Neck Pain…can be more than just a pain in the neck!

I know everyone gets neck pain at some stage in their lives but these days it’s rampant with all the technology, working from home, sitting on bad chairs with bad posture, computers not at eye level, not to mention the time we all spend on our mobile phones all brings about one thing!

@catherine

Neck pain can be caused by many things but some of the most common are:

- Stress ( caused by the work on our computers and mobile phones)
- Using mobile phones and sitting all day at a computer
- Poor posture
- Tight muscles
- Weak neck flexors
- Clenching your jaw or teeth grinding
- Injuries
- Worn joints
- Nerve compression

 

To address this problem we need to do three things:
Avoid or modify the things that cause your neck pain
Stretch and release
Strengthen

Desk posture
If you’re sitting at a desk all day and/or you have changed to working from home, see if your company will invest in a new chair that supports you and allows you to adjust it to your own settings. If that is not possible try sitting on a large exercise ball which will force your muscles in your back and core to stabilise and strengthen allowing you workout while you work and helping your neck pain!

If you do choose to sit on a chair make sure your knees are lower than your hips, move away from the back of your chair as often as you can, forcing your back to do the work for you.
Keep your feet planted firmly on the floor and hinge forward at the hips resting your forearms on the table. Placing most your weight on your feet and forearms.

Stress
I know we are constantly being bombarded with ways to reduce stress, constantly being told to meditate, be mindful, breathe. But it is really important to reduce stress. I feel it’s the number one reason people get neck pain. And the cause of so many problems from illness to muscle tightness, poor breathing, anxiety, depression, lower life expectancy etc.

Find something that blows your hair back! It might not be meditation it might be Pilates since everything we do is focused on the breath and centring in to the body. A pilates class is like an hour of meditation and exercise rolled into one.

Just make sure you are doing something that give you YOU time everyday!

Tip: if you are stressed in work take three deep breaths:
In for 4 seconds.
Hold for 5 seconds.
Breathe out for 8 seconds.
It will take you to your Parasympathetic nervous system (your happy place)

Poor posture
Good Posture helps with so many problems internally and externally and is a major contributing factor to neck pain. If you are constantly in bad posture it leads to muscles having to over compensate, overwork and get tight and weak.

Poor posture should be fixed with releasing, mobilising and strengthening. Find a good teacher then take your time. Try not feel like you just have to get strong. You have to gently undo possibly years of bad positioning.

Tip: Find out where your tight points are and get to stretching before you strengthen or else you are just making tight muscles tighter.

Weak and/or tight neck flexors
For me, and this is majorly overlooked, Joseph Pilates would get all his students to do neck strengthening exercises. Something that is really overlooked these days.

If you have both weak and tight neck flexors, its important that you have a routine that both stretches and strengthens, which will help address any alignment issues as just strengthening alone can only make your situation worse.

A quick way to check your head/neck placement is to stand with your back against the wall. Standing up straight, if the back of your head touches the wall comfortably you have no forward head movement (which is a huge cause of neck pain)

If you find you do have a forward head placement see images below or go to our video on stretching and strengthening neck issues.

by Naomh Kirwan