In this video, I'm going to show you how to loosen a stiff
neck in seconds. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in St.
Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go over
some easy exercises that can quickly loosen a stiff neck.
This one is especially good if you woke up one morning and
just find that you can't turn your head towards one side
without a lot of pain and stiffness. This first exercise
is going to really target muscle tightness. That's muscle
knots, spasms, and trigger points. It's going to be a
blend of a self massage and a lengthening stretch in there to
get pain-free range of motion. For this one, we can use a
couple different things. You can use your thumb. You can
also use something round and soft like a tennis ball so
kind of cupping it like this and doing that massage and
you're probably wondering why I have a spoon in my pocket
because I'm going to show you a way to take this one to the
next level by using a large metal spoon and really digging
into those spots to get a lot of relief. So, definitely don't
miss this one. So, let's build into some motions that you
might be having difficulty with. Usually, for most people,
it's turning the head in rotation like this to look over
one shoulder. What you want to do is build into that motion
kind of stretching into it as much as you can and stopping
right before the point where it's going to increase pain or
discomfort. So, stop right before that point. In this
position, you should already start to feel a lot of tight,
achy muscles start to activate and that's a good thing because
now we can pinpoint them. So, what you're going to do is take
your tennis ball or your thumb right there and you're going to
hold this and now do a light circular massage into those
tight achy muscle fibers. Only going to the muscles, stay off
anything bony like the skull and the spine. I like to hold
all of these positions for 20 seconds doing a light circular
massage moving my thumb all over the place and targeting
any spots that need it just a little bit more. From there,
you're going to relax. On the next repetition, you're going
to notice that you have a little bit more pain-free range
of motion. You can just stretch into it just a little bit and
at that point, repeat this process. I'd like to do it
about three to five times or until you feel like you're not
getting any more improvement or that muscle tightness has
released completely and I do recommend doing all of these
moves on both sides to keep them in balance. If you really
want to take the rotational stretch to the next level and
target some more muscles, you can do what is known as an
armpit sniffer and you're going to see here in just a second
why we call it that. So, let's get back into our rotational
stretch. Look your shoulder as much as you can and now what
you're going to do is grab your hand hook the back of your head
like this and passively pull your chin downward towards your
armpit this time around you're going to feel a deep intense
stretch forming from the top of the shoulder blade into the
neck towards the side of the ear right here this hits a
muscle called elevator scapula big instigator of tension
headaches at that point just target those tight achy muscles
as needed again a 20 second hold if you have a lot more
difficult bending or tilting your head kind of like taking
your ear towards your shoulder. What we need to focus on is a
muscle called the upper trapezius. Pretty much runs
from the top of the shoulder into the side of the neck. So,
let's get into that motion. I'm going to take my ear towards my
shoulder as much as I can stopping before the point of
discomfort and at this point, you can start to attack those
tight achy muscles. I like to go right behind the ear right
here going to the side of my neck and then just work my way
down to the top of the shoulder. If you want to take
this one to the next level, take hand, hook the side of
your head right here. Now, passively pull your ear towards
your shoulder. This will really open up that neck and I really
feel it in that top muscle right here, that upper
trapezius. If you want to take this one to even the next level
and I don't even know how many levels we're on at this point.
What you want to do is get back into the stretch and then
rotate your chin upward towards the ceiling. You'll feel that
muscle grab. It usually feels pretty good and at that point,
I just dig in there and then switch to the other side and
repeat. If you're having difficulty bending the head
going into flexion or taking it backward into extension this is
how we can target this movement I'm going to take two fingers
I'm going to place them on my chin and then press my chin
backward doing a head retraction until you feel a
very gentle activation of the neck muscles let's start with
flexion that is taking our head forward I'm going to hold this
position but this time around I'm going to take my hand on
the other side hook the back of my head right here and now
passively scoop forward pulling my chin downward towards my
chest. You'll really feel these top muscles start to fire.
These are called sub occipitals. They're right below
the base of the skull. A big hot spot for tension headaches.
So, at that point, you can use your fingers to massage those
muscles. For this one, I really like to take that tennis ball
and just dig right in there. It usually feels really, really,
really good at that point and you can also experiment with
some rotation with this So, while you're doing the pulling
motion forward, turn your head towards one direction, you'll
notice that it opens up the neck just a little bit better.
So, if that offers more relief, go towards the left, go towards
the right, throw some repetitions in, and target
those tight, achy muscles. For extension, what we want to do
is something very similar. Taking two fingers, you're just
going to put them on your chin, drive the head back until you
feel those muscles fire but this time around, we're
going to look upward towards the ceiling. I usually feel it
more in the mid neck. So, if you have a lot of mid-neck
pain, this is a really good way to go in there and target those
muscles and you can also do that turning motion to see if
that helps out just a little bit more. So, let's move on to
my favorite technique which is the muscle scraping or the gua
sha. This one is really good because I think that you can
pinpoint areas just a little bit more and get some more
relief. For this one, we need a large metal spoon. You want one
with a little bit more thickness to it, you'll get
better results and we also need a form of lubrication. Anything
like a massage lotion or oil that is designed to be put skin
will work. I like to use my coconut oil but you can use
anything that you want. Start off by coating the whole neck
not the front though, just the back with that lubrication. I
also recommend putting it on the top of the shoulders here
and the upper back. We're going to focus on everything
and for this video, I'm not going to put any on because I
don't feel like wearing massage lotion for the rest of the day.
I'm going to take my spoon right here and it doesn't
matter what spot of the spoon you use. You can use the
handle, the rounded portion, the tips, experiment with it,
anything that works better for you, go with it but what you're
going to do is start at the top right here on those
suboccipital muscles below the base of the skull. Take your
spoon. I'm going to use the handle right here and you're
going to just take it at roughly a 30 to 45 degree angle
and again, we're only going to go over soft tissue and muscle
staying off the spine and also the skull and we're going to
work top down. We're scraping downwards with this one. You're
just going to apply enough pressure where it's going to be
a gentle self massage and you're just going to do a nice
stroke downwards. I like to go over one spot roughly five to
10 times and then I just move over a different spot and
repeat going pretty much over the whole neck from top, bottom
on both sides. You're probably going to notice that one
certain spot is more painful and might also feel like it's
very gritty, almost like sandpaper. That's a spot of
adhesion and you really want to focus on that one just a little
bit more. So, throw some more repetitions in at that spot
until you feel it break up because that could definitely
be causing your stiffness and your pain. You also may notice
while doing this exercise that redness starts to form on the
top of the skin. That is completely normal. I don't know
if you can see it over the video but that is blood flow
coming into the area which helps promote healing. So,
pretty much do this all over the neck of focusing on any
spot that needs it a little bit more. The nice thing is is that
if you want to take this one to the next level, start building
into those motions that we just earlier because you're going to
start to pinpoint areas that need a little bit more tension.
So, if you have difficulty turning your head, do the same
movement. If you have difficulty tilting the head,
you can do this pretty much from the top of the ear all the
way down into the shoulder. I would recommend switching over
to different spots of the spoon right here, digging into
different areas, really experimenting, exploring as
much as you can and whatever offers you more relief, go with
it. So, here's one of my favorite go to's when I
personally get a stiff painful neck. This one is called the
towel method. We're just going to need a medium-sized
hand-drying towel. Start off by rolling it up and placing it on
the top of the neck right below the base of the skull. Take the
two ends, pull forward until you feel a very good amount of
support being formed over that part of the neck by the towel
and it should cause a little bit of a self massage too which
feels generally pretty good. Let's say that you have
difficulty turning your head towards one direction. Maybe
it's towards the right side. Whatever side that you're
turning towards that end of the towel going to be our stable
anchor point so that side's hand is not going to move
instead we're going to pull forward until we feel a very
good amount of support and now the other end right here we're
going to raise up so the end is above our eye we don't want to
go over it like this and we're going to hook the side of our
head the movement from here is very easy we're going to turn
our head to look over our shoulder while also using the
towel right here to support that movement and passively
pull into it just a little bit more so go to the point where
it's a deep comfortable stretch but right before the point
where it's to cause more pain or discomfort. Hold this one
for 20 seconds. You're going to relax it and then build into it
on the next repetition just a little bit more. You'll
probably notice that you have a little bit more pain-free range
of motion. I like to do this one for three to five
repetitions and then from there, I just switch to the
other side and repeat to make sure that I keep everything in
balance and then from there, I'd like to lower the towel
down a little bit and then repeat this because you're
going to notice it hits the neck just a little bit
differently. So, in with going towards the top, towards the
middle, and then the lower part of the neck. You're going to
find that one certain spot is pinpoint. It's the pinpoint
spot that's causing the tightness and the pain. At that
point, you want to throw more repetitions in. It's just a
good way to really identify that one spot that needs just a
little bit more tension. Let's take this one to the next level
by now doing a pulling motion known as traction. Think of a
very deep stretch that quickly takes pressure off of muscles,
joints, spinal disc that might be causing sharp shooting pains
down into the shoulder down into the arm. So, it's really
good for bulging and herniated discs. For this one, I'm going
to cross my arms over just like this and then, one end is going
to be kept locked straight like this. The other end, what I'm
going to do is then raise it up towards the ceiling so it's off
our eye again, hook the side of our head but this time around,
not only are we going to turn our head but we're going to
pull upward towards the ceiling at the same time. This one
usually feel really really good. So, we get a nice
rotation with it but also an opening pulling motion at the
same time. 22nd hold, you're going to relax. On the next
repetition, try to build into it just a little bit more.
Three to five repetitions, switch sides to keep everything
in balance. If you have a lot of difficulty tilting your head
towards your shoulder, this is how we can attack that upper
trapezius muscle. So, let's take our towel, throw it over
our shoulder just like this and grab the end with our other
hand just this. You're going to take your towel and now just
put it pretty much right at the top of the shoulder hooking it
kind of like 45 degrees towards your chest and then your arms
just going to go locked on your chest. The movement from here
is very simple. Let's pull down with the towel as much as we
can and now we're going to tilt our head and our ear towards
the other side shoulder. You'll notice a deep opening stretch
but this towel is really going to help dig into that muscle
offering more muscle tightness relief. 22nd hold, you're going
to axe. On the next repetition, lower it down a little bit and
repeat. Go pretty much from the side of the neck working all
the way towards the top and also the side of the shoulder.
You're going to find that one certain spot like let's say
right here for me just offers more relief. You want to throw
in about three to five repetitions at that point and
then just switch to the other side and repeat. If the
exercises help, please support the channel by giving this
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any comments or questions, please leave them below. I'll
get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks for watching.