Got a Crick In Your Neck? Try THIS for Fast Pain Relief!

Got a crick in your neck? Well I'm going to show you some simple stretches and exercises to relieve neck pain. So let's get started. So some of you non southern folks might wonder what a crick in your neck is. But basically, that's just a slang term that a lot of southern people say a pain in your neck or a stiffness or tightness, you kind of have a crick in there. So with these super quick simple exercises and stretches, you are going to need a towel a little bit longer than like a washcloth, but like a dish towel or something can work just fine, you can use something longer as well, for the stretch at the end. So if you don't have that, hit the pause button, and go grab that and then come on back. So the first set of exercises are just gonna be isometric exercises. So isometric exercises are when you're activating the muscle, but you're not making a movement, which often is painful or hard to do. So isometrics are great because they contract the muscle and then relax. And a lot of times that will help loosen things up. And it also helps strengthen, and it helps take away a little bit of that pain. So the first one is just going to be an isometric side bend. So the side bend motion is going to be this, keeping the head straightforward and bending over. But when it's an isometric exercise, you're going to stop that motion from happening. So I'm not really making a movement, I'm just going to use the palm of my hand, kind of put it on my temple area. But this is what I'm gonna do, and my hands stopping me from doing it. So with isometric exercise, just start off with maybe 30 to 40% of the pushing, so not pushing as hard as you can, just holding there and then pushing in, you should be able to see some of those muscles activating a little bit, hold it for three to five seconds, and then relax. I like alternating sides, just because then it gives the other side a little break. Again, palm kind of right here on the temple, pushing in that 30 to 40% to start off with. This as the motion I'm doing, I'm preventing it from happening activating those muscles, I just felt a little slight pop in my neck, that's normal, as long as it's not painful. A lot of times, it's just getting that stiffness and soreness out of there. And then just doing that three times on each side. If that feels good, you can slowly progress how hard you're pushing. But I really always say start off with like 30 - 40% because it might not be painful while you're doing it, but it might make it a little sore afterwards. They're working the those muscles surprisingly more than you think. So then the next isometric exercise is just going to be a rotation movement. So going this way, but again, you're preventing the movement. So it's an isometric exercise where you're contracting the muscle, but you're not doing any kind of movement. So I'm still kind of placing my palm on my temple in the same spot. So this time, this is the motion I'm doing. And I'm just preventing it with my palm my hand there. And again, you should be able to see those muscles activating, I like to kind of move my eyes in the direction that I'm going as well just so you kind of getting all those cranial nerves activated while you're doing it. Again, that three to five second hold, switch sides. Again, this is the motion, I'm doing my hands preventing it, those muscles activating right there, three to five seconds 30 40%. And doing that three times on each side, you can kind of progress that as well as long as you feel comfortable with that over time. So then the next one is going to be a chin tuck, chin tucks if you watch any of my neck videos, my posture videos, my headache videos is one of my favorite exercises in general. Chin tucks sometimes, for people if they have some other issues going on kind of affecting the nerve like a disc or radiculopathy, might reproduce some of the symptoms. So just start off with a little bit, you don't have to crank it back, like me, I do chin tucks every day because I do have some neck and shoulder issues, some posture issues sometimes when you're on the computer. So that really helps just kind of loosen everything up as well. So with a chin tuck, you want to keep your chin in that neutral position, kind of looking straightforward. And all I'm doing is moving my whole head back. So almost like if I had a wall behind me, and I'm trying to push my head back into the wall. So then you're kind of getting all those little chins in there. If you've seen some of my other videos, sometimes I like to use my finger as a target, you just kind of place your finger on your chin, and then you move your chin away from the finger holding that again, maybe three to five seconds, relax. Sometimes then you have a little bit of space in between, which means you're resetting those muscles. And again, just doing that three to five times and you can do that kind of several times throughout the day. And then the next exercise, stretch really more than an exercise, is going to be what we call "SNAGS." So using the towel, you're just going to kind of place it on your shoulders like this. So you have two points on each end to kind of hold on to. So the first one I'm just going to grab my opposite side here. And then I'm going to on top take this one and kind of bring it along my ear, chin line here. So you don't want it down on your neck. You don't Want it up high, you just want to kind of bring it here. And I'm going to turn my head and kind of pull up and over almost like I'm going towards the opposite side of the ceiling here. So I'm going to pull down with this hand, and then pull up and over with this hand. So I'm going here, and then I'm turning and pulling down here and up in over here, and getting that nice stretch in there. This is a really, really good stretch, because it kind of hones your neck area, one segment at a time. So you're getting a really specific stretch, versus if you are just doing like a stretch this way or stretch this way. Ideally, if you can, I know sometimes hard because you're pulling, but hold it for 30 seconds, this is a full 30 second stretch. So then switching sides. So now I got this one where I'm pulling down, and then I have this one, kind of bringing it over that ear jawline, pulling down with this hand up and over, getting that nice, I feel really good, good stretch in there, holding that stretch, again, trying to pull down the whole time this way, and then up and over this way for 30 seconds, and then do that three times on each side. So there you have it. Those were some simple stretches and exercises to relieve a crick in your neck. 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