Hey everybody, its Dr. Jo and Bat Girl Kali, and today I'm going to show you my favorite stretches
and exercises for neck pain. So let's get started.
Before we get started, I wanted to thank Zyllion
for sponsoring this video. They're the makers of the ZMA-13, which is the shiatsu back in neck
pillow massager, they also come in different colors. If you're interested in purchasing the
product, you can click on the link up there or in the link in the description below. For these neck
stretches and exercises, they're also great for the shoulder because a lot of the muscles that
go up into the neck go into the shoulder as well. So it's kind of a great bonus workout for both.
So the first stretch that we're going to do is an upper trap stretch. So this is one of
my favorite stretches. If you've seen any of my neck videos or my shoulder videos,
you know that I really like this one. So you can place your hand in a couple different positions to
keep the shoulder down. But with these stretches, you want to keep that shoulder down to help get a
better stretch. So I like to just kind of sit on my hand to keep that shoulder down. Some people
like to put it behind their back. But you can also just kind of place it down, you're still going to
get a good stretch. But I always find if I kind of sit on my hand to keep that shoulder down,
I'm going to get a much better stretch, take your other hand, bring it up and over. So your
fingers are kind of touching on your ear here. And you're just gently going to pull over to the side
until you feel a nice stretch kind of right in through here. That's where that upper trap muscle
is kind of in the upper back the neck and the shoulder area. So getting that nice stretch,
hold it for about 30 seconds. A lot of times once you get to about 20 seconds,
you can feel those muscles let go and you can just get a little more pull in there. And I always like
to do stretches first. So you can lengthen and loosen up the muscles and then do the exercise
afterwards. Because then you can strengthen them in those LinkedIn positions, then alternate sides,
fingers open over on the ear and then just gently pull over, you can sometimes to get
different muscles, you can turn your head down, you can turn your head up. But for this one,
I like to just to start off going straight over to get that upper trap area. Again, 32nd hold doing
three on each side. So the next one is of course another one of my favorites, which is the levator
scapulae stretch. So that levator scapulae muscle kind of runs here, it starts all the way up. And
that cervical spine or the neck goes all the way down and attaches to your shoulder blade or your
scapula so it elevates our load veyts that scapula or that shoulder blade. So if you work on your
computer a lot, or if you're really stressed out about something you kind of hold your shoulders
up, that's what people tend to do when they're stressed. And then you overwork that muscle
and it gets really tired. So again, it's great to stretch it out to get rid of some of that pain.
The way I'm going to show you how to do it is the way I learned but I know that sometimes
putting your elbow up and your hand kind of on your shoulder blade like this is a little tough
for some people. So again, it's the same, you can kind of place it behind your back, you can
sit on it, or you can just rest your arm down. But I find that this for me gives me the best stretch,
this time, you're going to take your hand, bring it up over your head, almost like a helmet. So
your hands behind your head, you're going to turn your head to about a 45 degree angle kind
of in the middle, almost if you're looking down at your opposite knee with your nose, and then you're
going to pull downwards while your arm your other arm is up, almost like you're tucking that nose
into your armpit if that's how you want to kind of think about it as well. And I'm really feeling
that stretch kind of right through here, down all the way into that shoulder blade area. So again,
holding that stretch for 30 seconds, then switching size. Again, if you if that's
uncomfortable for your shoulder, you can just turn hand up over and then kind of pull it out. So I'm
still feeling a nice stretch. But again, I feel a little bit more of a stretch when I bring my hand
either up with the elbow towards the ceiling, or kind of behind my back to get that stretch.
And again, doing those stretches three times on each side. That's kind of the gold standard. And
if you don't have enough time to do three on each side, just do one or two of the full 30 seconds,
the 30 seconds really is important. So don't do three with just 10 seconds, really try and hold
it for that 30 seconds. So the next one is going to be something that we call snags and therapy,
but really this is just going to be a cervical or neck rotation. And so you're using the towel just
to kind of help each segment stay in one spot. So you're getting specific rotation at each segment
level per se. So all I'm going to do is kind of wrap the towel around. I'm going to take
one hand and grab here to anchor the towel here. And I'm going to take the other side and you're
going to bring it up and over by your ears. Don't bring it down by your neck, bring it up and over
by your ear. And I'm going to rotate or turn it and go up just a little bit as I'm pulling down
with this side. So pulling down, coming up and over and really getting that nice stretch in
there. And again if you can hold it for 30 seconds center, this one's probably a little bit tougher,
because you're pulling in that area. But nice holding it for 30 seconds, come down, then
you're switching. So now I'm anchoring down this side, I'm bringing this one up and over kind of
new at my jawline or my ear, and then pulling down with this one here and getting that nice stretch
in there. And again, holding that for 30 seconds doing three on each side, if you want to follow
along, and a real time video, where I'm doing all of the sets and the frequency of everything all
at once. You can follow along to my real time videos in that playlist up there. So now we're
going to go into the exercises. So with exercises for the neck again, this is great for the neck
for the shoulders, his chin tucks and chin tucks are one of my favorites for anything, if you have
headaches, if you have neck pain, if you have stiffness, if you've been again working all day
on the computer, and you've overworked those muscles, and you want to reset that posture,
chin tucks are great. So what I like to do, you might have seen in some of my other videos
is kind of using a target for your finger. Because for my chin tucks, it's not tucking
down towards your chest, it's actually tucking it back in. So a lot of times, I'll just say,
place your finger lightly on your chin, leave your finger in the same spot and tuck back in it almost
like I'm moving my whole head backwards. But see, I'm not coming down and tucking in,
I'm not coming back and talking, I'm keeping that chin in a neutral position, and tucking back,
hold it for maybe three to five seconds, and then relax. And a lot of times, you'll have a little
bit of space in between, which means those muscles are resetting, I know I was kind of moving my
finger around and talking. But if you try it, if you haven't done it before, a lot of times it's a
big difference. But with chin tucks, make sure that you're not forcing it back, I have a lot
of movement, because I do chin talks all the time to kind of keep my neck from not getting so tight
and sore. But you might start off and only have this much movement. And that's okay, don't force
it back. It should never be painful. You should never feel lightheaded or dizzy with it. If you're
having any of those symptoms, check in with your doctor, check in with your physical therapist,
one, see if you're doing them right or to see if something's going on if you're having those
symptoms with them, because you should. So the next exercise is going to be isometric exercises.
isometric exercises are really, I call it the underdog exercises, they really do a good job.
They're efficient. They help improve strength, motion, decrease pain sometimes get you more in
alignment. But people often don't like him because it doesn't seem like you're doing
a lot because you're activating the muscles but you're not moving. And that's a great way to help
strengthen the muscles without going into a pain free motions. For example, if I'm turning my head,
and that's painful, I might want to strengthen those muscles. But I don't want to go into that
pain, full motion. So for an isometric exercise, if I was going to do a neck rotation or cervical
rotation, what I'm going to do instead of actually moving, I'm going to just kind of place my fingers
on my temple here, and then push into my fingers. So I'm doing this motion, but my fingers are
stopping me from doing you might see some of those muscles activate a little bit while I'm doing it,
just maybe a three to five second hold. But don't push with all your 100% that you can push really
start off with 30 to 40%, or even just starting to 20 to 30% if you've got some issues going on,
because you don't want these to be painful. And a lot of times if you push less, you're going to
get those deeper neck muscles that you want. And then the harder you push, which is fine, you're
going to get those outer muscles. So starting off with a little bit less is actually better.
So after you get the rotation, make sure you're doing both sides. So I'm just pushing in again,
that three the five second push, and then relax. And then you're going to go into a cervical or
neck side bend. So it's the same thing with isometrics. I'm just going down to the side.
But again, I'm stopping that movement with my fingers kind of placing them on my temple,
you can use the the palm of your hand if that's more comfortable, whatever is more comfortable
for you, and then just slightly pushing in to start off with that three to five second push.
This is the motion I'm doing. You really want your head to be kind of up in alignment,
I better be moving just a little bit so you can see the motion that I'm doing. But ideally,
you're not moving at all you're pushing in to your hand, but you're stopping yourself
from doing any of those movements. Thanks again to Zylion for sponsoring the video. If you're
interested in purchasing the ZMA 13, you can click on the link up there or clicking the
link in the description below. And remember, be safe, have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.