maybe compressing or pinching a nerve causing pain. You can do
this exercise standing or seated. To get into position,
outstretch your off your side like this, have your palms
facing towards the floor. This is a two-part movement. The
first movement, we're going to slowly rotate one hand so our
palm is facing towards the ceiling. The second movement,
we're going to turn our head towards the side where the palm
is facing towards the floor. You're going to hold this
position for a second or two and build into it as much as
you can but not to the point of pain or discomfort. So, if
you're turning your head, you feel any pain or discomfort,
stop before that point. Can hold this for a second or two
and then you're just going to switch the place of the hands
right here and then turn the head towards the other side.
You want to do this nice and slowly for 15 repetitions in
both directions and build into it just a little bit more with
each repetition. Afterwards, see how you feel. If it feels
like it's offering relief but you need a little bit more, you
can always throw in more repetitions. Another note about
this exercise, you can do this multiple times throughout the
day. Just scale back with improvement. If the exercise
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questions, please leave them below. I'll get back to you as
soon as I can. Thanks for watching.