In this video, I'm going to show you how to fix a neck hump at
home using, no special equipment. Stay tuned!
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in St.
Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to help get
rid of a dowager's hump, also known as a neck hump or buffalo
hump, which is primarily caused from forward bad posture that
leads to hunching into the upper back and neck over time.
This video is going to be broken up into a very easy to
follow three-part guide. Each part works differently but when
you put them together, you'll get the best results. With the
parts, go through them all and target any weaknesses that you
have. Really try to address those. As a bonus, all of these
exercises can be done at home do not require any special
equipment and may give quick neck and upper back pain relief
even in as little as 30 seconds. So, let's get started
and fix that neck hump at home right now. A dowagers or buffalo
hump tends to form over time due to forward bad posture.
What happens also the joints, the muscles become stiff, you
get a lack of mobility, I tend to say everything at that point
starts to up. So, we need to break through that tightness,
build mobility back into the neck and upper back and also
bring the head backwards into better alignment. One of the
easiest ways to be able to do this is right in bed. So, what
I do is start off right at the edge of a bed. I put a towel or
pillow right over the upper back just like this. We want to
position our body to the point where our shoulders and head
are going to be able to go off just like this. What we're
trying to do is bring the head backwards into extension. So, a
back movement like this. I would position your body to the
point where your head can just go right off the edge of a bed.
You should feel a very deep stretch into the neck, into the
upper back even more so with the pronounced neck hump. You
want to hold this position right here for roughly a
minute. From there, you can just slide back and take a
breather as needed. With this one, you want to progress into
holding it for longer. Really try to focus on just bringing
the head back as much as you can. Stretch that out. What we
want to do from there is then start to focus a little bit
more on the upper back. So, I'm going to slide off to the point
where the edge of the bed is right at the top of the upper
back. I'm going to take my hands, place them right on the
back of the head. I want to wing my elbows down towards the
floor. You should feel a very deep stretch right here into
the chest. It should feel like the shoulder blades are also
pinching in the back. From there, I'm going to push my
head down towards the floor to intensify the stretch only go
to your comfort level. Really focus on trying to feel it into
the neck and upper back, the location of that neck hump. You
want to hold this one for at least a minute but if you're
not able to do that, build into it. Then, from there, just take
a breather and try to repeat this up to three to five
minutes. So about three to five repetitions. Really try to
focus on stretching into this, build into it as much as you
can. What I'd like to do is just keep working down. I just
slide off just a little bit more and then I'm going to
repeat. You're going to notice that when you do this over the
upper back and I would recommend doing this completely
over the upper back, you might get a sudden pop cracker
release. That is quite normal. This puts a lot of mobility
into the upper back and you can get a satisfying release with
it but don't try to force that pop but go all the way from the
upper back to the middle back and focus on any spot that just
feels very very tight and achy like let's say it's right here
for me. I want to just hold this position, throw more
repetitions in, and target spots that you feel needed a
little bit more but this is just a very easy way to really
bring the head backwards into better alignment, fix a buffalo
or neck hump and just let gravity do all of the hard
work. In the second part, we're going to focus on trying to
strengthen muscle imbalances that are caused over time from
being hunched forward. What we want to do is really strengthen
the upper back into the neck. Here's a very easy set of
standing exercises that you can do pretty much anywhere. With
the first one, let's start with very good upright posture just
like this. The first movement, I'm going to go into extension
with my head. That is taking my head all the way backwards as
much as I can. From there, I'm going to straighten my arms off
to the side and then overlap the hands just like this.
Doesn't matter what side is on top. You can experiment with
both but the movement from here is very easy. I'm going to go
all the way back with my head and then I'm going to lift my
arms up as much as I can. During this exercise, you might
get a sudden pop or release into the shoulder because it
puts a lot of good mobility in there but really focus on
feeling it right up here when you do it. You should feel it
into the neck. You should feel it in the upper back, the base
of the neck, into the shoulders. It's a wonderful
exercise but try to hold this position for 15 seconds. You're
just going to relax, take a breather, and then just repeat
this one up to five times. With each repetition, really
challenge yourself to drive the hand up just a little bit more
to target that area where the neck hump is over. With the
second part, what we're going to focus on is what is called
the YTW. Very easy to do. Again, let's start with very
good upright posture. What I'm gonna do is put my arms up into
a Y just like this. So, reach towards the ceiling. We want to
make sure the neck is in very good posture. So, starting off,
I would just do a simple neck retraction like this. Drive the
chin backwards. You should feel the muscles in the neck start
to activate. The goal with this one is to take the arms
backwards as much as we can while it's straight at the
elbow and you should really focus on feeling it into the
neck into the upper back over the spot of that neck hump or
that dowger's hump hold this one for 20 seconds from there
you can just relax take a breather and then try to repeat
this one three to five times each repetition again challenge
yourself from there we're going to lower the hands down like
this to the point where our body is forming a T we our arms
straight off to the side. Again, let's get the neck into
a very good retracted stance and then I'm going to take the
hands backwards like this. This one feels really good. You're
going to notice that it hits the muscles around the neck or
the dowager's hump just a little bit differently. Again, 20
second holds, you're just going to relax, take a breather, and
then try to repeat this one up to five times. With the last
one, we're going to do a W. So, I'm going to take my elbows.
I'm going to bend them and then take them down to the side like
this. So, my arms look like a W, same thing. Get the neck
into a very good retracted stance. Take the elbows
backwards. You'll notice that this one hits the muscles just
a little bit differently again but try to focus over the spot
of that neck hump, three to five repetitions for 20
seconds. This is a great daily exercise that you can do
actually multiple times during the day. So, I would recommend
maybe doing it first thing in the morning, midday, and also
before you go to bed. If it feels really good and gives you
relief, you can do it upwards to five times a day. So, with
this part, we're going to focus on one of the main causes if
not the main cause of a neck hump which is bad posture. It
doesn't matter what fancy exercise you do. If your
posture is bad, it won't matter. So, one of the most
effective ways to really change your posture for good is to use
something known as a posture board. You can buy these
locally at a sporting goods department or buy them online
but knowing mean, I like to make things with what I have
around the house. So, we can our own at home posture board
with a piece of wood. In this case, I'm just using a large
cutting board and a hard cover book. So, use a book you don't
like. With this, the more that this is elevated and tilted up,
the more challenging this exercise will be. So, start off
with something thin and then progress into a thicker book as
needed. So, using a posture board is really easy and it's
very effective towards resetting our posture. The
slant of the board in this position will really challenge
the body, challenge the muscle to hold this upright which over
time may again help reset our posture and just lead to less
issues with a neck hump I'm going to start off with the
posture board right next to a door or the wall my legs are
going to be roughly hip width apart I'm going to make sure
the heels are flush against the door or the wall from there I'm
going to move up and make sure the back of my legs my butt my
hips my pelvis are also flush against it let's move up from
there and then do the same with the shoulder blades the
shoulder make sure it is flush against that door of the wall.
We also want to make sure the neck is in a very good posture
so it's not tucked forward or backwards but just flush
against that door. With the neck hump too, you may find
that you are drawn forward and your neck is not or I should
say the head is not able to touch the back of that door
completely. Do the best you can. Over time, you'll notice
that you have more flexibility and the head will be able to
touch and hopefully that also will help diminish that neck or
doucher's hump. So, what we to do is once we have this
position set, we want to hold it for about three to five
minutes. If you're unable to do this, work into it. You know,
you can take a break as needed but you want to focus on trying
to do this 3-five minutes every single day. If you want to take
this one to the next level, what you can do is incorporate
a little bit more dynamic movement in there to challenge
the muscles a little bit more and hopefully lead to better
results. So, I'm going to get into that nice position again
that upright position and I'm going to start off with what is
known as a sprinkler. I'm gonna take my arms straight at the
elbow, overlap the hands to the point where they're almost
going to be able to clap. From here, I'm going to take one
side off and then just take it back like this. So, the back
side of the hand is going to touch the wall. This will just
open the chest up a little bit, put more motion into the upper
back across the shoulder blades also. It should take you a
couple seconds. I just do it in both directions and then I'm
going to do both hands at the same time just like this.
Really focus on try open up the chest and pinch the shoulder
blades in the back with this one but you want to do this
nice and slowly for about 10 to 15 repetitions, if one side
does feel like it's really tight and achy and needs more
tension you can throw more repetitions in target spots
that need it just a little bit more but from there I like to
do what is known as the wall angel so I'm gonna make a field
goal with my arms like this elbows bent roughly at
90 degrees I'm going to wing the elbows back towards the wall as
much as we can again you'll feel a very good stretch into
the chest you should feel the blades in the back starting to
pinch. Once we feel that, let's raise the arms up very very
slowly to the point where they're going to overlap and be
able to clap and then slowly come back down and put our
elbows and arms into a W position. With this one, try to
do it 10 to 15 repetitions With each repetition, try to stretch
more into it. Bring the elbows back as far as you can and then
just slowly build up and down. Then, the last part and I like
this one because it really addresses the area over that
neck hump is make a fist, put our thumbs down like this, and
then put our fist right on the side of the head just like
this. The movement from here is very easy. I'm going to keep my
fist on the side of my head and I'm going to slowly wing my
elbows back towards the door. When you do this, really focus
on trying to feel it over the spot of the neck hump. You
should really feel it into the neck into the upper back. Try
to pinch those shoulder blades together as much as you can but
once we hit a very comfortable deep stretch over the spot of
the neck hump, let's this for 15 to 20 seconds. From there,
you're just going to relax and try to do this for five
complete repetitions. With each repetition, try to drive the
elbows back just a little bit more but this is something that
you can do daily and hopefully will just put a lot of mobility
into the upper back and neck and also improve posture over
time leading to less issues with a dowagers hump or neck
hump. If you stuck around to the end of the video, you're
going to be rewarded with a great exercise that will not
only help get rid of upper and neck pain caused from a neck
hump but it will also help maintain good upright posture
even more so while seated and hopefully lead to less issues
of a dowager's hump in the future it's known as Bruegger's relief
position. It's wonderful for anybody that has to sit all day
long hunched forward think desk workers or students we're going
to start off in a chair let's just slide all the way to the
edge of that chair I want to have very good upright posture
to begin with I also want to make sure that my neck is in
good position so I take two fingers what I do is I just put
right on the chin, draw the head back. So, we're doing a
slight head retraction. You should feel the muscles into
the neck really start to activate. From there, I tuck my
chin slightly towards my chest. I want to then straighten my
arms at the elbow just like this and then bring the arms
back as much as I can. What you'll notice is this draws the
chest forward like this putting the upper back into a very good
position and you should really feel the shoulder blades and
the back pinching and the chest opening up. From there, I want
to spread my fingers like this as much as we can then slowly
start to take my palms up towards the ceiling. This will
cause the upper back to activate even more and it
should feel like the shoulder blades in the back are starting
to pinch together. So really focus on feeling it into the
upper back over the spot of a neck hump. You want to hold
this position right here for about 20 seconds. From there,
just relax, take a breather. On the next repetition, stretch
more into it and really focus on trying to challenge those
muscles to draw this chest up forward and put our into a
very, very good spot for upright posture but this is
something that you can do throughout the day. You can do
it every hour if you feel like it helps but with this one,
just try to stretch into it and I hope that you really get very
good improvement with your posture which leads to less
issues with a neck hump. If the exercise has helped, please
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so much for watching!