Exercises to relieve neck pain and stiffness

I expect we've all experienced a stiff or painful neck at some point in our lives, so this video provides some exercise options to relieve it. Hi everyone and welcome to Exercise for Health and you've probably clicked on this video because you're suffering with neck pain or stiffness. This can be as a result of sleeping in a bad position, irritating the joints and muscles, being sat down too long looking at a screen in poor posture, being sat in a car too long and not moving the neck joints very much, or it could be as a result of an injury or even stress and anxiety. There is also a condition called wry neck or torticollis which is an acute condition that lasts only for a few days, normally after you've slept awkwardly, and it restricts movement of the neck and causes severe pain on one side. Rather than using the following exercises for this, I will show an effective technique that's less stressful on the neck and can help you speed up the recovery and I'll show you that at the end of this video. However, let's go through a series of mobility, isometric and dynamic strength exercises that address generalized neck pain and stiffness, where they are your only symptoms. If you have other associated symptoms such as severe headaches, nausea, lightheadedness, dizziness, a fever, balance problems, pins and needles, or weakness in the arms or legs, or anything else that's unusual, you should get checked out by your doctor first before following the advice in this video. These exercises though will mobilize the joints of the cervical spine and activate the muscles around the neck, allowing them to relax and release tension, therefore improving how you're feeling. One small tip for you while performing these is to keep your tongue resting against the roof of the mouth, as this can reduce neck pain and help with neck stability. First we will start with neck mobility exercises, which are great to do at any time of the day and particularly beneficial if you're sat down at a desk. So sit up tall and let's take the neck through its various movements. Initially, flexion and extension of the neck, performed slowly and pain-free until you have completed the movement five times each way, can begin to mobilize the joints in the cervical spine. This involves dropping your chin to your chest, which is flexion of the neck, and then looking up, which is extension of the neck. Next we can move on to lateral flexion of the neck, and again doing the movement five times each way, pausing for a second at the end range. This is taking the ear towards the shoulder, slowly tilting the head left and right without dropping the head forwards. If you're sat in a high back chair, then you can use the headrest to guide your head side to side, without bringing it forwards and away from the chair. Finally, you can do rotation of the neck, moving it left and right five times each way. Again, as with the last side tilting movement, refrain from dropping your head forwards or looking upwards throughout the motion. You can do the mobility exercises anytime and anywhere. Let's now move on to some muscle activating isometric exercises. Essentially, this means resisting the movement of the mobility exercises shown earlier. Therefore, start with placing the palm of your hand against your forehead and gently begin to push your hand as though you were trying to move your head back, but use the muscles in the front of the neck to resist any movement, and maintain a good alignment of the neck. Maintain the gentle contraction for 10 to 15 seconds, and then relax. Next, do the opposite. Place the hand on the back of the head, again maintaining good alignment of the spine, and think about gently trying to pull the head forwards, but activate the muscles on the back of the neck to resist any movement. Again, hold for 10 to 15 seconds, and then relax. Now, let's resist lateral flexion or side tilting of the neck. This time, placing your hand on the side of your head above your ear, and gently press as though you are trying to bend the neck to one side, but as before, resisting any movement, promoting a gentle isometric contraction on the side of the neck. Hold for 10 to 15 seconds, and then relax, and then repeat the contraction on the other side. Finally, resist the rotational movement. This will involve placing the hand on the side of the head, but closer to the forehead, to resist any rotation or turning of the head. Make sure your head isn't stuck forwards before you start, and as you push your hand into your head, this will contract the deep rotator muscles in the side of the neck. Hold for 10 to 15 seconds, relax, and then repeat on the other side. Doing both the mobility exercises and isometric exercises might be enough to alleviate the pain and stiffness in your neck, but if you want to address any weaknesses, then you can also do some dynamic strength exercises to help you in the long term. This will involve using the weight of your head, which for 98% of us will be between 5 and 11 pounds, and the assistance of gravity to stimulate the muscles in the neck. You will need to lie down for these, so if you can't get down on the floor, you can try it on your bed or on a sofa. The first one is lying on your back and lifting the head away from the floor, as though you are trying to lift your head upwards towards the ceiling, before lowering back down. Perform the movement slowly until you have done between 10 and 15 repetitions, or until you feel the muscles in the front of your neck working. Don't go to any extreme with these, meaning don't push the exercise to muscle failure, as the muscle soreness the following day will make you feel worse. The second one starts lying on your front, with your elbows out to the side to raise your chest off the floor slightly. Now perform the movement which will be the opposite of the first one. Lift the head away from the floor, as though you are trying to create a double chin look, flattening out the top of the neck. Pause for a moment before lowering the head back down towards the floor. Again, 10 to 15 repetitions should be enough, and don't work too hard. Out of all these dynamic exercises, this will be the most beneficial to encourage good alignment of the neck. Finally, lie on your side, so the head is free to move up and down, laterally flexing the neck. Ensure you pull the head back before starting this one, to maintain good alignment of the cervical spine, and slowly lift your head, moving the ear towards the shoulder, before lowering the head back down. Depending on your mobility, will depend on how far your head will drop, but you will be working the muscles on the side of the neck, both concentrically and eccentrically throughout the movement. Once you've done around 10 to 15 reps, you can roll over to do the same movement on the opposite side. Again, ensuring you pull your chin in, before you start to maintain good alignment throughout. At the start of the video, I mentioned a condition known as wry neck, or torticollis, which is something I'm very familiar with, having suffered with it on multiple occasions over the last 25 years, and it causes a crooked neck and muscle spasms, and it's very stiff and painful, due to inflammation around the facet joints and the vertebrae in the neck. Although some of the movements mentioned in this video may help, if done carefully and gently, here is the self-treatment that I do to aid my recovery. I use a peanut massage ball, but if you don't have one of these, two tennis balls in a sock, with the end tied to stop them from slipping out, can work just as well. You then place the balls either side of the spine in the neck, when you are led down, so your body weight presses down on the affected area. You can carefully move around a bit, to find a point where it's more effective, and spend a few minutes in this position, to improve the blood supply to the area, promoting a faster recovery. You can also couple this with a follow-up stretch of the muscles on the back of the neck, by turning your head about 30 degrees to the left or right, depending on which side you wish to target, and then drop the chin down towards your chest, to create a nice stretch across the back of the neck. Hold this stretch for at least 20 to 30 seconds, and then slowly return back up, and you can repeat this a few times. I found doing this combination of massage and stretching, once or twice a day during a flare-up, helps reduce the pain, and bring some much-needed neck mobility back far quicker. I hope the content in this video helps you relieve the pain in your neck. If so, please give it a like by clicking the thumbs up button below, and consider subscribing if you haven't already. But thank you so much for watching, and remember to stay active, and keep moving to feel better.