Hey everybody it's Doctor Jo, and today I'm going to show you a neck stretch for
the upper traps. so let's get started.
So we're going to do the stretch in real time. so 30 seconds stretches three on each side,
and we're going to take a little 10-second break in between. so if you
haven't already subscribed make sure you click on the subscribe button down there.
I've got a little timer here so we can follow along with the timer. I'll start
it once I do a quick explanation of how to do the stretch. so with an upper trap
stretch it's this muscle back in here, so when it gets really sore, it's painful in
the neck, it can be painful in the shoulders, in the upper back area, so when
you're stretching the left side, we'll stretch the left side first, you want to
take that left hand and just kind of sit on it. some people just like to take
their fist and push it down, but then you're kind of activating the muscles, so
I like just to sit on my hand and what that does is that keeps that shoulder
down. so I'll talk about it a little bit more as we get going. we're gonna start
and here we go. so as you put your hand down to keep that shoulder down, look
straight ahead and just take your hand and pull your head over almost like
you're trying to take that ear to your shoulder. so not shoulder to your ear,
you're not trying to bring it up, you're just keeping it nice and relaxed, but
again make sure that your head is in a nice neutral position as you pull it
over. and you don't want it to be painful, you don't want to pull so hard that you
can't hold it for that thirty Seconds. alright so we're going to take a little
break. I like switching sides just because then it gives the other side a
little bit of a break, so sitting on the right side now and then taking your hand
and just pulling it over on that side. and you should feel the stretch kind of
here down into the back of the neck a little bit.
it might go all the way out into the shoulder, but again you want it to be
comfortable. I always call stretching like a good hurt, it hurts so good kind
of feeling because you don't want it to be painful because then most likely
you're stretching too hard on that muscle, and when you stretch too
hard, your muscles are gonna fight back. so once they start fighting back, then
you're just kind of fighting that muscle and trying to stretch it, and it's
pulling back, and you're not getting a very good stretch. so now let's go back
to this side and then just hold. nice stretch there. if you feel like just the
pull with your hand is too much, you don't even have to do that part. you can
just turn your head over to the side and I'm still feeling that stretch right
through up in there. and so you have three parts of the trap, upper trap, middle
trap, and the lower trap. so this is that upper part that connects with the neck
and that trap muscle looks like a diamonds on the back, so that's how it
looks. so then another little break and if you want to kind of wiggle out your
shoulders during the rest break you can. you don't have to but sometimes that's
stretching for a long period you want to kind of shake it out. and then switch
back over to this side getting that nice stretch and hold. sometimes you might get
a little pop in your neck when you're stretching it over, that's okay as long
as it's not painful. that's just sometimes your readjusting
your spine a little bit, that cervical spine, so as long as it's
not painful, it's okay. but if it's a painful pop, then you definitely want to
stop. this is just a general stretch to get everything nice and loosened up. so
we'll have one more on each side taking that little break, getting the hand over
on this side and then getting that nice gentle pull over this way. and again you
can see try and keep that head up like this, so it's not the chin down this way,
it's not up this way, you want it in that nice neutral position when you're
pulling it over. nice and relaxed muscles.
and usually you feel most of the stretch right in here. if you happen to feel any
numbness tingling going down your arms when you're doing this, again you might
be pulling just a little bit too hard or you might have some nerves kind of being
pinched. so you might want to back off that a little bit and get it checked out
if you're getting something like that. so this is the last one, just nice big
stretch. some people like to do some deep breathing while they're stretching,
that's fine, but just try and kind of keep a normal pattern, you don't want to
hold your breath while you're stretching you just want some nice deep breaths
while you're stretching. this is more to relax the muscles, so you're trying to
relax that whole body. so that was your neck stretch the upper trap. if you like
that, this is actually gonna be a part of a series some office stretches just to
keep you moving when you're in the office or if you're on the couch for a
long time, this is some easy stretches you can do. you don't have to have any
equipment to do it, so if you'd like to find more make sure you click up here,
and if you'd like to help support my channel make sure and click up here to
find out how, and don't forget to subscribe by clicking down here. and
remember be safe (keep everything nice and loose), have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.