In this video, I'm going to show you how to fix neck and
shoulder pain for good. Stay tuned!
Hey, everyone. Doctor Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in
St. Joseph, Michigan. In this video, we're going to get rid
of neck and shoulder pain by fixing tightness and weakness
in two main muscles that tend to cause it. That's the upper
trapezius and the levator scapula. To make this easy, I'm
going to break the video up into two separate parts. In the
first part, we're going to focus on muscle tightness with
a great combination stretching and self-massage technique and
the second part, we're going to strengthen everything to
hopefully get long lasting results. Your main focus should
be on that second part but go through both parts and use what
gives you the most amount of relief. As a bonus, all of the
exercises can be done at home. They require no special
equipment and make it quick neck and shoulder pain relief
even in as little as 30 seconds. So, let's get started
and get some pain relief right now. In this part, we're going
to focus on getting quick neck and shoulder pain relief by
doing a combination of stretching and self massage.
These ones can be done or seated. Just have very good
upright posture. So, let's start by tackling muscle knots,
trigger points, spasms, just overall dull, achy pain in the
upper trapezius muscle which runs from the top of the
shoulder into the neck. There's two different variations of
this stretch. So, go through both of them, use what works
best for you and gives you the most amount of relief. So, I'm
going to have very good upright posture. The first movement,
whatever side that you're having pain. Let's say it's my
right side. I'm going to shrug that side shoulder up towards
the ear as much as I can. From there, I'm going to take the
ear on the other side. So, in this case, it's my left ear
towards my left shoulder. I'm going to take my hand hook off
to the side of the head to passively pull that over just a
little bit more. In this position, you should feel a
good stretch from your neck running down to your shoulder.
From there, we're going to intensify this by then reaching
downward with our hands. So, shrugging the shoulder
downwards this time, kind of like trying to pick something
up off the floor. This feels really really good. Hold this
comfortably for about 15 to 20 seconds. From there, you can
relax, take a breather. On the next repetition, try to stretch
into it just a little bit more and repeat that one three to
five times. If you feel like that muscle tightness is not
releasing, you can take this one to the next level by
incorporating a self massage. So, I'm going to be using an
ordinary racquet ball. You can also use a lacrosse ball, a
handball, a tennis ball. If you don't have any just use your
thumbs but what I'm going to do is get back into that stretch
just like this but this time around, I'm going to take the
tennis ball or whatever you're using, cup it and then start to
target those muscle knots or any point that just feels like
it's most tight and achy and painful. You want to just press
in there for about 10 seconds. Just do nice circular motions
and with this one, only go over muscle. Don't go over any bony
spot because that can cause irritation but I just do that
for about 10 seconds, relax, and then repeat three to five
times or until it releases and from there, you can just switch
over different spots as needed. Instead of doing circular
motions too, you can attack it at different angles. So, go up
and down with it, side to side, go like across whatever works
best for you and I do recommend that when you're done on one
side to switch to the other to keep them both in balance. The
next variation is very similar. So, let's say again, I have
right-sided pain. What I'm going to do is take that side's
arm, bend my elbow roughly at 90° and then slide my arm and
hand across the lower back until I feel a gentle
activation of that upper trapezius muscle right up here.
Once I feel that, the movement is pretty much the same, going
to take my hand put it on the side of the head, hook it, and
then take my ear towards the other side's shoulder. This one
feels really good! 15 to 20 second hold, you can relax and
then repeat this one three to five times, and just make sure
to do it on both sides. You can take that one to the next level
also by getting back into that stretch right there and then
taking your ball and then just attacking that muscle tightness
as needed. So, the next one is going to target the levator
scapula which runs pretty much right on the back of the neck
right through here. This is called the armpit sniffer and
you're going to see here in a second why it's called that.
So, have very good upright posture. Whatever side that
you're having pain, again, let's say it's my right side.
I'm going to look over the other side shoulder as much as
I can. So, I'm turning my head to look my left shoulder until
I start to feel a gentle activation of the muscles
pretty much running from the top, the base of the skull here
down towards the base of the neck into the shoulder. From
there, I'm going to take my chin downward towards my
armpit. This will intensify that stretch. We want to take
our hand, hook the back of the head, and then passively pull
our chin downward towards our armpit as much as we can. This
feels really good. I really feel it right over that muscle
right there. Again, I can hold this one for 15 to 20 seconds
from there you can relax and then build into it for three to
five repetitions with each repetition try to stretch into
it just a little bit more to take that one to the next level
we can use our balls so get back into that position and
this time around just go over the back of the neck right here
attacking any tight achy spots as needed and when you're done
on one side just switch to the other to keep them both
imbalance so in this part we're going to focus on getting long
lasting neck and shoulder pain relief by strengthening
everything. If you not only want to get pain relief but
also to prevent it, you have to strengthen everything in and
around the shoulders. This first exercise, you can do that
without using any equipment and you can do it at home. It's
pretty easy. It's known as the shrugging lift off. What I'm
going to do is go next to a smooth wall or a door. Just
have very good upright posture. The first movement, I'm going
to take my arms, put them straight upwards, kind of like
reaching towards the I want to just put my hands right on the
wall right here and I also have my body supported on the wall
too the focused movement is shrugging upwards through your
upper back through your shoulders and reaching upwards
as much as you can you should feel a lot of muscles in the
neck and the shoulders start to fire hold this one comfortably
for about five seconds from there you can relax and then
you want to repeat this one10 to 15 times. If you have a
little bit more energy you throw in another set or two. To
make this one more challenging, you can use something like a
dumbbell right here and then resist against it by pushing up
like this and going against the weight. So, if you do have some
dumbbells, give that one a try. But to make this one a little
bit harder without equipment, what you can do is get back
into that original shrug but then lift your hands and arms
away from the wall. You'll feel a lot fire. This one will
really hit the chest and it will also hit the shoulders.
It's almost kind of like the shoulder blades in the back are
pinching together. Five-second hold and you can repeat that
one 10 to fifteen times for a couple sets. The next variation
instead of going straight up with it, I like to go off
towards a Y like this. So, it hits the muscles just a little
bit differently. This time around, I'm going to have my
thumbs pointing away from the wall. So, only the thin part of
the hand right here is touching it. Shrug upwards as much as
you can and then repeat this process. So, I can hold that
one for about five seconds right here. If it's a little
bit too easy, I can then do that lift off and attack those
muscles just a little bit differently but you want to do
that one for five second holds for about 10 to 15 reps and if
need be, you can throw in another set or two to make it
more challenging. Here's a great daily strengthening
exercise that you can do right in bed. It's known as shoulder
CARs or controlled articular rotations. I'm going to start
off on my stomach and slide forward until my shoulders and
head are off the edge of a bed. That way, we have to fight
gravity to challenge the muscles. What I'm going to do
is a simple head retraction during this exercise. That's
just taking the chin driving the back of the head upward
towards the ceiling until we feel a gentle activation of the
muscles in the neck. All of these positions that I'm going
to go over, I'm going to hold for five seconds but to make
them more challenging, you can hold them for longer, ten, 15
seconds. The first position, what I'm going to do is take my
hands overlap them, put them in the small of the lower back.
Gently press down into your lower back with your hands and
then wing your elbows up towards the ceiling. You should
feel a good activation of the muscles in between the shoulder
blades going into the upper back into the neck. Hold this
position again for 5 seconds. The next position, what I'm
going to do is straighten my arms slightly off to the side
of my body. Palms are going to be up towards the ceiling.
We're going to lift the palms up towards the ceiling as much
as we can. You'll notice it hits the muscles just a little
bit differently. The next position, I'm going to keep my
arms straight and take them directly off to my side. I'm
also going to turn my hands like this so my thumbs are
pointing upward towards the ceiling kind of like a
hitchhiker sign. Lift them up as much as you can. From there,
I'm going to go straight in front of me and create a Y
position with my arms and then lift up and then I'm going to
go straight right in front of me. With this one, you really
want to reach out in front of you as much as you can. Should
feel the upper trapezius muscle right up here start to fire
what I'm going to do from there is then lift upward towards the
ceiling the last position I'm going to take my hands right
here put them on the back of the head drive my head up
towards the ceiling as much as I can and then wing my elbows
up in this position I feel a ton firing - my chest muscles,
my upper back, my trapezius - all the way up into the neck. It
feels really, really good and then you're just going to
simply go in reverse and repeat this your also going to notice
while doing this exercise that one certain spot like let's say
it's right here for me just feels like it's weak or it's
just really addressing a lot of muscle tightness. Make note of
that and throw more repetitions in at that point. Always focus
on the positions in the spots that need it the most but I try
to do that whole complete cycle for about three complete
repetitions and if you feel like you have a little bit more
energy, you can throw in more repetitions. If the exercises
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