Hey everybody, it's Doctor Jo, and my Lord of the Rings kitty says "hello my precious."
Today I'm going to show you some stretches in real time for your neck so
let's get started.
To start off we're just going to get those
muscles moving a little bit, warm them up, and then do the stretches. So to start off
with, you're just going to rotate your head back and forth, but the thing you want to
do is keep your chin up in this neutral position. So you don't want to drop
it down, you want to keep it up, and then just rotate to the side. So we're just
going to do five on each side and it can be kind of a continuous motion,
you're just really kind of loosening everything up so you're not stretching
those muscles cold because you don't really want to stretch muscles cold
unless you have to like first thing in the morning. But other than that you
really want to kind of loosen them up a little bit. So that's five on each side.
Then the next one is going to be a side bend. So you're taking your ear down
towards your shoulder, but it's not bringing your shoulder up,
it's bringing that you're down. But again keep that head kind of in that neutral
position, and then just go down your ear towards the shoulder and then alternate back
and forth. So again just just do about five of these, you're really just kind of
loosening everything up.
You don't have to go super slow. You don't have to go super fast. You're just
trying to get those muscles kind of awake and ready to go. A little bit warm
so when you're stretching you can actually get some benefit from the
stretch. And then the last one of the movement is just going to be an
up-and-down. Now with the going back up this way be a little careful if you have
neck issues because sometimes this can make people feel dizzy. So you know if
that makes you feel dizzy going all the way up just bring it up a little bit.
Bring your eyes up, and then bring your chin towards your chest. So again just
about five of these. These kind of stretches work really well for headaches
or if you have some neck spasms, or maybe if you strain it. A lot of times people
wake up with a crick in the neck.
Sometimes these really help as well. So let's just do one more of each of those.
Then the next one to get everything going before we go into the stretches is
the chin tuck. And it's not chin tuck going down this way, it's chin tuck coming
in this way. So you can have lots of chin to make you look like like you got lots
of folds in the neck, but that's kind of what you want to do. So it's
something you might not want to do around a whole lot of other people
unless you don't care. But basically what i like to do to know that you're doing
it correctly, is place your finger on your chin and then move that chin away.
So this time you're going to hold it for about three seconds, doesn't have to be
exact and then come back, And then you can see that I kind of corrected myself.
And then you can move it again. Do that just about three maybe five seconds and
then relax. Come back in. Do that again, little hold. And again this is just kind
of putting that spine in neutral position, getting those muscles where
they're supposed to be, working everything a little bit. But see how my
chin is going straight back, it's not coming down and talking in like that it's
just going straight back. Almost like if I have my hand back there, and I'm trying
to push into my hand.
Ok now we're going to go into the stretches stretches, the best results for
stretches is holding it for 30 seconds and doing three of each of them. So I'm going
to use my timer to get the stretches in. We're going to start off with just a
trap stretch, your upper traps, and what I like to do with the hand of the side
you're stretching is really just kind of hang it down. If you have a chair that
you can hold on to, hold onto it because that keeps the shoulder down because if
you're stretching and your shoulder comes up, you're not really stretching
those upper trap muscles. So what I'm going to start this and we're going to
get going.
Just take the opposite hand and pull over. So getting a nice stretch in there,
nice hold.You want those stretches to be comfortable. You don't want pain in there.
If you happen to feel little pop, but it's not painful, that's ok that's just
your spine kind of adjusting itself
and realigning itself. But if it's painful definitely stop. But again
this is really good for like those neck spasms you have. A lot of times tension
headaches you just need to get that stretch in there and that really helps
loosen it up. Sometimes you can alternate sides, I like alternating sides just
because you get the other side a little bit of a break. If you don't alternate
sides, then you want to give yourself about a 5-10-second break in
between. So let's go ahead and do the other side. So holding it down onto that
chair, and then pulling over to the other side. Again, try and keep that head in
this kind of neutral position. So I'm not turning down this way, I'm just looking
straight ahead and trying to pull that ear towards the other side. So you should
feel that stretch kind of right in through there. You might see my muscle
coming out just a little bit and that just means that it's stretching. It
should feel good, that good kind of hurt not that just hurt, hurt. If it's just a hurt,
then it's probably something that you really really need to go get checked out.
All right and the other side.
Nice stretch there, nice and relaxed. And sometimes if your muscles are really
tight and they start to loosen up, you might be holding here, and then you don't
feel the stretch quite as much anymore and then just give it a little bit more
of a pull until you feel that tension again. So you don't have to hold it in
that same spot the whole time, you can push it a little bit, again, if it's not
painful. You know stretching's uncomfortable. Maybe hurts a
little bit, but it feels good kind of thing.
Remember again if you feel like it's something that's trying to to pop in
there, if it's not painful, that's ok but if it hurts. If it's like "oh that just
doesn't feel right,"
definitely stop. Because the neck is something that you you don't want to be
pulling and tugging on it if there's something not good going on in there.
This is really just for, you know, muscle strain, those tension headaches, maybe a
spasm in there something like that. Just to kind of get everything moving there
again. Nice hold.
Starting to feel those muscles getting warmed up there. Nice and lose nice and
comfortable.
Nice deep breath.
Alright, let's go back to the other side. Again keeping that shoulder down. See if I
don't hold on, it kind of comes up a little bit. So you really want to kind of
hold it down. And then just get that nice stretch in there. If you have a little
bit of a headache, sometimes just taking some deep breaths in through your nose
and out through your mouth, gets some extra oxygen in there, and that helps
with the circulation. That sometimes makes you feel better as well. So just
kind of a, and sometimes that helps those muscles relax just a little bit as well.
So the next one is going to be for your levator scap muscle. And the reason you
want to stretch that one out is that muscle in the back there a lot of times
you're like "oh that hurts right there," that's that's where that levator scap muscle is.
It comes up, and if you have a lot of tension, a lot of times people hold their
tension like this. And that's putting a lot of stress on that muscle, so if you
stretch it out, a lot of times you can get that tension out of there.
This one's kind of a weird position. If you have shoulder if issues, you might have
to modify a little bit, but the side you want to stretch, you're going to bring that
hand up this way.
Almost where your elbow's trying to go up towards the ceiling. It doesn't have to
go all the way up, it can be about here, but that's the goal is to try and get it
up. And then take the other hand, put it behind your head and go out at an angle.
So it's almost like you're trying to take your head over towards your
opposite knee. So it's kind of at that angle. So it's going to be this motion.
Get that started, have to reset it first. And then we can go. So behind my head
and pulling over.
So again it's going to be more at an angle now and that's kind of getting
that levator scapulae muscle. And and that one is as a big cause of tension,
lot of pain, and it's connected to the scapula and that has over 20 muscle
attachments to it so anytime one of those muscles, or several of those
muscles, aren't working correctly, it can cause a whole lot of problems in the
neck,
upper back, and shoulder areas. So this is definitely something you
really want to stretch. Now we're going to switch sides. Up this way and then
pulling a cross. S o again I'm almost looking at that opposite knee. It's not
over here, it's not straight down,
it's kind of an angle. You're going to feel it in that area right through there.
And again you want to be that comfortable. You don't want to be painful.
Just a nice tension, nice stretch in there.
The great thing about these, is you can easily do them at your desk. If you're
working a lot, a lot of times people tend to kind of get their head going forward,
leaning in towards the computer, and then you're so busy
what you're doing on the computer that two hours later you look up and you have
a lot of neck pain and upper back pain because you've been a terrible position
the whole time. So just doing some of these stretches while you're sitting
there even, if you're at work is pretty easy to do without having to get on the
ground or get any kind of equipment or anything like that.
And back again.
Try and keep your back pretty upright as well don't kind of pull it forward, that
takes away from that stretch a little bit. If you do some that's okay,
sometimes if you're stretching and nobody's watching, you're not quite sure,
but just kind of push back into the chair every once in a while to make sure
that you're sitting fairly upright and so then end up making your back sore as
well.
Nice big stretch.
Make sure that you have some deodorant on because you're right there in that
armpit. Then you then you can do the sniff check without being obvious. You're
like "no I'm just doing some stretches right now."
Luckily my Lord of the Ring Kitty's got me covered. Smelling good.
Alright and now for the last one on this side. Up and hold.
Stretch on this side, nice and relaxed. And again if you feel like it's hurting,
a lot of times the reason you don't want to stretch if you're having a lot
of pain is because your muscles go into what we call muscle guarding. And you
can try push on and push on it, but if they're guarding, they're actually just
pulling back. And so that extra pain lots of times is counter beneficial of the
stretching. So those were your stretches for your neck to make sure
that you loosen everything up, if you have tension headaches, muscle spasms,
just maybe a straight in your neck, or maybe even you wake up in the morning
you got that crick in your neck, that you don't remember doing anything to it
maybe just slept on it wrong.
If you have any questions leave them in the comments section. If you'd like to check out some other videos
go to AskDoctorJo.com And remember, be safe, have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.