Let's relieve that neck
and shoulder pain and stiffness
while improving your posture.
Today we'll be doing a quick 15 minutes
self-massage together that will leave you feeling
like a new person.
Hey, my name is Ann Swanson
and I am a licensed massage therapist.
And if you haven't already make sure you click that
subscribe button and notification bell
for my weekly Wellness Wednesday videos,
that will help you relieve pain and be your best self.
So stick around to the end
because I'll be going over a quick fix
to reset your neck and shoulders
that can both prevent and relieve pain.
You can even do it anytime throughout the day
when you're sitting at your desk
or at a red light in the car.
But first let's go through this routine.
Start by sitting tall and noticing your neck and shoulders.
(gentle music)
Feel what's going on and notice the placement of your head.
Is it forward?
We really want our ears to be right over our shoulders
so to test this, put your fingers in your ear holes
and drop your hands
so your fingers drop straight down.
They should be in the center of your shoulders,
right as if there was a seam here
in your shoulders, right there.
Often for so many of us
our head is a little bit forward.
If that's the case for you,
instead of thinking of bringing the head back in space,
I actually want you to think of floating up
and no matter where you are, that floating of the head up
is going to help improve your posture.
So feel it lifting up and kind of up and back.
It'll naturally go back over your shoulders.
Then you can test and see if the placement is correct
and feel your head floating up to the sky like a balloon.
Imagine your spine is like the string of the balloon
being gently tugged upwards not stiffening,
just lengthening,
elongating.
Lightness in your head,
and a sense of release and relief in your shoulders
as they drop back and down simultaneously.
We're gonna do another test
to determine the before and after this massage routine.
So slowly turn and look over your shoulder and see how far
you can look.
Look at the furthest thing behind you,
maybe you can see an object.
Notice what color it is, what you see,
and then come back to center and do the other side.
Notice the furthest thing you can see on this side,
take note,
and then we'll come back to center.
And we'll begin with the massage.
So tilt your head to one side.
And as you tilt the head to the side,
squeeze up and down your neck,
and we're really focusing on squeezing in the back.
So I'm using my hand,
but the front of my hand is not really putting
that much pressure in the front of my neck and shoulder.
It's really my fingers in the back
putting the pressure.
And it's moderate pressure.
Don't overdo it.
After we've warmed up this tissue,
we're gonna measure and find a point to help release
the neck and shoulders.
So this place where your neck turns into your shoulders,
that's our first point to measure.
And then where your collarbone touches your shoulder blade
that's the second point.
And right in between those two points,
right in the center is where we're going to press
with one or two fingers.
You can even stack your fingers,
you could use your thumb or knuckle,
whatever you got and you can reach a little bit back.
So we are back in the body, not forward.
We are in the upper traps,
the upper trapezius muscle
and pressing moderate pressure here.
Not too hard, a little bit goes a long way.
You might already feel that place is tender.
If it's not quite the right place,
you can move your fingers over,
maybe a millimeter or two over to one side or the other,
and you will find a place I promise.
So once you find a place where it feels
like a little tender,
we're gonna hold and press onto that place
with a moderate pressure.
And imagine you're drawing little tiny circles.
You don't have to draw big circles. It's really teeny tiny.
You can barely see the movement but you can feel.
And then you can just gently press firmly
staying still with your fingers
and begin to move your nose in tiny circles.
So we'll be using some stretches to help with the massage.
You can even begin to move your nose in lines,
in any direction,
but keep the movements small and slow.
Less is more.
Exploring this.
Maybe move your fingers over a millimeter
or a few millimeters over in any direction.
Finding another point that feels good for you
and explore.
Your shoulders are back.
You're not hunching over.
Your head is back,
it's not dropped forward.
It's really just dropped to the side.
And then we'll use our hand to just squeeze up and down
the shoulder like we did before.
Find what feels good.
You can even do some circular motions.
And as you finish that,
come back to center,
pause here in center.
Notice the difference between that side
of your neck and shoulders, and then the other side,
just from a couple minutes there.
And then we'll go ahead and treat that jealous side.
You can cross your opposite arm over
and begin with those squeezes up and down the shoulder,
just finding what feels good to warm up the tissue.
And then we'll measure that point where your neck
turns into your shoulder and over
to where your collarbone touches your shoulder blade,
pressing this about the center of that and back
into your upper traps.
So your upper trapezius muscle
can be a place where we can really find a release.
Once you find that spot,
you can move in teeny tiny circles.
By releasing this point,
you can often release a lot of other muscles in the area,
your neck and shoulders, even around the scalp.
My jaw sometimes starts to release from this point,
you can begin to move your nose in small circles,
turning them into lines
and exploring this as you combine
both stretching and that moderate pressure
on this point.
Feel free to experiment moving your finger
over a little bit
and notice your breath.
Notice your posture is still sitting tall.
Explore a little bit more finding what feels good to you.
Remembering to move slowly.
And then take your hand and just squeeze up and down
the shoulder and neck,
concentrating on any areas that need it most.
Feel free to do some circular motions,
focusing on the back part of your upper shoulders and neck.
And then come on back to center,
pause for a moment and just feel.
Taking one hand behind you to your neck.
You may need to move your hair out of the way
and squeeze up and down with hand.
This is a magical movement I love to do
on myself and others.
It is really easy and simple,
good trick to remember.
And then we'll do the same thing with the other hand
bonus you are warming up your hand muscles
and proving your grip strength here also.
Our next movement will be
on the lower part of your skull around your occipital bone,
which is this base of your skull.
You're gonna take your thumbs and draw circles.
We're gonna move the thumbs to the back of the ear.
So right behind the ear we have this hard part.
We're actually going for the hard part.
I don't want you to press on any soft area there.
I want you to press on that bony part.
This is called your mastoid process.
It's an attachment point for some key muscles.
I'm gonna go up and down in a crescent moon shape,
very slowly and rhythmically.
Same thing, moderate pressure.
A little bit goes a long way.
This is an attachment point for your sternocleidomastoid
which my favorite muscle sounds like a superhero.
And by pressing here, you can also release your scalenes,
which are some tiny supportive muscles in your neck
that are important for proper breathing.
They tend to be super tight and tired
when we're in that constant neck flection
over the computer and cell phone,
like we all tend to be,
so good to counteract that.
And then release your hands down for a moment
and take a nice deep breath.
Can you breathe better?
Now let's go ahead and do that quick fix
that I love to do throughout the day.
If you only remember one thing from this whole series,
this is the thing to remember.
Then take your hands behind your head,
interlace your fingers.
If you can't put your hands behind your head, by the way,
you can totally do this by pressing your head into a wall,
or when you're in the car,
pressing it back into the headrest.
Your thumbs are gonna go hooked under your occipital ridge.
So that's that ridge you can grab at the base of your skull.
Elbows are gonna open out wide,
press your head into your hands, your hands into your head,
equal and opposite.
As a bonus, you can gently pull up with those thumbs
to create a little bit of traction,
some space between your vertebrae.
It actually looks like we're not doing much at all,
but this is quite a lot of effort.
As you bring the back and hands forward,
you get to choose how much effort you exert here.
As you strengthen the muscles necessary to have good
posture in your neck.
Make sure you're not shrugging your shoulders up there down
while you gently pull up with your thumbs.
One more deep breath here,
and then releasing your hands down.
Feel your head floating up.
This can be a magical reset,
putting your ears over your shoulders
in the proper alignment.
Go ahead and test that
by putting your fingers in your ears, dropping down.
Notice if your head is in good alignment now.
Keeping this length in your neck, the head floating up,
let's do our other tests by slowly turning and looking over
one shoulder and seeing the furthest thing you can see,
feel your head float up a little bit more.
See if you can turn just a little bit more
and turn your eyes more. See if it's further
than what you could see earlier,
and then come on back to center and slowly turn
to the other side,
keeping that length in your neck.
Notice what you can see on this side.
Get a little taller.
See if you can turn just a little bit more.
Turning with your eyes
and notice if it's further than before.
Come back to center.
Now feel your shoulders dropped down,
your head float up once again.
Feeling the resulting sensations
of all that you just did for yourself.
Take a few nice full breaths,
and thank you so much for joining me.
Please comment below and let me know how you feel.
And if you have any questions at all
and check the description below for some links
and a free gift.
I look forward to seeing you next time.
Thank you so much and be well.
(gentle music)