Best Stretches for Neck Pain Relief | Chiropractor for Neck Pain in Smithtown, NY
Today we’re going to go over some strengthening and some stretching exercises for your neck. It’s really important that you have a lot of motion, a lot of movement through the neck. So that would be the first thing to do.
Ranges of Motion
And there are three ranges of pure motion with the neck. So this new bringing neck forwards and backwards, there’s going from side to side, and then there’s rotation where you’re turning your head. So let’s go through that now. So we’re going to bring your head all the way forward, so that your chin comes all the way down. And then all the way back until you are looking up at the ceiling. And he goes slowly, so that you can really feel your body as you are going through each motion will bring the left ear towards the left shoulder. And again, make sure there’s no rotation, so you’re not turning your head and bringing it over to the side, you go straight to the side, one side and then the other side. That’s great. And then we’ll come back to neutral, and then turn your head all the way around to the right, we should be that 90 degrees. If you’re not, there’s a problem. And then all the way to the left. Good, and back to the center. And then you relax. So that’s a great way to just start getting your neck warmed up.
Stretching Exercises
Next, what we want to do is a stretching exercise over to the side. So we’re going to have you bring your head all the way over to the side, then you’re going to reach with your opposite hand. And you’re going to put some resistance there. So you’re going to push your head into your hands so that you are pushing against your hand. Take a deep breath. And then stretch your neck. Oh, good. You keep that shoulder nice and still. And then you’re going to go the other way. So bring your head over to the other side. Reach over with your hand, gently push up into your hand. Good. Take a breath in, breathe out and let yourself to stretch over good and then come back to neutral. Take a little break.
Strengthening Exercises
And then what we’re going to do next is we’re going to do a strengthening exercise for the curve in your neck. You need a really good cervical curve or neck curve. And you want to maintain that to maintain your full spinal health. So you’re going to we’re going to just turn to the side. And this is the curve we’re talking about. And when you get a really nice curve through the through the back of the neck. That’s your resistance band. And we go easy to start with, you know, don’t go too hard on your neck, it’s really sensitive, you have to bring the resistance band around the back of your head. So you’re going to hold on to that. And what you’re going to do is you’re going to just put a little bit of pressure, you’re going to pull forward with a resistance band. And then you’re going to come all the way back when your head is pushing back into that band so that we’re strengthening this curve here. And then you’re going to bring your head back into neutral and relax again. And repeat. And you’ll do that five times. Hold each. Hold each for five seconds. And then breathe out let that go.
If any of these exercises or stretches hurts, please do not do them. That’s not a good thing. And get your neck and your spine assessed as soon as possible.
