Disclaimer alert! Hey, everybody it's Doctor Jo. And today I'm
going to talk about the benefits of cervical traction with
pressure points. So let's get started. So some of the benefits
of cervical traction can be to help relieve neck pain. Of
course, if you have something like spondylitis, or arthritis
in your neck that can help kind of relieve that tightness and
tension in there. It's also great for herniated disk, a
pinched nerve, if you're getting some of that nerve pain down
your arm, it can also help relieve tension headaches, and
even sometimes TMJ pain. So cervical traction is great. If
you've ever tried it in a clinic, you might have gotten
into this kind of big machine and it hooks you up into your
neck and kind of pulls everything and it's a mechanical
thing. And sometimes it's loud. But the great thing is, a lot of
times you can do cervical traction at home with home
treatment. And always with cervical traction, you want to
check with your doctor or physical therapist to make sure
it's appropriate for you. The best option is to actually have
it done by a professional first and make sure it's appropriate
because for some things, it works great, but sometimes it's
not indicated. So make sure that it's something that's right for
you. Today, I'm going to talk a little bit about the cervical
traction with Kanuda. And so this is their Kanuda Head Nap.
And so what's really neat about this product is it was
engineered by physical therapist. So not only are you
getting the cervical traction component, but you're also
getting something that simulates what you would get as manual
traction from a therapist at a clinic. And so a lot of times,
when we're doing traction in a clinic, we might do the manual
traction first just to see how your body reacts. And so a lot
of times it's not quite as stressful on your body as
mechanical traction. But this is an interesting way to be able to
get those techniques if you have gone to physical therapy and
found that it's really beneficial for you. And so some
of the pieces here on this cervical traction, home
treatment that might be different from other tractions
that you've seen, is there's a component here, that gets the
occipital base.They call it OCBR, which is the occipital
cranial base release. And so that kind of helps put those
pressure points on those muscles, right that connect to
the base of your head, that's the occipital area. And so by
putting pressure on that specific spot, if you again, if
you've had the therapy before, we kind of bring our fingers up
underneath and put it right where those muscles kind of
attach. And it helps release that tension and pressure. And
so that's really neat there. They also have this, which they
call CV4 which is basically the compression of the fourth
ventricle, which a lot of times has to do with your nervous
system. And this treatment is kind of known to help release
the stress and anxiety that's caused in the nervous system.
And so that component is really unique to this as well. It's
nice, because this piece here also kind of helps support the
the little bit lower into the thoracic area. And so when
you're lying down on it, it helps relieve the shoulders and
kind of help correct that posture. So that's nice as well.
It's also a dense foam, it's a little bit firmer to kind of
help again, get those pressure points. You want to lay it down
on a flat surface when you're laying on it or any kind of
cervical traction. This is where the head goes, this kind of goes
down into the thoracic area. When you're lying down on it,
you're going to bend up your knees, that just takes a little
pressure off your back and kind of gets you into a comfortable
position. So when you're lying down, you really want to kind of
control your head into it don't just like crack down on to it.
My ponytail might be in the way just a little bit. So I'm going
to kind of move it down some to get right into that spot. So
when you're lying down here like this, you can see maybe that
this surface is a little bit more squishy. So you want it on
a flat surface, the firmer, the better. But I know some people
can't get down on the floor. So just make sure it's as firm as
you can get. So you want to be able to feel that it's kind of
cradling your head a little bit. It shouldn't be a lot of
pressure on there, but you want it to be comfortable and feel
some of that pressure putting in to help release that tension. If
you get into this comfortable position and is nice and it's
not painful, then you can bring your hands up into a stop sign
position just to kind of get that help of that extra opening
up especially if you have something like a pinched nerve
and that pain is going down into your arms and your hands. If you
feel a little bit of tingling, that's okay that's kind of
working it, but if it's a lot or super uncomfortable, then just
kind of bring your hands down to here. You don't want to use it
as a pillow when you're sleeping at night. This
is more just to relieve that pressure. They recommend about
15 minutes a day. But I would say if you haven't done in a
while. If you've gotten physical therapy and you liked it, and
you want to try it, I'd start off with a little bit lower and
build yourself up. Because a lot of times, especially when you're
releasing those pressure points, you might be a little sore
afterwards. A little bit of soreness is ok, that's just
working those muscles out, but it should never be painful,
painful while you're using it. So there you have it. Those were
the benefits of cervical traction with pressure points.
If you're interested in purchasing the KANUDA Head Nap,
click on the link up there. And don't forget to subscribe by
clicking down there. And remember, be safe, have fun, and
I hope you feel better soon.