Hey everybody it's Doctor Jo, and today I'm going to show you the top five ways
to relieve neck pain and tension. so let's get started.
So the first treatment is going to be a chin tuck.
chin tucks are my favorite because they're easy to do and if you've got a
lot of tension in your neck and a lot of pain all around the front and the back,
it's just a good way to help relax the muscles and kind of reset the muscles. so
it's not a chin tuck going down, but it's a chin tuck actually going back behind
you. so what I like to do is sometimes just use my finger as a target. and the
reason for doing that, is it helps give you an idea of how much your muscles
really need to reset. so what I usually do is I just start with my finger on my
chin here, and then you're gonna take your whole head and go backwards, but try
and keep your head in a neutral position. so not down like this, not up, just
straight forward. finger on your chin and then pulling back. so then you have lots
of little chins right there. and try and hold it for about three to five seconds,
and then relax, and you can see usually you'll have a little space in between. I
know my fingers moving a little bit, but it just kind of shows you that you the
muscles are resetting themselves. so just start off with about five of them
holding for three to five seconds. and so this really just kind of helps get rid
of some of that tension in there and helps relax and kind of reset those
muscles, and then relax. and then so again total of five of those holding it for
three to five seconds and then that kind of helps get that tension out of there.
so the next one is going to be isometric exercises. and the great thing about
isometric exercises is you're not actively moving the muscle, you're
contracting the muscle. but you're not moving it so if you've got a lot of pain
a lot of tension in your neck, it's a really good way to kind of put those
muscles into contraction and really contract them, and then relax and that
usually takes a lot of stress tension pain off the neck area, the shoulders, and
even the upper back area. so the way to do that, we'll just do the side bending
for this one, is you're gonna do the motion of taking your ear towards your
shoulder this way, but for isometrics you're not actually doing the movement.
so just kind of place your hand on the side of your head,
and then push into your hand. so you see my head's not really moving, but this is
the motion I'm doing. so again this is going to be like a three to five second
hold. so you're just pushing in, hold it for about three to five seconds, and
you'll do it a total of five times on each side.
I like to switch back and forth just to get the other side a little bit of a
break. so again putting my hand on the side of the head, and then just pushing
into my hand. so I'm not really making a movement I'm just pushing in that way
and then with that sometimes you might feel a little pop in your neck, and
that's just almost like a self adjustment. so as long as it's not
painful, that's fine, that's just your your spine and your neck, the cervical
spine, kind of readjusting, so again five on each side.
don't push as hard as you can. start off with I would say maybe like a 50% push,
and then you can start pushing a little bit harder from there as long as it's
not painful. so the third treatment is using a massager,
some vibration, some heat, any kind of thing to relax those muscles, and
that tension in your neck. the folks at Zyllion sent me their ZMA 13 in black, and
this is a shiatsu pillow massager. this is really really great to help relieve
tension in your neck, your shoulders, your back, you can even do it anywhere on your
body. that's why I really love these kind of things because you can put it on your
thigh, your lower back, and everything. this one is really great because it does
massaging and it also does heat with massaging, so you have both of those
options. it's a really nice size that fits right in the contour of your neck,
or along down on your spine, or even on your thighs and your legs, so I really
like that component as well. so I'm gonna plug it in and show you what it looks
like. and when you plug it in, make sure you get the little click. I don't know if
you'll be able to hear it, but that just makes sure it's all the way plugged in.
so when you turn it on, just hold it down for a second, let it up. if you can see
those red balls, see the two are going this way, the two are going that way. when
they're red, that's the heat is going as well. if you don't want the heat, just press
the button really quickly once, and it'll go off, and then if you're
getting the massage and you want some heat, then you just hit it again and the
heat will come back on. after about a minute, then they will rotate the other
way, so it's really nice. it just kind of gets in deep to those muscles and really
helps relax that tension and that pain and your neck, but with this it can be
anywhere else. so that's why I really like it a lot. so as you can see when I'm
lying down it fits right nicely in the neck area there. I'm lying on it a little
bit so it's higher up, so it gets right at the base of my skull that's where we
hold a lot of tension and pain in our neck, and so this is just right where
those muscles are. it's doing a great job of just really getting deep into
those tissues and relaxing them, and getting some of that pain and tension
out of there. you can also just move it down a little bit, so if you want to get
the upper back as well. so that that's nice this is probably would be a little
bit better if you're on your couch so you can support your head, but the great
thing about this is you can move it around and put it anywhere you want to.
if you'd like to purchase the Zyllion ZMA 13, make sure and click on the link
up here. so the fourth treatment is going to be an upper trap stretch. with the
upper traps, they go all the way up the neck here and then come down into the
shoulder. so if you're having some neck pain, if you're having some upper back or
shoulder pain, a lot of times the traps are involved. so this is a great stretch
to do. I like doing the stretch where if I'm stretching this side I'm going to
kind of sit on my hand, and what this does is it helps keep my shoulder down.
you don't necessarily have to do that, but if you're stretching with it out, a
lot of times when you stretch over your shoulder will come up too. so this just
kind of sets it down. some people just take their fist and kind of push it down
that works too, but then sometimes I feel like then you're contracting some
muscles in there and you want to be really relaxed when you're stretching, so
just kind of put that hand underneath your leg, and then take your other hand
and just put it on the side of your head. you want your head to be straight
forward in a neutral position, so not down, up, around like that, just straight
ahead. and then just pull your head over almost like you're trying to touch your
shoulder and your ear together, and then just nice and relaxed
and hold that stretch. so since this is a full stretch, you want to hold that
stretch for 30 seconds, and then you'll do a total of 3 on each side. I like to
alternate back and forth just because then it gives the other time the other
side time just to relax and reset. so then hand underneath the leg on this
side, hand up, over, and then just pulling that head over where you're trying to
get that ear towards that shoulder. and when stretching you shouldn't be feeling
pain, stretching should always be just tension. I call it that hurts so good
feeling where it's not a great feeling, but it's not painful it's like a oh that
hurts, but it feels good. so 30 seconds 3 on each side. the last treatment is going
to be some strengthening a little bit of the upper back muscles, the neck muscles,
and a great way to do that is just a scapular squeeze or shoulder squeeze. and
the way to do that is you're taking your shoulder blades in the back there, the
scapula, and you're just trying to squeeze them in together.
imagining almost if somebody's hand was right on your spine and you're trying to
squeeze it together. so you're using those muscles to squeeze it. I usually
tell people first demonstrating to use your elbows, too, but you're not just
pushing back with your elbows, you're activating those muscles to squeeze it
together. you're just kind of using those elbows as a guide to really get it
together. I know some people like well if you're moving your elbows you're just
pushing them back, but you want to squeeze those shoulder blades together
to get those muscles activating, not just pushing them back. also make sure that
your shoulders are down. so you're not squeezing up like this, you're really
coming down and squeezing back. so just a little squeeze back, hold it for about
three to five seconds, and then do about five or ten of those. so see you can
still do it without your elbows, and just squeeze back and hold it. but I think
when people are doing it for the first time it's a little bit easier to figure
it out by using your elbows to go back as well. so again holding it for three to
five seconds, do about five or ten of those. so there you have it those were
your top five ways to relieve neck pain and tension as well as the upper back
shoulders. if you're interested in purchasing the zyllion ZMA 13, make sure
and click on the link up here, and don't forget to subscribe by clicking down
here. And remember, be safe, have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.