Oh man, I've got a headache, and it feels this big! Hey everybody, it's Doctor Jo. Today
I am going to show you some simple exercises and stretches if you have a tension headache.
Let's get started. To start off, you want to just loosen up those neck muscles. You
can do some active range of motion. Simply just start by turning your head like you are
looking back behind you. Hold it for about 2-3 seconds, come back the other way looking
behind you. Hold it there 2-3 seconds, coming back. You can to that 5-10 times. Then taking
your ear towards your shoulder. It's not bringing your shoulder up to your ear, keep your shoulder
down if you can. Come down to the side, hold it for 3-5 seconds, and then come back the
other way. Hold it about 3-5 seconds or 2-3 seconds, do whatever you can. Then you want
to tuck your chin in towards your chest, and then look up towards the ceiling. So same
thing, just a couple seconds hold on each one, going back and forth. That will loosen
up those muscles a little bit. Now if that's not quite enough, if your not feeling much
stretch with that, then put a little pressure over it and now you want to told it for a
little bit longer, so maybe 10-15 seconds. And then do each direction. I had a little
pop in my neck, that's a good thing. Holding it for 10-15 seconds, a little more if you
want to. Then push your chin a little bit to the side. If you have chin problems, use
your had to the whole side of the head instead of just the chin. Then back the other way.
Probably with up and down you don't really need any pressure. The next one is to actually
start activating the muscles a little bit. So this is an isometric muscle activation.
Basically your just pushing into your hand. So if I was going to look down with my chin,
I'm going to put my hand on my forehead, and push down like I'm trying to take my chin
down. You don't want to push super hard, just a little bit to start off with. Hold it about
3-5 seconds, and do about 3 of those. And then you can do the same thing by putting
your hand behind your head, and push back like you are doing this motion, but my hand
is stopping me from doing that motion. I'm pushing into my hand. Then pushing on the
side. So I would be doing that motion, and then back the other way. Relaxing. And then,
I'd be turning this way in that direction and pushing into my hand. Holding about 3-5
seconds. After you do all that, then you can start loosening up the shoulders just a little
bit. So you can do shoulder shrugs, about 10 of those. Coming up and down and just a
little pause up at the top. It doesn't have to be too long, and then after those ten,
then you can do some circles. Ten one way, and then reverse it, for the Australians going
the opposite direction. You can do some shoulder squeezes. So you're taking your shoulder blades
and trying to push them together. Squeezing in, hold about 3-5 seconds for this one, and
come back. Do ten of those. The last one is going to be some chin tucks, so I am going
to show you how to do it lying down. Now for the chin tucks, roll up a a nice squishy towel
to give you a target. When I say chin tucks, I don't mean bringing your chin down to your
chest. Actually pushing your chin downwards. So the towel gives you the target to take
those neck muscles and push them down. Let your head rest against the ground, and your
pushing down that way. So the chins going down, holding it for about 3-5 seconds and
then coming up. Not going down towards your chest. Do that about 10 times. Those were
some stretches and exercises for tension headaches. If you have any questions, leave them in the
comments section. If you would like to check out some other videos, go to askdoctorjo.com.
Don't forget to follow me on Facebook and Twitter. Remember be safe, have fun, and I
hope you feel better soon!