Neck pain? Shoulder pain? Headaches? What do all these have in common?
The symptoms usually start slow. First a little aching, then a little burning. Maybe it starts distracting you only at the end of the day and before you know it, you’re rubbing your shoulder by 10AM. If you’re lucky, it’s only in the shoulder but for the other 80%, it could mean tingling, headaches and arm pain. Figured it out yet?? It’s that good old “P” word our moms always yelled at us to correct. Turns out they knew what they were talking about (don’t tell mom!)……POSTURE.
Poor posture has been shown to contribute to hundreds of conditions out there involving our muscles, blood vessels, bones, joints and ligaments, even our ability to breathe effectively. So, when it comes to your neck, it’s often the first area that can be easily corrected with just a few things to keep in mind.
Our neck needs maximum freedom of movement, so, before starting a program for strength and flexibility, always make sure that you have spent a sufficient amount of time performing stretching exercises to give you pain-free range of motion. We do not want to strengthen a neck in the wrong alignment or if it does not have maximum mobility.
Once you have improved your neck flexibility, try adding in just two easy shoulder blade exercises which will help to realign the neck over the shoulders and decrease the effort of the muscles holding up the neck.
Wall Angels
Start by standing with your feet about 6 inches from a wall, lean back against the wall so that your low back is comfortable and as flat as possible against the wall. (Do not arch the back)
Raise your arms up with the elbows at shoulder height and bent at 90 degrees. Try to place the elbows and the back of the hands against the wall (this is a normal level of flexibility). If this is not possible due to excessive chest tightness (brought on by postural deficits), this is fine for now. The trick is to keep the spine still. As long as you feel some stretch on the front of the chest that is fine.
Raise and lower the elbows between 45 and 90 degrees, bringing the elbows back up level with the shoulders, pause for a second or two and repeat about 15-20 times. Always remember quality is more important than quantity and if it hurts, stop the exercises.
Within a few weeks you’ll feel much more freedom in the shoulders and should be able to start raising the arms above 90 degrees while maintaining wall contact with both your arms and back.
External Rotations of the Shoulder
Sitting or standing, keep your elbows by your side as you rotate your hands (palms up) away from your body and squeeze your shoulder blades together. This actively engages the muscles of your upper back and shoulder (these are some of the muscles responsible for better posture) and can relieve muscle fatigue from poor postural positions.
Start by performing this 2-3x/day for 20-30 repetitions. Once you can repeat a set 30 times without stopping, you can always add some resistance, like therapy band, for added challenge.
Final Thoughts
Now that you have improved the mobility of your neck and started to correct for muscle imbalances, it is important that you maintain these gains by ensuring that you have the best posture possible while driving and sitting. This means not only ensuring that the chairs you sit in fit properly but accommodating those that don’t. A cushion such as the BackBone helps to provide you the postural support that most chairs and car seats are lacking. Try it RISK FREE today.
If you have pain, go see your medical professional immediately to rule out anything serious. If you don’t have pain, now is the time to work on these things because it’s much easier to prevent pain than it is to treat it. So, stretch your legs, stretch your arms, get the blood flowing and, if you’re really motivated, reach out to us or sign up for our newsletter to get more information on postural re-education and how to address your home office set up as part of your body awareness. Contact us at hello@backbonecushion.com. We will help get you and your back on track!
