Move With Us Through Alleviating Neck Tightness
Welcome back to our Move With Us series! Today’s focus is on the neck.
A lot of our clients are struggling at the moment with neck stiffness and tightness, a combination of the stressors of working from home and the stress of living in our current environment. Today’s sequence is a combination of stretching and strengthening exercises because we find that a lot of neck tightness is actually as a result of underactive or weakened muscles through the neck and upper back.
If you’re struggling from any neck tension or just want to help improve your postural strength then join us and let’s get moving!
Neck Rolls
Drop your head down to your left side
Then slowly rotate your head forwards and around to the right shoulder in a nice semi circle
Stopping in line with your right shoulder, not moving into extension
Slowly roll from side to side, keeping your shoulders relaxed and continuing your deep breathing
Repeat 4 times or more if needed
Neck Junction Extensions
This exercise aims to activate and strengthen our postural muscles of the upper back, in between the shoulder blades, that help with supporting the neck
In a seated position place your hands on the back of your neck
Then open up through your chest, extending your elbows back and feeling a squeeze of the muscles between your shoulder blades
Holding this tension, gently lift your hands off your neck so they’re hovering about 5cms away
Return your hands to your neck and relax your elbows
Repeat 8 times making sure you keep your core activated throughout
Seated Neck Stretches
Our aim is to decrease tension through your neck and shoulders while lengthening the muscles and increasing mobility
Sit on one hand with your palm facing down, place your other hand on top of your head and very gently pull your neck across to the side
Hold for 10 - 15 seconds feeling a stretch along the side of your neck
Rotate your head forward and downwards so you’re looking towards the armpit of the arm placed on top of your head
Hold for 10-15 seconds feeling a stretching along the back of your neck
Place your hand on top of your collarbone and rotate your head to look up towards the ceiling
Hold for 10-15 seconds feeling a stretch through the front of your neck
Sitting on the other hand now, repeat the stretches on the other side
Four Point Kneel Chin Tucks
In a four point kneel position with your hands underneath your shoulders and your knees underneath your hips, tuck your chin and lengthen through your neck so there’s one straight line from your upper back to the tip of your head
We want to activate the muscles of the neck here to strengthen the deep stabilising muscles
Keeping the alignment through your neck, retract your chin back so that you’re giving yourself a double chin
You should feel the engagement of the muscles through the front of the neck
Relax the chin and return to your starting position
Repeat 8-12 times
We hope you found this helpful! Feel free to repeat this series multiple times through out the week and keep Moving With Us. If you have any questions or need any advice on any of these exercises, please don't hesitate to reach out and chat to us.
Remember that you shouldn’t feel pain during any of these exercises. If they are painful for you, consider avoiding that exercise or decreasing the intensity. We are always here to help if needed.
If you’re after some more advice or are in need of some hands on help, we’d love to see you at Collective Motion! Collective Motion offers Osteopathy, Myotherapy, Dietetics and Pilates and is conveniently located to service our Bentleigh community as well as its surrounding suburbs including Bentleigh East, McKinnon, Ormond, Glenhuntly, Murrumbeena, Carnegie, Oakleigh, Gardenvale, Brighton East and Hampton East. Click below to book an appointment and let us help you get moving again.
