The best physical therapy exercises you can do at home to eliminate neck pain! Stop the painful “pinch” that happens when you move your neck with these simple home stretches and exercises. Make your stretching more effective with mobilizations and movements to treat your neck pain at home.
NECK PAIN HOME TREATMENT As a physical therapist, neck pain is one of the most common conditions that I treat. It can be very painful, very debilitating, and downright annoying! Fortunately, there’s a lot that the right stretches and exercises can do to eliminate this pain at home.
TWO IMPORTANT NECK CONCEPTS (1:25) Neck movement occurs in a “top-down” motion. The upper vertebrae move before the lower vertebrae whenever you rotate your head or extend through your spine (look up).
When you rotate your head (look right or left), the posterior elements on the back of your neck move the opposite direction of your rotation. Meaning if you rotate your head to the right and pain occurs, oftentimes it’s because the neck vertebrae aren’t rotating to the left as well as they should.
HOME NECK MOBILIZATIONS BEFORE HOME NECK STRETCHES (2:49) If we can use these principles to mobilize the neck joints through their pain point, suddenly stretching will become that much more effective. You should try to effectively and safely work through the pain points to increase the pain-free range of motion in your neck.
EQUIPMENT REQUIRED All you’ll need to perform these stretches is a pillowcase and a chair with a firm back on it (preferably the back stays below your shoulder blades).
ROTATION NECK MOBILIZATION (3:50) Towel right on the area of pain or “pinching” in the joint. Rotate your head one direction while using the opposite hand to push the posterior vertebrae in a rotation motion.
ROTATION NECK STRETCH (5:06) Cross your hands. Hold the bottom hand close to your chest. The upper hand brings the towel over your cheekbone and then pulls into greater rotation as you stretch.
EXTENSION NECK MOBILIZATION (6:41) Towel on your neck at the level of pain. Slowly look up until you get to the pain point and then look back down. Repeat according to the numbers indicated in the video.
EXTENSION NECK STRETCH (7:48) Towel around your neck again. Extend to pain point, but now bring both hands up to approximately eye level and use them to help raise your head into further extension (looking up towards the ceiling).
These are two of the most effective techniques I share with patients for helping to eliminate neck pain and stiffness and helping to improve their range of motion. These principles can be highly effective in improving your neck pain at home and I hope you find them beneficial!
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Weak, tired neck and poor posture? Here are the exercises I would recommend for you! https://youtu.be/zt7b3YLBahY
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