hey everybody it's Doctor Jo and Mr. Bear,
and today we're gonna show you physical
therapy exercises for neck stiffness. so
let's get started.
you like my body shaper
tank top? the folks at MD sent it to me
to wear today,
and if you're interested in purchasing
one click on the link up there. so let's
get on to the neck stiffness. my favorite
exercise or stretch for neck stiffness
is a chin tuck. chin tucks are easy to do.
you can do them anywhere, and they really
help reset all the muscles in your neck.
so if you've got some tightness, if
you've got some stiffness, this is a
great one. so chin tucks aren't tucking
down, but you're actually tucking your
chin in. so the key is to keep your chin
in the neutral position. so you're not
tucking in like this, and you're not
tucking in like this, but you're keeping
it neutral right there. and you're just
tucking it in that way. so you're moving
your head back so you have lots of little
Chins right there. and you want to hold
it for about 3 to 5 seconds, and then
relax. just doing about 5 of those. if you
want to use your finger there is a
little target, I like that sometimes
because it shows that you're making
progress. just leave your finger in one
spot, tuck it in, hold that for about
three to five seconds, and then when you
relax, you should have a little bit of
space in between. that just means it's
resetting those muscles, getting that
head back into a neutral position,
getting some of that stiffness out of there.
so I really really like that. and again
hold it three to five seconds, just do
them about five times couple times a day.
the next one I really like is using a
towel to help stretch your neck and get
that stiffness and tightness out. this is
called snags. it's a particular technique
it stands for something really long, but
what I like to do is use the towel
because a lot of times the towel can
help hold the segments. so like if I'm
holding here and turning then I'm
getting that extra stretch in there to
get that tightness out. so with this one
the snag, what you're gonna do is you're
gonna grab the towel with your opposite
hand here, and you're gonna stabilize
that towel right there, or hold it in one
spot so that holds the
vertebrae there so you can get the stretch
a little bit higher. then you're gonna
grab the other hand making sure you're
not choking yourself, but bring it up and
over your ears. so this time you're gonna
kind of pull up and over. so you're not
just pulling across, that's that's going
into choking yourself a little bit, but
up and over. but if you hold the towel
kind of right over your ear you get a
good pull. so I'm pulling down with this
hand and up and across with this hand. so
I'm getting a nice good stretch in there.
and so this one since it's a full
stretch I'm gonna hold it for 30 seconds
and then after that 30 seconds, if you
want to switch sides, you can. so now I'm
holding it with this one right over here
and then grabbing this one and coming up
and over. so again kind of up where your
ear is, not on your neck, but up and over
and then pull it down with this one, and
up and over with that one. again holding
that stretch for 30 seconds and then
doing it three on each side. if you don't
have time for three you can do two on
each side, but the best is doing it three
times on each side for 30 seconds a
couple times a day. so you can also use
the towel for some chin tucks, and then
some movements. so once you get the chin
tuck down, then what the towel does is,
again each segment of your spine if you
want to kind of stabilize this one with
the towel then you're moving the other
one. so it's almost like a mobilization
kind of movement and sometimes this is
really good to do to help get that
stiffness and tightness out of there.
it's sometimes hard to do on your own
but the towel really helps you do it.
this is what if you're getting manual
work done by a therapist they would, they
would kind of hold one spot with one
hand and do it with the other, but you
can't really do that yourself. so for
this one you're just going to kind of
give that towel on the spot right here,
and then you're gonna do a chin tuck. and
then a little bit of an extension with
your neck while you're doing it. so this
is a combination move. what I want to do
with the towel is kind of push it down
and forward. that's the motion that I
want to push it into so I'm doing like
that to get that segment stabilized and
then I'm tucking in my chin and going
back in to
extension. so you can see it's that
combination move. sometimes it's hard to
get down this one, you don't have to hold
as long you can just do it a smooth
continuous motion, but if you want to
hold the motion or the movement for a
little bit, you can hold that three to
five, but sometimes this one since it's a
little bit more complicated, it's either
easier just to do kind of that smooth
motion without holding. so I'm going
pushing down, now going into that chin
tuck, looking up, coming back in, and then
releasing. so again if I wanted to hold
it I'd do that chin tuck look back hold
it for about three to five seconds, come
back in, and relax. if any of these are
painful don't do it. when you're
mobilizing things you really need to
make sure that you don't have something
where you shouldn't be mobilizing that
spine. so if it hurts in any way, hold off
and check in with your doctor or your
physical therapist. so the next one that
you can do is same kind of motion with
the chin tucks, except now you're just
going to do some turns with it. so this
time it's not necessarily the up and
over like the snags, but you're just
going to do that same kind of motion
where you're tucking in the chin. now
this time I'm stabilizing with this side
and then I'm just gonna help do the
stretch and over while I'm doing that
chin tuck. so I'm gonna stabilize here, go
into the chin tuck, and then just get
that turn. and I don't know if you heard
that at all, but for that I got a little
little pop. a little adjustment in my
neck. and as long as it's not painful,
that's fine. so again this one's just a
little bit more continuous movement to
get that mobilization in there. so I'm
gonna do the other way so you can see it.
so now I'm kind of stabilizing with this
side. I'm tucking in my chin, and then I'm
using that towel just to help get that
little bit of a turn, little pause, come
back in, and relax, and reset myself. so
again you have to work a little bit at
this to get the movement. sometimes it's
hard to do all those combinations, but if
you can get it right you're really going
to get that stiffness out of there. so it
works really really well. so the next one
is going to just be a levator scapulae
stretch, and that's those muscles that
come down to that shoulder blade and
then all the way
up in your neck. those are ones that hold
a lot of stress, hold a lot of stiffness.
when we're working all day, especially if
we're like on the computer if we're
driving, we can't hold up our shoulders
like this, and that gets a lot of
tightness in there, and then that's that
muscle right there that levator SCAP
really gets tight. sometimes it can cause
headaches. sometimes it can just cause
just pain all in that upper neck, back
area, and cause some stiffness. so it's
really good to stretch out, and it's
pretty easy to stretch it as well. so the
side that you want to stretch, if I'm
stretching my left side, I'm going to
take my left hand and just kind of put
it on the back. and I'm going in that
downward position with my elbow going up.
what that does is that pushes that
shoulder blade down to kind of hold it
and stabilize it because since that
muscles connected to that shoulder blade,
you want to hold it down to get the best
stretch. so if this is painful, you don't
have to do it, but that's the best way
you're gonna get the stretch. then you
want to take your other hand and place
it kind of behind your head, and you're
gonna pull down and towards the opposite
knee. so you're not going straight down.
you're not going out to the side, but
almost not quite a 45 degree angle, but
you're taking your head towards that
opposite knee. so I'm just going up with
my elbow on this side, and then pulling
down and across. and you should feel that
stretch right in through there. and it
should be a good kind of hurt so good
feeling, but it shouldn't be painful at
all. so again holding that for 30 seconds,
doing that three times. probably on each
side if you've got just some general
neck stiffness, and you can do that a
couple times a day. so I'll do the other
side holding this one up with my elbow
hand behind my head, pulling down towards
the opposite side. so again really
holding it for thirty Seconds, get that
good stretch in there. I like to
alternate back and forth. you don't have
to, you can do them all on one side, all
on the other side, but I feel like when
you alternate back and forth, you give
the muscle a little time to relax and
reset. and then the last one is going to
be an upper trap stretch which is the
big muscle over all of those. that's
another one that holds a lot of stress
and tightness,
stiffness, and since it's so big up there,
when it is tight your neck can be really
really stiff. so this time what you want
to do is the side that you want to
stretch, you're going to kind of sit on
the hand. and if that's uncomfortable to
sit on it, you can just take your
fists and kind of push downwards, but
again this is to hold that shoulder down.
to get the best stretch, you don't have
to do this part, but it's really going to
get a better stretch because then when
you go into the stretch, your shoulders
not going to come up. so this time you
really are just going pulling almost
your ear towards the shoulder. so you're
really just going to go to the side your
hand is going to come up and over, and
then just gently pull over to the side
to get that stretch. so this time you
should kind of feel it through here. some
people still do feel it in the back a
little bit, but usually it's right
through here. still holding that stretch
for 30 seconds, doing that three times on
each side. so sitting on the hand over
there, just up and over getting that nice
gentle pull in there. so those are your
physical therapy exercises for neck
stiffness. if you're interested in
purchasing the MD tank-top body shaper,
make sure you click on the link up there,
and don't forget to subscribe by
clicking down there. and remember be safe,
have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.