Hey everybody it's Doctor Jo and Lion Bear, and Bear says "Don't crack yo neck, do these
7 stretches and exercises instead!"
And that's no lying.
so if you haven't already, make sure you click on that subscribe button down
there. otherwise I won't see your comments, and if I don't see your
comments how can I answer them? okay so instead of cracking your neck, these
stretches and exercises are a great way to kind of loosen everything up and
sometimes they actually get a little pop as well. we're gonna start off with
isometric exercises and isometric exercises really do sometimes, if you
need that pop, if that's something that you enjoy getting, you can get that
sometimes with isometric exercises. so isometric exercises really just you're
activating the muscles, but you're not moving. so you're pushing into something
that's not moving and you can easily do that with your hands. so the first one is
just going to be a side Bend movement, but you're not going to actually do that
movement. this is what you're pushing into this is the motion you're going to
be pushing into, but you're going to put your hand just on the side of your head
and then push into your hand. but see my head's moving a little bit just because
I want you to see the motion I'm doing, but really your head shouldn't be moving
at all. so this is me just pushing into my hand. and so to start off you really
just want to push maybe only about twenty or thirty percent because if your
neck is hurting, if it's if it's painful, you don't want to push too hard. just
hold that that push for about three to five seconds, holding that contraction,
and then relaxing. you can do alternating sides if you want to. so then this is the
motion I would be doing, and now I'm pushing it into my hand this way, and then you can do three to five doing that
three to five second hold on each side.
you can alternate or if you just want to do them all on one side, if you can tell
that's usually the side that you you need to get that pop, you can just do
them all on one side, but I would do both sides just because it's your neck and
you want to keep it balanced. so then the next one is another isometric exercise,
but this time you're going to be doing rotations. so this is the motion that
you'll be doing, but you're not actually going to do that motion. so it's still
kind of placing your hand on the side of your head, and now I'm pushing in. so I'm
gonna do I'm gonna move my eyes to where I want my head to go and just pushing in
like that. so I'm doing this, but my hand is stopping me from doing it, and then
alternating sides pushing the other way. so again that three-two
five second hold, doing it five times on each side. if you want to alternate back
and forth you can, but you don't have to. then the next one is going to be an
extension isometric movement. so you can do this one against a wall if this is
uncomfortable to kind of put your hand behind your head.
you can actually just lean against the wall and push back into it, but if you
don't have a wall behind you or a tall chair that you can push into, just place
your hand on your back of your head. and this time so this is the movement I'm
trying to push push my head back looking up but my hand is stopping me from doing
it. so again you know that three to five second hold, maybe five times in a row.
this time you don't have a side to alternate to, but just making sure that
you're starting off with maybe 20 to 30% of your push, and if it feels okay the
next day then you can go 30 40 40 50 and so on until you're pushing you know hard
enough where you might actually get that pop. you you might not so don't expect it
to happen. you should still feel relief doing it even if you don't hear an
audible pop or feel a pop. so then the next one is one of my favorites which is
chin tucks. and chin tucks if you've watched any of my videos is one that's
for, it's great for posture, it's great for neck pain, it's great for just kind
of resetting everything. so if you feel like you have to pop your neck a lot,
most likely it's because you don't have great posture and then when you pop it
you're kind of adjusting everything back into place. so with a chin tuck it's not
tucking down like this, but it's actually tucking your chin in this way. you're
moving your head backwards and so a lot of times I like to use my finger as a
target. you don't have to, but I just feel like this kind of helps you visualize
what you're doing. so you're just going to place your finger on your chin and
you're gonna leave it there, the finger stays in one spot.
and then I'm tucking in. so you can see I have lots of little Chin's right there,
and I'm just holding it for about three to five seconds and then when I relax
a lot of times there's a little bit of space in between just with, and all that
means is now I'm correcting that posture. so sometimes even just doing one you can
see a difference because if you're sitting like this all day making those
muscles activate back there. and stretching everything back out and
activating them as well really helps kind of reset everything. so again that
three to five second hold again bringing everything
keeping that chin in a neutral position. so it's not coming like this, or it's not
coming up like this, it's just bringing that head straight back behind you, and
then holding that for that three to five seconds. maybe doing five or ten at a
time. so then going into some stretches. so if you feel like you always have to
to pop your neck, a lot a lot of times is because of tight neck muscles around the
area. sometimes even those muscles that go into the shoulder, so if you've got a
little imbalance, or if you've got some tightness, it's going to pull stuff and
cause it sometimes get out of alignment or cause it to have that feeling where
you want to pop it to to get that relief. so an upper trap stretches is a great
one to do and that's that big muscle in the upper part of your neck
that goes down into your shoulders. so a lot of times I'll tell people to kind of
sit on their hand. if it's uncomfortable to sit on your hand, you can just kind of
push it down. sometimes even people put it behind their back. I like just kind of
sitting on it and that just keeps this shoulder down, so I'm stretching this
side, this is the side that I want to sit on. then I'm just gonna bring my hand, my
other hand up and over, and I just want to keep my head in a neutral position. so
I'm not looking down, I'm not looking up, I'm just pulling straight over to the
side. and I should feel that stretch kind of right up and through here, and that's
where that upper trap comes into that neck. again you don't have to sit on your
hand or push it down, but you'll get a better stretch that that just gives me a
nice stretch feeling that. and so this is going to be a full stretch. so you're
holding it for 30 seconds, come up. again even if you feel like usually one side
as a side that you need, I would stretch both sides because the neck those
muscles on each side really have you know when it's connected to the spine,
you want those both to be flexible and mobile so they're not causing imbalances.
so 30 second holds, doing that three times on each side to really get that
good stretch. so the next stretch is the levator scapulae stretch, and the levator
SCAP is the one that comes up and attaches here all the way down to your
shoulder blade. And it elevates or levates that shoulder blade. and so it's
really important because a lot of times if you're working really hard on a
computer or you're focusing on something, you tend to tighten up like this, and
that causes a lot of pain in that neck, and feels like you know sometimes you
got to crack the neck to get that relief in
there. so this is a great stretch to do. so to start off with this one, if I'm
stretching this side, I'm gonna bring my arm up and try and take my elbow towards
the ceiling. now if you can't do this if this is uncomfortable, that's okay. some
people will just raise their arm you can do that as well, or you don't have to put
it up here, but again if I put my hand here, I'm pushing that shoulder blade
down or keeping it stable down there to get a better stretch. now this one is a
little bit different because I'm gonna take the other hand and put it behind my
head. I'm gonna pull my head down at about a 45 degree angle. so it's not
coming straight down, it's not going down towards the side, but I'm turning my head
so my nose is going towards the opposite knee. so this one sometimes people don't
quite get but it's coming bringing my hand behind my head and bringing that
nose down towards the opposite side. so I should feel that stretch right through
there. so it shouldn't really be on the side like that upper trap, it should be a
little bit more in the back. and if you're not quite feeling it, turn your
head a little bit more at that angle and pull down. so again this is another
thirty thirty Seconds stretch. you're holding it for thirty seconds, and again
I would do both sides. turning that head and that nose pointing towards the
opposite elbow and coming down holding it for that thirty second stretch doing
that three times on each side. again just keeping everything balanced and even. and
so that's really nice way to loosen everything up. and so the last one is
just going to be an anterior scalene stretch. and so these are the muscles in
the front. so again all these muscles around the neck if they're tight, if
they're imbalanced, pulling on something, you're gonna have that feeling of where
you want to pop that neck or kind of crack that neck to readjust everything.
so this time what you're gonna do is you're going to take the opposite side.
so if I want to stretch this out, I'm taking my opposite hand and just kind of
placing it on my collar bone right there, or that clavicle. and so I'm just gonna
gently pull down on that again to kind of stabilize everything, then I'm gonna
turn my head towards that side and look up. and I should feel that stretch right
through there. getting that nice stretch. so I'm just kind of then looking up
towards the ceiling if you want a slightly different stretch, you can turn
it the other way, and is going to get a little bit more
towards the side, maybe the SCM, so you can do both. but I like this one that
gives a nice stretch. so it's almost like one of my patients said that you're
you're posing for a picture kind of look gazing up in a way at something. but
again this is that 30-second stretch, doing that three times. again I would do
that on each side, so kind of pulling that collarbone down, looking towards
that side, and then looking up towards the ceiling. and you might not have heard
that but I actually did just get a little pop in my neck, so that's good.
it's getting that relief in there without just taking your head and
cracking it.
So there you have it. those were your 7 exercises and stretches for your neck instead of cracking
it.
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Over there?
Yeah I know.
And remember, be safe, have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.