Why and how relaxing techniques might help to decrease your neck pain?
Why and how relaxing techniques might help to decrease your neck pain?
www.PTcares.com
Neck pain is one of the most common complains from my clients. Today I want to share with you some useful relaxing techniques to decrease your pain. Before we get into more details of the methods, let's take a look the tissues around the neck.
The neck connects the head and the upper trunk of the body. Many muscles are designed to balance the neck from all directions. As I pointed out in the last post, the neck bones are supported by joint articulation shape, connective tissues/ligaments, and muscles. The neck pain might be related to any of those structures. The key word here is "balance."
If the head is placed ahead of the shoulders, the above structures will have to do a lot of work to stabilize the neck. The muscles might be tired due to the prolonged positioning in an unbalanced posture. When the muscles cannot support the neck, more stress will go to the joints and the connective tissues --- joint capsule, ligaments, and tendons. After prolonged exposure to constant pulling, the connective tissues will get tighter, and the joints might develop degenerative conditions --- arthritis. You might feel some stiffness in the neck or popping of the joints when you move the head around.
When arthritis gets worse, the joints will not move smoothly as it supposes to do. The upper or lower level of that neck bone will be overused to compensate the stiffness. The upper neck muscles might develop spasm and cause a headache.
So the 1st relaxing technique is to position your neck and upper backbone as straight as possible.
Remember to bring the chin down and maintain the eyes looking forward instead of looking downward. You can also add some nodding motions of the neck, just like when you say "yes" to others.
Another consideration of the neck pain was your breathing pattern. There are 2 breathing patterns: Chest breathing pattern and abdominal breathing pattern. Let's take a look at the breathing muscles.
If you have neck pain with deep breathing in or out. You might benefit from abdominal breathing exercises.
So the 2nd relaxing technique is to look into a mirror and practice the abdominal breathing pattern, please make sure not to shrug your shoulders.
Bring the belly button forward and backward while gently breathing in and out without too raising your chest.
Start with shallow breath and slowly progress into a deep breath.
When tight muscles are not getting enough rest, they might develop into severe spasm.
So the 3rd relaxing technique is to work on those tight tissues/muscles.
1. levator scapulae
2. Rhomboid muscles
3.Trapezius
4. Latissimus dorsi
Tips:
Start with 6 seconds of stretching and avoid t sharp pain or numbness or tingling in the limbs.
Gradually progress to 20 seconds of stretching.
Make sure when you get back to neutral position, the stretching feeling disappears immediately.
For more info about the neck treatment, please visit WWW.PTcares.com and ask questions.
*Disclaimer:*The information contained herein is compiled from a variety of sources for educational purpose. It may not be complete or timely. It does not cover all diseases, physical conditions, ailments or treatments. The information should NOT be used in place of visit with your healthcare provider, nor should you disregard the advice of your healthcare provider because of any information you read on this topic. For more info or service of physical therapy in Albuquerque, please visit www.PTcares.com.
www.PTcares.com
Neck pain is one of the most common complains from my clients. Today I want to share with you some useful relaxing techniques to decrease your pain. Before we get into more details of the methods, let's take a look the tissues around the neck.The neck connects the head and the upper trunk of the body. Many muscles are designed to balance the neck from all directions. As I pointed out in the last post, the neck bones are supported by joint articulation shape, connective tissues/ligaments, and muscles. The neck pain might be related to any of those structures. The key word here is "balance."
If the head is placed ahead of the shoulders, the above structures will have to do a lot of work to stabilize the neck. The muscles might be tired due to the prolonged positioning in an unbalanced posture. When the muscles cannot support the neck, more stress will go to the joints and the connective tissues --- joint capsule, ligaments, and tendons. After prolonged exposure to constant pulling, the connective tissues will get tighter, and the joints might develop degenerative conditions --- arthritis. You might feel some stiffness in the neck or popping of the joints when you move the head around.
When arthritis gets worse, the joints will not move smoothly as it supposes to do. The upper or lower level of that neck bone will be overused to compensate the stiffness. The upper neck muscles might develop spasm and cause a headache.
So the 1st relaxing technique is to position your neck and upper backbone as straight as possible.
Remember to bring the chin down and maintain the eyes looking forward instead of looking downward. You can also add some nodding motions of the neck, just like when you say "yes" to others.
Another consideration of the neck pain was your breathing pattern. There are 2 breathing patterns: Chest breathing pattern and abdominal breathing pattern. Let's take a look at the breathing muscles.
If you have neck pain with deep breathing in or out. You might benefit from abdominal breathing exercises.
So the 2nd relaxing technique is to look into a mirror and practice the abdominal breathing pattern, please make sure not to shrug your shoulders.
Bring the belly button forward and backward while gently breathing in and out without too raising your chest.
Start with shallow breath and slowly progress into a deep breath.
When tight muscles are not getting enough rest, they might develop into severe spasm.
So the 3rd relaxing technique is to work on those tight tissues/muscles.
1. levator scapulae
2. Rhomboid muscles
3.Trapezius
4. Latissimus dorsi
Tips:
Start with 6 seconds of stretching and avoid t sharp pain or numbness or tingling in the limbs.
Gradually progress to 20 seconds of stretching.
Make sure when you get back to neutral position, the stretching feeling disappears immediately.
For more info about the neck treatment, please visit WWW.PTcares.com and ask questions.
*Disclaimer:*The information contained herein is compiled from a variety of sources for educational purpose. It may not be complete or timely. It does not cover all diseases, physical conditions, ailments or treatments. The information should NOT be used in place of visit with your healthcare provider, nor should you disregard the advice of your healthcare provider because of any information you read on this topic. For more info or service of physical therapy in Albuquerque, please visit www.PTcares.com.
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