In this video, we're going to go over the neck pain muscles
and how to release them for instant pain relief. 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 are going to target the muscles that tend
to cause the most amount of neck pain and to make it easy,
we're going to break it down by location of pain starting right
here at the top of the neck working down into the neck
towards the base of the neck and then finally over the
front. Each exercise targets a different muscle group. To get
the best results, go through them all, use what gives you
the most relief. With that being said, let's get started.
So, let's start by targeting the muscles at the base of the
skull. These are called sub occipital muscles and they are
a hot spot for tension headaches and a lot of pain
right at the top of the neck. So, if that's what you're
dealing with, give this a try. These muscles really respond
well to self massage. So, here's a really easy way to
reduce a lot of tightness pretty quickly. What you're
going to do is interlock your fingers, have your thumbs
pointed towards the floor. Just put your hands right on the
back of your head, position your thumbs right below the
base of the skull. I start right off to the side of the
spine and I hook right into those muscles with my thumbs
and then just do a light circular massage. Apply enough
pressure in there where it's going to be comfortable not
causing any discomfort. This usually feels really really
good. What I like to do is go over one spot roughly about
five seconds. Relax, see how I feel. If that spot feels pretty
good, there's no tightness in there. I just move over a
different spot and repeat. Pretty much going from the side
of the spine all the way towards my ears. What you want
to do is stop over any spot that feels like it's really
tight and achy like that's the pinpoint spot of pain and keep
repeating this over and over again until everything is nice
and loose. If you do have one spot that just will not release
like a big muscle knot, what I would do is try to attack it at
different angles. So, instead of going in a circular motion
with your thumbs, hook into that area, kind of just right
before it and then pull it over your thumb right here towards
your ears and again you'll just feel it hit it a little bit
differently so I would go across you can also go up
diagonally towards the ear you can also go down experiment
with as many different movements as possible and use
what gives you the most relief great part about this one too
is you can work your way down into the middle part of the
neck and also towards the base of the neck even into the
shoulders explore the whole area so a good way to be able
to take this one to the next level is also to add in some
neck movements so instead of keeping your head straight
slowly turn it towards one side kind of like looking over your
shoulder and then repeat so give that a try towards the
left and then also towards the right if you find that you're
able to just dig in there a little bit deeper with these
movements at that point just keep throwing more repetitions
in in that position so what we want to do last after the self
massage is doing a little bit of stretching to help lengthen
those muscles but also keep them loose throughout the day.
So, for the sub occipitals, what we can do is a very easy
one. Take two fingers, put them right on your chin. What you're
going to do is drive your head backward like this until you
feel a really good activation of the muscles in the neck.
What we're going to do is hold that position, take our other
hand, hook right towards the back of the head. The movement
is really easy. We're just going to drive our chin
backward like this while hooking forward with our other
hand drawing our chin towards our chest. So, it's kind of
like a two-part movement like this. As you do this, you're
going to feel a really deep stretch form right at the base
of the skull right into those suboccipital muscles. So,
really try to focus on feeling it right there but this usually
feels pretty good. I like to hold it for about 20 seconds. I
relax and then I repeat this a couple more times and with each
repetition, I just try to build into it a little bit more. So,
with this one, you can also take it to the next level by putting
some neck movements in there. Instead of keeping your head
and chin straight, slowly turn it towards one side and then
repeat. You're going to notice it opens up the other side of
the neck just a little bit more. So, give that a try
towards the left and also towards the right. If any of
those positions offer more relief at that point, throw
more repetitions in. So, let's move our way downward and now
target the spleneous muscle group. These muscles run pretty
much the whole length of the neck and they're commonly
called the migraine muscle because not only do these cause pains in
the neck but they are highly associated with headaches and
migraines. So, if you get migraines and you feel like
they are linked to getting neck pain, definitely give this
exercise a try. It's best done seated. What we're going to do
is start with very good upright posture. Have your back as
straight as possible. You're going to take two fingers and
two fingers only on both hands, put them right on the back of
your head. What you're going to do is just hook the back of
your head and then pull it forward taking your chin
towards your chest but do this one slowly. It doesn't take
much force to be able to stretch these muscles. As you
do this, you're going to feel a really good stretch form right
at the top part of the neck that works its way down towards
the middle part of the neck. Kinda like a domino effect but
keep building into this taking your chin towards your chest
until you feel that stretch go all the way towards the bottom
of the neck into the upper back. Once you feel that
stretch from the top of the neck all the way towards the
upper back, you're then going to hold this for 20 to 30 seconds and
do nice, slow controlled breathing let out as much tension as
possible from there just relax and then repeat this a couple
more times and with each repetition try to build into it
just a little bit more so to take this one to the next level
let's throw in some more neck movements to open up the neck
just a little bit differently and hopefully get some more
relief so instead of keeping your head straight slowly turn
it towards one side kind of like looking over your
shoulders so I'm just turning my head towards my left shoulder and
then I'm going to repeat this exercise you're going to notice
it opens up the other side a little bit more so give it a
try towards the left and then also towards the right if you
notice that any of these positions offer more relief at
that point throw more repetitions in since we're
already in this position let's really take it to the next
level and focus on another muscle group called the erector
spine which pretty much run from your lower back all the
way into the neck so this one can indirectly cause neck pain by
causing back issues. So, let's get everything stretched out.
What we're going to do this time around is take our knees
and just open up our legs as much as we can just enough
where our upper body is going to fit through. So, let's take
our fingers, put them on the back of our head, and do that
original stretch. So, what we want to do is feel that stretch
from the neck into the upper back. Once we feel that, we're
then going to put our elbows straight out in front of us and
now, we're going to round our upper back forward. So, round
your shoulders moving through your shoulder blades just
lowering those elbows towards the floor. As you do this,
you're going to feel that stretch now. Go from your upper
back all the way down into the middle back. So, really aim to
feel it below the shoulder blades. Once you feel that,
you're then going to build into the last position which is
pivoting forward moving through your lower back and your waist.
So, just lower your elbows downward as much as you can. At
this point, you're going to feel a stretch from the top of
the neck all the way down towards the tailbone. You're
going to hold this comfortably for 20 to 30 seconds. Again,
try to do nice, slow, controlled breathing. When
you're ready to come back up, you're going to go in reverse.
So, what you're going to do is slowly pivot up like this,
moving through your lower back then we're going to move
through our upper back like this and then finally release
the neck but give that whole process a try for a couple
times and with each repetition, just try to build into it a
little bit more. So, with this exercise, we're now going to
focus on the muscles that tend to cause more pain from the
upper back, shoulder area that works its way up into the neck.
This first one is going to target the upper trapezius. So,
what I'm going to do is whatever side that I'm having
the most amount of neck pain. Let's say it's the right side.
I'm going to take the arm on that side, bend my elbow
roughly at 90 degrees and then just slide my arm across my
lower back as much as I can. At this point, you should feel the
muscle right here on the top of the shoulder into the neck
start to grab. You're going to hold this position. Now, take
your other hand, hook the side of your head and now slowly pull
your ear towards the other side shoulder until you feel really
deep stretch form right here into the side of the neck once
you feel a deep but comfortable stretch you're going to hold
this one and now slowly turn your chin upward towards the
ceiling so it's kind of like rotating your head and looking
upward towards the ceiling you're going to feel that
muscle start to activate pretty quickly so build into this one
slowly hold this for 20 to 30 seconds you're going to relax
on the next repetition, try to build into it just a little bit more. I
would recommend doing that at least three times on one side
and then switching towards the other side and repeating just
to keep everything in balance. So, another muscle in that area
that tends to cause a lot of issues is called the levator
scapula. So, for this one, we're going to do an exercise
fittly called the armpit sniffer. So, again, let's say
we have a lot going on on the right side. This time around
though, what I'm going to do is just have my arms off to my
side and I'm going to slowly turn my head to look over the
other side shoulder, the non-painful side shoulder as
much as I can until I feel those muscles in the neck start
to activate. Once I feel that, I'm going to take the hand on
the non-painful side, hook the back of my head, and slowly
pull my chin downward towards the armpit. As you do this, you
should feel a really good stretch from the top of the
shoulder blade right here that works into the side of the neck
towards the back of the ear. Once you feel that, you're then
going to hold this for 20 to 30 seconds and then relax. On the
next repetition, try to build into it just a little bit more.
Again, repeat that three times on both sides. So, the last
exercise, we're going to focus on a muscle called the
sternocleidomastoid or the SCM which runs pretty much right
here below the ear all the way down towards the collar bone.
This one when it gets flared up can cause a lot of difficulty
with turning the head. So, if you have a lot of neck pain and
to the point where it hurts to turn your head this is how we
can stretch that out and hopefully get a lot of relief
so what I'm going to do this time around is whatever side
that I'm having the most amount of pain again let's say it's
the right side I'm going to slowly turn my head to look
towards the other side shoulder as much as I can so what I
want to do with this one is stop before the point that I'm
getting anymore pain or discomfort and then I'm going
to hold that position and then I'm going to tilt my head
backward like this taking my ear towards the shoulder. So,
just tilt it back. As you do this, you're going to feel that
muscle just really start to activate and it usually feels
like a really deep stretch throughout the whole neck going
towards the collarbone right here. So, if you would like to
intensify this stretch, you can take your hand on the other
side, the media portion of your palm and press right on the top
of your clavicle, the collarbone. Just press it
straight down. You'll really intensify that stretch. So,
just build into this one slowly but I like to hold this for
about 20 to 30 seconds. I just relax on the next repetition. I
try to build into it just a little bit more but again,
throw a couple repetitions in on the other side just to keep
everything in balance. If the exercises help, please support
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