In this video, I'm going to show you how to instantly
relieve nerve pain in your neck and arms. Stay tuned.
Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming to you from SpineCare in Saint
Joseph, Michigan. In this video, I'm going to go over
various traction, or pulling, exercises into the neck to
relieve pressure on a pinched nerve that might be caused by a
bulging or herniated disc. All of these exercises can be done
at home. They're very safe. They're very effective and may
give quick relief, even in as little as thirty seconds. So,
let's get started and get rid of that nerve pain in the neck
and arm right now. This neck pain relief exercise is what
I'd like to call the anywhere stretch be cause you can do it
at home, at work, standing, seated -- it doesn't require any equipment either. What I'm
gonna do is start with very good upright posture. Let's
make a fist, turn it upside down to the point where the
thumb is facing down towards the floor. I'm going to take
the flat edge of that fist, place it directly right
underneath my chin. From there, I'm going to lower my chin and
my head until the bottom of the fist right here makes contact
with the top of the chest. Press down until you feel a
very good activation of the muscles into neck. Once we hit
that point let's take the hand on the other side place it on
the back side of the head and then I'm going to pull forward
while I press down into my fist into my chest with my chin. When
you do this it should feel like a very good stretch, pretty much
from the base of the neck all the way to the base of the
skull. Really focus on that. If this does cause discomfort too
please discontinue immediately. You want to hold this stretch
for about twenty to 30 seconds you can hold it longer if you
do feel comfortable but from there, take a breather and then
on the next repetition, drive further into your fist and try
to bring the head forward even more for five complete
repetitions. What you also want to do from there is then build
into rotation to target this just a little bit differently.
So, I'm going to make that fist. I'm going to repeat this
but instead of going straight down, I'm going to go just a
little bit towards one certain side. I'm going to turn a
little bit towards my left and then I'm going to repeat.
You'll notice that this hits the muscles, hits the neck just a
little bit differently. So, go all the way through those
motions, all the way towards the left, go all the way
towards the right. If you notice one certain spot like
let's say right here for me, just offers more pain relief, I
want to make note of that, throw more repetitions in,
target that spot because it's only going to focus on the
areas that need it the most. Give that a try and I hope it
gives a lot of quick pain relief. With this pain relief
exercise, I like to call it the neck pump and pull because
we're going to do pumping and pulling motions to help release
pressure into the neck. This one is best done on the floor.
I'm gonna start off on my back and I'm going to take a soup
can a nice can of beef barley soup. You can use any flavor
you like. You can also use a foam roller if you have one.
You can also use a water bottle. We just want something
large enough that we can place right at the back of the neck
over the curve of the neck and just allow it where our head
does not touch the floor. From here, what I want to do is just
allow my head to be taken backwards into extension. Allow
it to relax as much as you can. If this feels really good and
it's relieving pain, you can hold this position for several
minutes. Grab a book, an iPhone, iPad, just relax as
much as you can. But what we want to do is the first part of
this exercise which is the pumping motion. So, I'm going to
take two fingers, put them on the chin, and I'm going to do a
simple chin tuck like this. Hold this for a couple seconds
and then I'm going to go all the way backwards into
extension. So, I'm going into flexion and extension as much
as I can. This pumping motion will help put more range of
motion into the neck and hopefully start to relieve
pressure onto those spinal discs and again, if it causes
discomfort, please discontinue immediately. You can do this
over and over again for about twenty complete repetitions and
if it feels good, throw some more repetitions in there. For
the next part, we're going to focus a little bit more on a
pulling motion, a traction to help open up the joints. So,
what I'm going to do is feel off to the backside of my ears.
You'll find right at the base of the skull right here,
two bony points. They're pretty much right behind the ears,
right at the bottom. That is our contact point that we want.
I'm going to use the mini portion of the palm right here
right in the middle to hook over that spot and then pull
over my head like this. So, let me get right over that spot.
I'm going to start off by pulling again this way right
here which you should feel a nice, comfortable stretch. Allow
the head to relax towards the floor while you do this also
into extension. From here, I'm going to take it to the next level
by taking my heels and driving my body weight downwards while
I resist it with my hands like this and it feels like a very
very good stretch into the neck all the way into the upper
back. Only go to your comfort level. Hold this position for
about twenty to thirty seconds. Do nice, slow, control
breathing too. Let the tension out. From there, you're going
to relax, take a breather, and simply repeat this up to five
times. With each repetition, really cup the spot and also
try to cup around the ears too not for not to cause any
discomfort but pull forward as much as you can and then use
your heel weight to also pull down with this exercise because
it's only going to help reduce pressure into the neck. Give
that a try and I hope that gives a lot of quick pain
relief. So, here is a great traction exercise that you can
do right in bed. I'm going to be using a hand-drying towel.
So, just roll it up, place it on the back of your neck. We're
going to start off in bed, on our back, slide off until your
head can rest comfortably off the edge of that bed. Allow
gravity just to take it into extension or a backwards
movement just like this. From here, what I want to do is a
head retraction. That is just driving my head down towards
the floor. This will intensify that stretch but only go to
your comfort level. From there, let's take the two ends of the
towel, pull up towards the ceiling for initial amount of
tension over the spot into the neck. I'm going to then lower
the two end down just like this and then pull on it like this
overhead until that towel slides up and then hooks right
at the base of the skull. Pull forward as much as you can with
those two ends. You should feel a very comfortable stretch
throughout the neck. From the top all the way to the base of
the neck. Focus on that. Once we hit that very comfortable
stretch, let's try to hold this one for at least twenty
seconds. Do nice, slow, controlled breathing too. Let
the tension out. If you do feel comfortable, you can hold the
position for longer. Half minute, a minute, whatever
feels comfortable to you but when you need a breather,
relax, take one, and then on the next repetition, try to
lower the head even further, bring the head back into that
retraction and then pull even more with the two ends.
Challenge yourself to open up those disc spaces because it's
only going to take more pressure off of those bulging
disc. Hopefully, relieving that nerve pain into the neck and to
the arm. Do this for five complete repetitions. To take
this one to the next level, what I'm going to do is start
off in this position but I'm going to raise the two ends up
towards the ceiling. Let's pull up just a little bit to cause
some initial traction. What I'm gonna do from there is I'm
going to take one end, keep it locked. So, in this case, it's
going to be my right. I'm going to keep this locked but I'm
going to take the other end and then I'm going to go 45°
towards the opposite direction. So, I'm pulling up on the left
end, taking it 45° up like this. Almost kinda like towards
my other side's eye and then I'm going to pull into it. When
you do this, you're going to feel it hook right there on the
left and the head is going to turn towards the right and it
just hits that area a little bit differently so try to pull
into it as much as you can if this feels comfortable and it's
releasing pain hold this one for up to 20 seconds relax take
a breather and then repeat this up to five times try it on the
other side also and see if that helps out just a little bit
more experiment with it if it feels like it helps more throw
more repetitions in and try to focus on relieving pressure by
always pulling into it with a towel even more. Here is a
great neck traction exercise in which we can let our body
weight do all of the hard work for us. We just need a couple
things. The first being a flat elevated surface. Depending on
your height, you can use the edge of a couch, your bed, a
desk, a chair, it all works. The other thing that we're
going to be using is a medium-sized hand-drying towel.
I'll also start off on my knees. So, let's put something
underneath it like a pillow or towel for extra comfort. Let's
go up to the edge of that flat surface. I'm going to roll up a
towel, place it over the center of the spot that I'm having
pain in my neck. From there, the back side of my arms,
pretty much the elbows are going to rest comfortably on
the edge of that flat surface. I want to take the two ends,
pull forward to create an initial tension over that uh
painful spot in the neck and then I'm just going to do a
slight chin tuck like this. From here, the movement is very
simple. I'm going to pull forward on the as much as I can
and then I'm going to start to lower my butt down towards my
heels. When you do this, you're going to feel the towel hook
right over that spot in the neck and you're going to feel a
gentle pulling motion happen throughout pretty much the
whole neck into the upper back. Really focus on feeling that.
But once we have a very comfortable stretch, we've
really lowered the butt down towards the heels as much as we
can, we want to hold this position for about twenty to
thirty seconds. Do nice, slow, controlled breathing also. Let
as much tension out as From there, you're going to relax,
take a breather, and then on the next repetition, pull with
the ends just a little bit more and try to lower the butt down
even further. Challenge yourself to get a better
stretch with each repetition because it's only going to help
take more pressure out of the neck and hopefully get more
pain relief. Do this for five complete repetitions. To take
this one to the next level, what we can do is incorporate a
turning or rotation into this exercise to target it just a
little bit differently. So, what I'm going to do is get
back into that position but in this case, what I'm going to do
is then turn my head just slightly uh towards the left
while I do it. You'll notice that this traction, it hits it
just a little bit differently. So, go through different
motions. Go all the way towards your left and go all the way
towards your right. If you do notice that one certain spot
just hits it a little bit more and you're getting more pain
relief. Make note of that. Throw more repetitions in
because it's only going to help take pressure off where it is
needed most. I hope that gives very quick pain relief. If the
video helped and gave relief, please support this channel by
giving this video a like and maybe subscribing to our
channel too. If you have any comments or questions, please
leave them below. I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thank
you for watching.