Best Exercises For Neck Pain Relief | Home Stretches For Neck Pain
We ran a poll over the weekend to see just how many people were experiencing neck vs. back pain while staying at home and 70% of you said neck pain has been your main problem. Today’s video is just explaining our best exercises for neck pain relief as well as some helpful tips!
The Cervical Extension Exercise This is the best stretch for neck pain relief - do 10-15 repetitions. We show you how to perform this in the video, you’ll want to take an exercise band holding each side in each hand. Choose a band with higher resistance and you’ll want to pull forwards, and as you do so you should look up and back. People are often recommended chin tucks but this can be problematic for some, whereas this exercise is great for everyone. Don’t be aggressive in the movement. If you have referral pain into the arms or shoulders, having the band in the lower portion of the neck will be helpful. If you have headaches, placing the band more towards the middle will be helpful for you. Generally don’t have the band at the top of the neck.
The Cervical Disc Stretch After the cervical extensions, take a towel rolled up to roughly the size of a water bottle. Lie on the floor with the towel under the middle portion of your neck. If you’re looking towards your toes then it’s too high, you should be looking upwards and behind you. This will help to take the pressure off the structures, muscles and joints in your neck to help them recover. Relax in this position for up to 5 minutes, no longer.
Icing For 3-5 Minutes Using an icepack or bag of frozen peas just on the back of your neck will be really helpful at bringing down the inflammation. Using a scarf or towel also to hold the ice in place will be great to just stop you from holding it in place with your hand - this can often lead to you bending your neck forwards which we want to avoid. Use the ice for around 3-5 minutes.
What To Avoid Avoid any chin to chest stretches, use the extension exercise instead. Don’t use hot water bottles or heat packs. Warm or hot showers do feel good but you wouldn’t use a heat pack on an ankle sprain or injury so don’t do it to your neck, or back if you do have back pain. Also avoid sleeping on your front with your head propped to the side.
