In this video, I'm going to go over the worst neck pain relief
exercises and what to do instead. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Doctor Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
St. Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to go over
the absolute worst neck exercises. Ones that you should
stop doing today, and we're going to offer some safe
alternatives instead. To make it easy, I'm going to break it
up into different neck motions. That is twisting motions, we're
going to do bending motions and then going up and down just
like this to make it easy. All the exercises, they work just a
little bit differently. So, go through them all, use what
works best for you. As a bonus, they can all be done at home do
not require any special equipment and may give quick
neck pain relief, even in as little as 30 seconds. So let's
get started and fix that neck pain right now. Probably the
worst and the scariest way to stretch your neck is by forcing
a twisting motion like this. I'm sure you've seen somebody
trying to self pop or crack their neck doing it that way.
It's like a scene out of The Exorcist, it doesn't end well! So
don't do it. Instead, what we need to focus on are two
different exercise is that you'll probably find work even
better to give you pain relief and they'll also strengthen the
muscles too to hopefully prevent it in the future. So,
what we're going to do is start either standing or seated with
very good upright posture. Have your neck in a neutral
position. The first exercise is going to be an isometric one.
That means we're going to engage the muscles loosen and
strengthen them without putting too much motion in there. So,
it's a very safe way to do it. What I'm going to do is take my
hand and place it on the side of my head. The movement is
very easy. We're going to try to look over one shoulder like
this as much as we can but we're going to resist against
it with our hand so when you go towards the right and do this
you're going to feel a lot of muscles fire in the neck, it
feels pretty good. I try to hold this one comfortably for about
five seconds. From there, I'm just going to relax take a
breather and then repeat this three to five times. With each
repetition try to build into it just a little bit more. From
there, I'm going to switch to the other side and repeat but
afterwards see how the neck feels. If it feels pretty good
you're good to go, but you can throw in another set or two as
needed. What I'm going to do next is the towel method and
this one feels really really good. It really helps to
support the neck while doing this motion and can really help
build rotation in the neck very safely. So, I'm going to take a
medium-sized hand-drying towel, roll it up, place it right at
the base of the skull. Kinda hook right in there. I'm just
going to take the two ends, pull forward to hook over those
muscles until it feels almost like a nice self massage. The
bottom of the skull, you're going to hit muscles called sub
occipitals which build a lot of tension causing headaches. So,
let's focus on those first. With the two ends, I'm going to
pull forward. One is going to stay locked. So, it's not going
to move. It's going to be an anchor point. The other one is
going to go slightly up towards the ceiling kind of like 45
degrees. When I do this, it kind of looks like I go through
my eye. What I'm going to do is just keep pulling over towards
the other side as much as I can and you'll notice that my head
starts to turn into rotation. I really really like this one
because you're going to get a nice self it's going to help
support the neck and also safely put the neck into that
twisting, turning rotation go over as far as you can
comfortably you want to hold this one for about 10 to 15
seconds. From there, you're going to relax and then you can
repeat this three to five times and build into it a little bit
more with each repetition. Afterwards, I would switch to
the other side and repeat. From there, what you can do is target
different spots of the neck so instead of going right at the
base of the skull lower it down just a little bit and then just
repeat this process. You'll notice it hits the neck just a
little bit differently. So, you can experiment by going from
the base of the skull all the way down to the base of the
neck. If you feel like one certain spot like let's say
right here for me, just hits that tightness the best. I'm
going to stop over that spot and throw more repetitions in
but it's a good way to build rotation safely into the neck,
strengthen the muscles, and hopefully loosen everything up.
So, one of the worst stretches that I see for people that are
dealing with pain on side of the neck is when they just try
to really crank their head suddenly towards the side
taking their ear to their shoulder trying to open up that
spot. Instead, let's focus on some safer alternatives that
again will help strengthen and lengthen those muscles for some
quick neck pain relief. The first, let's do that isometric
exercise again because you might find that it really works
very well and this one helps prevent neck pain in the
future. So, I'm going to do this one standing. I find that
these ones are a little bit easier to do standing but you
can do them seated have very good upright posture, neck in a
neutral position. The hand is going to go on the side of the
head again but this time around, what I'm going to do is
try to take my ear towards my shoulder and I'm going to
resist against this movement. You'll find that the muscles
get activated again on that side. I try to hold this one
for 5 seconds. I'm just going to relax and then I'm going to
repeat this five times and then just switch to the other side
and repeat. Afterwards, if you feel like it feels pretty good,
you are all set but you can throw another set or two in at
needed. What I'm going to do next is focus on a muscle that
tends to cause a lot of that pain going up into the side of
the neck which is the upper trapezius. Kinda runs right
here at the shoulder goes up into the neck. So, what I'm
going to do with this one is allow my shoulder to do a lot
of the work instead. Let's say I have a lot going on on my
right side. What I'm going to do is shrug that shoulder up
towards my ear as much as I can and now, I'm going to take my
ear towards the other side shoulder by just pulling on the
head like this only go towards a comfortable stretch. Once you
feel that, what we're going to do is take this one to the next
level by then lowering our shoulder downward as much as we
can. Kinda like grabbing something off the floor with
our hand. This feels really really good. You'll feel a deep
stretch in the side of the neck. Hold this one comfortably
for 10 to 15 seconds. You're just going to relax and then
repeat this one three to five times and with each repetition,
try to stretch into it just a little bit more and then from
there, switch to the other side and repeat. You can also focus
on another muscle called the levator scap which tends to
cause a lot of muscle pain in the back right through here and
also into the side of the neck. This one is called the armpit
stiffer and you're going to see here in just a second why it's
called that. So again, very good upright posture. I'm going
to turn my head in one direction to look over one
shoulder. From there, I'm going to look downwards, 45 degrees
towards the floor, kind of like looking towards the armpit.
You'll already start to feel a very deep stretch into the
neck. This is how we're going to take it to the next level.
Take your hand on the other side, hook the back of the
head, and passively and gently pull your chin down towards the
armpit until you feel a deep stretch in the back of the neck
going towards the side. Hold this one for 15 to 20 seconds.
You can relax. On the next repetition, try to stretch into
it even more. I try to repeat that three to five times on
both sides. So, one of the worst neck extension stretches
that I see people do is taking a putting it right underneath
the chin and then just driving the head backward into extreme
extension so here's some safer alternatives you can do this
one standing or seated just have very good upright posture
neck in a neutral position I'm going to start with an
isometric exercise so I'm going to take my hands
interlock the fingers like this and then put them right on the
back of the head the movement is very simple we're going to
drive the head backward like this into extension but we're
going to resist against it with our hands hold this one for
about 5 seconds. I feel a lot of muscles in the back of my
neck starting to fire even more so towards the front and from
there, I'm just going to relax, take a breather, and then
repeat this one five times. Afterwards, see how the neck
feels. If it feels pretty loose, you're good to go but
you can throw another set or two in as needed. Let's take
this one to the next level by using a towel to really
stabilize the extension movement but also getting a
nice self massage in there at the same time. Just a
medium-sized hand-drying towel. What I'm going to do is just
place it at the top of the neck, right at the base of the
skull. Hook forward until you feel a nice amount of pressure
over those muscles. From there, what I'm going to do is pull
forward with the towel and then extend my neck. So, I'm just
kind of bringing the head backwards, chin up towards the
ceiling. This feels really good. I feel a very good
massage over the muscles and also a very deep neck stretch.
I try to hold this one comfortably for about 10 to 15
seconds. From there, I'm just going to relax. On the next
repetition, lower the towel just a little bit more to the
muscles below and then repeat this process. You're going to
do this all the way from the top of the neck all the way
down to the base of the neck. Stopping over any spots that
you feel need a little bit more attention. Throw in about three
to five repetitions at that point. To take this one to even
the next level, we can incorporate a little bit more
of a traction or pulling motion in there while doing this
exercise. So, let's start at this base of the skull again.
This time around, instead of pulling straight forward with
it, angle it up towards the ceiling roughly about degrees.
So, kind of like the ends right here are going through the
eyes. So, I'm going to hook upwards, pull towards the
ceiling, and now extend with my neck. You'll notice that it
hits it just a little bit differently. It helps isolate
that segment where the towel is over in the neck and it just
helps open it, yeah, open it up just a little bit more. So, I
will repeat that process going from the top of the neck
working all the way down to the base of the neck and at that
point, stopping over any spots that needed a little bit more
throwing more repetitions in. So, another common but bad way
that I see a lot of people trying to stretch and open up
their neck is by gripping the back of the head and then
putting the neck into extreme flexion. So, here's a couple
alternatives to try instead. You can do this one standing or
seated. Just have very good upright posture, put the neck
into a neutral position. Let's do that isometric exercise
first. I'm going to take my hand right here, put it right
on my forehead. The movement simple, just taking my chin
down towards my chest but I'm going to resist against it with
my hand. When I do this, I feel a lot of muscles in the back of
the neck really starting to fire but I try to hold this one
comfortably for about five seconds. From there, I'm just
going to relax, take a breather, and then repeat this
up to five times. With each repetition, try to build into
it just a little bit more but afterwards, see how you feel.
If you need another set or two to get it to release, throw
them in but next, let's take this one to the next level by
focusing on a very deep decompression or retraction
pulling motion into the neck that will help build it into
flexion also. So, this one, I'm going to take the webbing of
one hand and put it right on my jaw and you're going to have to
bear with me because you probably will not hear me as
clearly but I'm going to put my neck and head into a retracted
stance. So, I'm going to drive the head backwards like this
until I feel the muscles in the neck start to fire. Once we
feel that, we're going to take the hand on the other side,
grip right in the back of the head, and then gently tuck our
chin towards our chest by pulling on it like this. So,
the movement is pushing back and pulling forward at the same
time. This feels really really good. I like this one tension
relief even more so for headaches. I try to hold this
comfortably for about 15 to 20 seconds. I just relax, take a
breather, and then on the next repetition, try to build into
it just a little bit more but repeat that one three to five
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