Sebastian Brosche · 12 min · 1,182 words
Previously titled: Video 4 - Neck Rehab
Welcome back to day four of our neck pain programme. So today we're going to introduce a couple of new things and we're going to go over some of the work we've done earlier in the programme. So if any of the new things that we introduce are a little bit advanced at the moment, if your neck's still too painful, do feel free to go back and use one of the exercises in the previous day or perhaps you can go back and repeat one of the previous days. So I'm going to start with a bit of mobilisation.
We're going to do things slightly differently today. Today I'm going to link my hands behind the back of my neck and what I'm aiming for here is I want to mobilise the section at the top of my upper back and the base of my neck. So I'm just going to take the elbows forwards and back and what's happening is my hands are keeping my neck from moving too much so I'm trying to make sure movement comes as much as possible from that area at the top of my back. So we're just going to go up and down.
There's not a lot of movement here so don't expect to get masses of mobility. We're just trying to use the range that we've got. Down to the elbows and then we're going to come back to the middle. I'm just going to trace figures of eight and you'll inevitably get some movement from lower down in the back and from the neck as well because we're not going to be able to entirely get the movement coming from just those few segments but we want to as much as possible focus on getting the movement in that area.
I can go back the other way. I'll just finish with a few more forwards and back. Looking straight ahead and we're just going to do a series of isometrics. So we're going to go through the different ranges of motion starting in neutral, pushing the head against the hand.
Again if it's feeling good I can push a bit harder. If it's not I can back off a little bit and then push the other way. I'm going to go straight backwards and then I'm just going to take it slightly to the side, push back. And relax, slightly to the other side.
And relax, dropping the head forwards and pushing back. This is a good little sequence that you can use in your warm-ups as well. We go through all of these and relax there. And we're just going to go to the side as far as it will go and push him back.
And do remember if you get any pain with any of these or you start feeling funny sometimes when people are working on or around the neck they can start feeling a little bit uncomfortable or sometimes even a little bit dizzy. If you do then do just stop. And then I'm dropping the head forwards and down and I'm pushing back. So again you can feel this muscle goes down from the neck into the top of the shoulder blade.
The one I've got working. I'm going to tuck my hand behind my back if I want to exaggerate the emphasis there. And then do the same thing the other way and push back. And relax.
So what I'm going to do now is I'm going to grab the step. So again a bench works really well for this. And we're going to do the same exercise that we did earlier. Just lining the base of my neck up with the edge of the step there.
And then I'm just going to take the neck through that full range of movement. I'm just going to do a few of these. Remembering to tuck the chin first come through neutral. And then back up.
So I'm making sure I hit that neutral position in each direction. I don't want to let my chin start poking out as soon as it does. That's when I know the muscles will work on and become fatigued. It's time to end the exercise.
And then I'm just going to stop and hold that position a few seconds at the end. Keeping the chin tucked, my neck in a straight line with my body. I can just relax. Just relax.
Let my neck rest for a few seconds there. And then we're just going to do one more static hold. And it's important to keep breathing when you're doing this. Breathing is always good.
I recommend it highly. And rest there. And as always, don't worry if you can't manage the full length of time I'm doing those for. If you end up cutting it short, that's fine.
That gives you something to work up towards. So moving on, we're going to go back to the upper back work that we were doing. Again, remember that upper back is really important to getting in control of this neck pain. So this time we're going to look at doing a dorsal raise.
So hands by my sides. I'm actually going to turn my arms out so my thumbs point towards the ceiling. I'm going to keep my neck in a fairly straight line with my body. I'm just going to lift my shoulders up.
So I don't want to be looking back here and forcing anything. I'm looking down. I'm just going to lift it up, pause for a second, and back down. And I'm going to grab my stretchy band.
Now this is quite a heavy band. The different colours are different strengths. So you may want to start with a green or even a red band. I'm going to hold this out in front of me, palms facing upwards.
Hands just a little bit wider than shoulder width. Arms are going to take the shoulders down and back. And then take the arms out to the side and back to the middle. Pull apart.
Again, this is that connection between the shoulders and the upper back and the neck that we're talking about. I'm going to put the band down to one side and we're just going to do those last two exercises again. So we're going to do the dorsal raises. And then, grab your band, palm up.
And rest there. And that's the end of day four. So well done for making it this far into the programme. Now, in day five, we're going to add a few extra challenges in.
Day five is definitely the most advanced of all the days. So if you're still having any problems with any of the exercises you've done up until now, do feel free to go back and repeat those days. And day five will look at some exercises that you can put into your ongoing routine, both to get you out of pain, but also hopefully to help to prevent this from coming back. We'll see you tomorrow.
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