Exercises for a Stiff Neck

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neck_exercisesStretching and strengthening of the neck muscles is not like stretching and strengthening the other muscles of the body. The neck is short and a contained space, so it’s best to keep a small range of motion, in keeping with muscle size and function.

If you give 5 minutes a day to exercise your neck, you will find little-by-little, over time, your neck will loosen up and the muscles will become stronger, making support of the head much easier with age.

The neck moves mainly on two planes: down (flexion) and up (extension), and side-to-side (rotation). Rolling the head in a circle needs to be done in a very specific way, not covered here, that moves the head in correct alignment.

Lifting the Head Off the Spine is the number one exercise you can do, at any time of day: ideally this lift becomes second-nature and is no longer a conscious effort. The exercises below are some suggestions as a starting point to loosen a stiff neck.

Floor stretches:
1. Lie on floor; you can have support for your neck with a bolster-shaped pillow or towel.
Slowly and very gently tuck your chin and press your lower skull to the floor. Hold for two breaths and relax. Repeat 10 times. This will stretch the muscles at the back of the neck.
2. Now you’ll engage the superficial side neck muscles. In the same position, turn your head to the left, raise your chin away from your opposite shoulder. Hold for one or two breaths, and come to a neutral position. Repeat on the other side, 5x each side. This will stretch the muscles at the side of the neck.
3. In the same floor position, allow the head to fall back to stretch the muscles at the front of the neck, holding for a comfortable amount of time, then bring the head and neck back into a neutral position.
4. Gently turn head side to side, slowly, 10-20x.

Seated stretches:
1. Locate the bone at the base of your skull behind your ears. Find the front lower corner, and pressing with your fingers, slide them back a bit until you feel a small indent that accommodates your fingertips. Using one or two fingers, press your skull into the fingers and rock your head chin up, chin down. The dual pressure relaxes the muscles at the back of the neck while stretching the deep muscles of the anterior neck.
2. This one is best done in the shower, standing under a steady stream of water:

a) Lift your left arm and place it on the top-right of you head, and gentle pull the head left while allowing the right shoulder muscles to drop. Hold for a few moments, and release. Repeat on the opposite side, 1x each. This stretches the side muscles of the neck.

b) Modification: Begin in same final position as a), then turn the face toward the armpit.
This stretches both the side of the neck and the deeper muscles that rotate the neck.

3. Rotate head and neck from the chin, beginning with small circles, 5-10x in each direction. Tuck as chin comes to bottom of the circle, and slightly stick it out at the top, 1 inch maximum range of motions in all directions.

Seated strengtheners:
These exercises use the principle of resistance to access the deeper muscles of the neck.

1. Clasp you hands behind the neck and press your head into your hands for a count of 1. This is very much like pressing the lower back of the head in the floor exercise, only you are isolating the very deep muscles of the neck, both front and back. Initiate the backward movement by tucking your chin as you press the head into the hands in a small movement.

2. See “Seated Stretches 1.” 2 inches below, dig your fingers into the posterior neck muscles strongly, enough to pivot your head, front and back, feeling the muscles when your head falls back and the bony base of the skull and the soft attachment tissue when your head rocks forward. Repeat 5-10x. This strengthens the deep muscles of the neck.

3. Turn head side-to-side slowly for 2-5 minutes. You can time your breathing so that you inhale as you turn one way, and exhale as you turn in the opposite direction. This is a form of meditation, so you’re killing two birds with one stone!

Practice recommendations to stretch and strengthen you neck:
1. Set aside 5 minutes each day where you’ll have quiet and be comfortable. I (Carol) start with the last exercise- turning the head slowly side-to-side while breathing deeply. This warms the neck muscles, which sets up nicely for the subsequent exercises. Choose one or two exercises or find new ones. Within a week you will notice a change, but allow one month of regular exercise before assessing results.

2. Practice proper alignment when sitting, standing, and walking. Qi gong, tai ji, and ba gua articulate the subtle movements of stretching and strengthening your core in a way that makes attaining proper alignment and pleasurable game. Lifting you head off your spine is a qi gong practice you can do anywhere.

http://mountaintopacupuncture.com/exercises-to-help-get-rid-of-a-stiff-neck

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have over 30 years experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice at The Highlands Ranch Medical Pavilion in Littleton, Colorado.

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

Filed Under: All Things Exercise, Conditions Treated, Stress Busters Tagged With: , , , , ,

Lifting the Head Off the Spine

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the importance of proper neck alignment and acupunctureYears ago my (Carol) first qigong teacher made the provocative statement that the world would be a different place if everyone’s heads were correctly held, in the proper position.

What did he mean by this? Most of us have the bad habit of letting our heads fall back, with the chin lifted, or forward, in a slouched position. First of all, the average human head is 8 to 12 pounds! That’s a lot of weight to carry around, and we’re too distracted, between work and other stressors, to notice.

This mal-positioning creates a constant blockage, leading to headaches, neck strain, shoulder strain, and worse, nerve impingement leading to numbness and tingling down the arms, to the fingers.

Ready to give it a try? Lift your sternum (the bony area at the center of your chest), tuck your chin in slightly, and lift the crown of the head center skywards, giving a slight tug to the muscles at the back of the neck. At the same time, let your shoulders drop. You are now lifting your head off the spine! Practice: hold it for several seconds at a time, any time, and soon your body will crave the correct position. Some examples of practice are when waiting (for a red light to turn green, for the water to boil, when listening to someone speak, or when you’re on hold), meditating, or during your daily peregrinations when you are called upon to be still for a moment.

an un-resticted soft palate is major in relieving a stiff neck

soft palate

A related area to this is inside the mouth, where there are a number of muscles no one ever thinks of. These are: Tensor veli palatini, Levator veli palatini, Palato glossus, Palato pharyngeus, and Musculus uvulae. When you practice lifting your head off the spine, think of softening the muscles of the soft palate. This will create more space to free up the components of the jaw and neck.

Lifting the head off the spine is really a qi gong practice in that the focus is on the bones, allowing the surrounding tissue to lengthen, become stronger, and relax all at once. When you hit the “sweet spot,” you’ll know it, and with practice, will be able to hold the position for longer moments, then periods, of time.

http://mountaintopacupuncture.com/lifting-the-head-off-the-spine

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have over 30 years experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice at The Highlands Ranch Medical Pavilion in Littleton, Colorado.  Located near Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree, Centennial, Denver, and Denver Tech Center (DTC).

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

Filed Under: All Things Exercise, Health Tips, Philosophy, Stress Busters, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,

Keep Moving!

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millet_the_gleanersWhen I (Carol) took the Memorial Sloan Kettering online oncology course for acupuncturists, the recommendation for healthy people to exercise 30-60 minutes a day was the standout detail from the entire, 30+ hours of lectures.

That’s 30-60 minutes, seven days a week of formal exercise, not including the time you may spend traveling, changing, or cleaning up. And movement for our daily peregrinations, though better than nothing, doesn’t count.

Why, I wondered, did they advocate 30-60 minutes a day, and then it hit me: our DNA is programmed to move a lot more than we do in the 21st Century. It’s only been about 250 years since the Industrial Revolution, and many conveniences we take for granted didn’t exist before then. For our ancestors, chores and travel demanded constant physical effort; physiological evolution doesn’t change as quickly as our world has, so we have to accommodate our body’s needs by moving more.

Moving is one of the main ways to reduce your risk of getting cancer, because where there is blood flow, free radicals cannot pile up. When you regularly engage in steady, sustained movement, blood perfuses throughout your body.

Once I grasped this fact, I took up the challenge, and found it easy to justify the time spent, because being cancer-free is a compelling motivator. Viewed in this light, choosing to move is as simple as standing on one side of a line and stepping over it to the other side.

Regular exercise has many benefits, including leveling out the stresses encountered in a day.

If you are new to exercise, begin slowly and build up to it. You will find the body grows stronger exponentially, for it’s designed to do this. Expect some aches and pains as you make progress, but pay attention to the quality of pain to avoid injury (so you can continue working out!). If you overdo it, don’t give up, just take a break and get some acupuncture or a massage to speed the healing.

http://mountaintopacupuncture.com/keep-moving

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have over 30 years experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice at The Highlands Ranch Medical Pavilion in Littleton, Colorado.

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

Filed Under: All Things Exercise, Health Tips, Stress Busters, Theory, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

(There’s) Hope for Bunion-Sufferers!

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this is what bunion booties look like on your feet

Hello fellow bunion people!

While science has determined a certain percentage of us have bunions due to genetic factors, I (Carol) have a strong suspicion my life of pounding-the-pavement activity (running, dance, living/walking in NYC, etcetera) have contributed greatly to the current state of my feet. I don’t want surgery if I can avoid it and even my beloved doctor, aka Mr. Common Sense, recommended I work on stretching the tendon out by massaging it myself on a regular basis, and not resort to surgery.

the packaged product

I came across Bunion Booties last spring when my big toes ached from being trapped all winter-long in shoes and boots- and only “orthopedically-inclined” Keens and Le Canadiennes, mind you. Amazon testimonies had a consensus of positive reviews with people saying it seemed their tendons were stretching with consistent use, so I bought a pair to try them out (they’re not cheap). I’d occasionally wear in them in the house (not exactly attractive to wear with summer sandals), planning to test them with consistent wear this past winter. Now I can attest that they definitely work! I have worn them under tights and socks every day for the past few months with the addition of a gel toe separator found at Walgreen’s. I’m finding they are doing what they are designed to do: slooooowly stretch out the tendons that are arcing the big toe in the undesirable direction. A little massage when you’re in the warm water of a bath or jacuzzi, or when applying a warming oil (something with Vitamin E  and/or almond oil) helps too, to break up adhesions and just the old habit. Don’t expect a miracle: if it took a long time to get that way, it’ll probably take awhile for the change to happen. A diet rich in anti-oxidants to reduce inflammation at the joint couldn’t hurt, either.

So- whether you’re a wanna-be athlete like me, a bona fide athlete, or somewhere in between and your feet have taken a hit from all your great activity, here’s a message telling you all is not lost and you can change the trajectory on this one, hopefully before it goes to far, so you can continue to get out there and do what you love.

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have a combined 34 years of experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice at The Highlands Ranch Medical Pavilion in Littleton, Colorado.

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

Filed Under: All Things Exercise, Health Tips, Nourishing You Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Take a Breath, Part II

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Lung anatomy

Now that we’ve moved to beautiful and mile-high Colorado, it’s taking a few months to acclimate to the elevation, and the best way we have found to do this is by swimming: rhythmical, evenly-paced lap swimming. My (Carol) theory why this works to calm the nervous system and enhance deeper breathing is that for every inhale, a lap swimmer is exhaling for at least two counts, thereby knocking more carbon dioxide (CO2), and thus waste-product, off. Less toxins in the body can only be a good thing!

Air is a form of nutrient in both biomedicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The exchange of gases occurs in the lungs, where oxygen (O2) is inhaled and carbon dioxide (CO2) is exhaled. O2 binds to hemoglobin, travels in the blood to each cell, where the mitochondria use it to create ATP, THE energy molecule, via the Krebs cycle.

When you take deeper breaths, you increase the amount of O2 in your body, and the potential for more reserves of energy both immediately and in times of stress or depletion/illness.

Here’s a simple Taoist breathing method:

1) Inhale through your nose, and follow the breath down your esophagus, into your chest, and down to your lower abdomen, allowing the muscles to relax and expand.

2) Exhale from the lower abdomen by contracting the muscles of the lower abs and core towards your spine.

Breathing this way is very grounding, and with practice, will become second nature — it’s the way we breathed as babies, so that kinesthetic memory is stored in our nervous systems.

No need to rush the process: you can do it any time or place when you remember to do it. For example, when you’re waiting for the light to change, or feel your emotions or thoughts start to run away from you.

Guideline: never strain — follow the 70% rule — taking breaths only as deeply as they come naturally to you.

Benefits: increased energy, clearer thinking, calmer nervous system, improved metabolic and organ function, and less toxic waste in the form of CO2 floating in the blood.

Image:

U.S. Department of Health and Human Service, National Institute of Health website. Retrieved 10.18.10: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/hlw/hlw_respsys.html

http://mountaintopacupuncture.com/take-a-breath

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At Mountaintop Acupuncture, we have a combined 34 years of experience. To read more, please click here.

If you have questions and concerns about acupuncture treatment, we offer a free 20-minute phone session: click here for contact information to call or e-mail us. We practice at The Highlands Ranch Medical Pavilion in Littleton, Colorado.

Insurance is welcome and accepted.

Filed Under: All Things Exercise, Health Tips, Nourishing You, Stress Busters Tagged With: , , , , ,
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