Neck Pain Rehab for BJJ | Part 1 (16 min)

And again, I'm only going to go as far as is comfortable in each direction. Now, in some cases, if you've got a lot of neck pain, that may not be very far. You may only be getting to say here when you're going back. That's absolutely fine.

What you'll find is that as you move it, you'll slowly start to get a little bit more movement each time, but I don't want you to force it. Now, you'll notice that when I'm going back, I'm not just taking the head back, I'm arching back as that movement's going down into the top of my upper back as well. Not too fast with any of these. And this can start to seem a little bit dull, but please bear with me because it is really effective.

It's more so than you might think. And then from there, I'm going to go ear to shoulder, ear to shoulder. This can be a difficult movement to do, but I'm going to start by going forward and back. And then I'm going to go down and back, and then I'm going to start again.

And then I'm going to go down and back, and then I'm going to go ear to shoulder, ear to shoulder. This can be a difficult movement to do. Sometimes it feels a little bit clunky. It's hard to get it smooth, especially if you've got neck pain.

Again, I just want you to take it as far as you can in each direction. It's important to make sure you're dropping your head, so I don't want to be bringing my shoulder up to meet my ear like that. I want to be keeping the shoulder down and just take my head as far to the side as I can. When you do this, you might feel some pinching on the side that you're taking the head towards.

You might also feel a stretch on the opposite side of the neck. So in either case, just take it as far as you can comfortably, and then back up to the middle again. And then from there, I'm just going to look left and right. Again, you may find that you've got a lot more movement in one direction than the other.

So the same story again, just take it as far as you can. I'm trying to make sure that I don't turn my shoulders. When you're in pain, it's quite normal when you turn your head to move your shoulders with you. I'm trying to deliberately avoid that.

So even if it means I'm not getting very much neck movement, I just want to focus on taking it as far as I can. Like I said, people very often don't do this exercise or they only do it really quickly because they don't know what they're doing. So I'm just going to focus on taking it as far as I can. Because, essentially, because they find it boring.

But what you'll find is that if you are disciplined about doing it regularly, it'll make a big difference and it'll help your neck pain subside much more quickly. So when I've done that, I'm going to grab my foam roller. And I'm going to sit down with I'm putting the foam roller behind my back at the bottom of my rib cage. So I want to start quite far down.

And a lot of people will just focus on the area up towards the neck. But actually, I want to make sure I'm getting the whole of that thoracic spine with this one. Okay. So I'm going to put my hands behind my head and I'm going to link my fingers just to support my head.

So I don't want to be having to carry the weight of my head with this one. Especially if I've got a lot of neck pain. I'm just going to lean back again as far as is comfortable. And then come back up again.

I'm going to do that about three times. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to put my hands behind my head. And what I'm going to do is I'm just going to slide down slightly as the roller goes up just a little bit up my back. I'm going to do the same thing again.

Go for three of those. When you do this in your own time, it's fine to spend a bit more time in the areas that feel a little bit stuck or less mobile. And roll up to the next movement. The amount of movement I've got will change as I go up the back here.

So some segments might be quite mobile. Others there'll be less movement. That's all fine. I may also get some little clicks and pops.

So I've worked my way up. That's fine as well. That's perfectly normal. Some people actually quite like it because it feels like there's a release of tension at the same time.

So some people actually do that deliberately. Just to get a few little clicks in the upper back. So I'm getting up towards the top of the spine here. There's a little bit less movement.

It starts to get a bit more fiddly. I do want to go as high up the back as I can. Work all the way into the beta then there. I'm going to go into the beta there.

I'm going to go into the beta there. I'm going to go into the beta there. And then I'm going to go into the beta there. I do want to go as high up the back as I can.

Work all the way into the base of the neck. As long as that's not actually painful. So I want to be careful with necks. So if you are getting pain when you're doing these exercises, please do stop and get that checked out.

Okay. I'm just going to finish off by rolling up and down the muscles of the upper back there. And then I can put the foam roller to one side. And there.

I'm just going to lie flat on my back. I'm just tucking my hair out of the way in this case. You may or may not have a similar problem. So keeping my head straight, I'm going to tuck my hair out of the way in this case.

I'm going to tuck my hair out of the way in this case. You may or may not have a similar problem. So keeping my head straight, So keeping my head touching the mat, what I want to do now is I'm going to tuck my chin towards my chest. So I'm going to lengthen the back of my neck.

I'm just fluffing the back of my neck towards the mat. Just tuck the chin and I'm going to hold that in place. I'm going to hold that for about 10 seconds at a time. Then I'm going to relax.

Maybe move the shoulders a little bit. And I'm going to repeat the same thing again. Tucking the chin towards the chest. So again, if it's painful, make the movement smaller.

In a lot of cases of neck pain, this might actually feel quite relieving. Gapping those joints at the back of the neck. We're also working the muscles on the front of the neck that help to stabilise the neck. These often get neglected.

So they're a muscle group that we want to focus on. We'll do a lot more on this in the coming programme. Relax there. And then relax the neck.

Relax there. And then... ...go for a couple more. So it is important that I keep my head touching the mat.

I'm not lifting the head up. I'm just pulling the chin forwards. And relax. And then one more time.

We'll talk a bit more about the different muscles at the front of the neck as we go through the series. And relax. And then we can get you setting up. And finally, the last exercise in this sequence, I'm just going to get you pushing your head against your hand.

And then we'll do the same thing again. So again, I'm going to keep my head touching the mat. And then I'm going to push my head against your hand. Now I want to start with the neck in neutral.

So I'm not going to have it tipped off to one side or the other. I'm just going to use my hand to push the head against the side. And again, if it's painful, just keep it at a level of mild discomfort. I don't want to get pushed past that.

And then switch sides. So some people with neck pain will find that when they start the movement, when they start pushing, it's a little bit painful. But as they hold it, that pain subsides. That's a good sign.

If you find the pain is getting worse, then cut the movement a little bit short or press more lightly. And then from there, I'm going to link my fingers. Put the fingers behind my head. I'm going to push back.

I'm still going to keep the chin tucked slightly. I don't want my chin to poke forwards like this. I'm going to keep the chin tucked in. I'm just pushing back against my hand.

If you find that difficult or you're getting stress in your shoulders, then you can just push backwards against a wall. That also works. And switch sides again. So I really recommend people do this as part of their warm-up.

I find it's a good way of getting the neck muscles active. And we can start to build this into some slightly more sport-specific or reactive drills as well, which I'll often do with people on the map. And do the same thing. Pushing the head to the side.

Again, I'm keeping the neck in neutral this time round. That's the safest place to start working the neck. As it gets stronger, we may move it out into different positions and start looking at some very different positions. And start looking at some variations here.

But for now, we're going to keep this all as safe as we can. And then relax. So, that's all for day one. You may want to go back and repeat that program a few times.

If you've got a lot of acute neck pain at the moment, we don't want to advance things on too quickly. So, do feel free to stick with this basic program for a little bit longer if you feel like you need to. In the later programs in this series, we're going to move on to more strengthening work. And hopefully, some exercises which will help you to not just get rid of the neck pain, but to prevent it from coming back.