NECK AND UPPER BACK STRETCHES
Here are helpful neck stretches. Neck Pain is common. How common? It is estimated that somewhere between 1 in 4 and 1 in 5 Americans (20 – 25% of the population) suffer with neck pain and / or headaches on a regular basis. A recent Gallup poll put the numbers even higher. And guess what? The medical community wants to blame most of it on your age, whether you’re 25 or 95. After all Mrs. Smith; you just aren’t as young as you used to be.
| Over time, these natural shock absorbers [spinal discs] become worn and can start to degenerate. The space between the vertebrae narrows and nerve roots become pinched. This process is known as cervical degenerative disc disease. Research finds that about 25% of people without symptoms under age 40, and 60% over age 40 have some degree of degenerative disc disease. As degenerative disc disease progresses, the neck becomes less flexible, and you may feel neck pain and stiffness, especially towards the end of the day. –WebMD |
Even though age is not the primary reason that a neck degenerates, degeneration and age both provide a convenient scapegoat for trying to explain why you have pain. The problem is, it’s been proven over and over again not to be a very valid reason (HERE). Just add the word “disease,” and the medical community has another way of scaring patients into doing their bidding. What do they have to offer for patients coping with Chronic Neck Pain and DEGENERATIVE JOINT ‘DISEASE‘? How about some PAIN PILLS? Or some MUSCLE RELAXERS? Or maybe some ANTI-INFLAMMATORY DRUGS? You can always try CORTICOSTEROID INJECTIONS. Or maybe your doctor feels you need some ANTIDEPRESSANTS since nothing else seems to be working. And let’s be really honest with each other for a minute; covering symptoms without addressing the underlying cause(s) of said symptoms never works. Ever. At least over the long haul. If the drugs worked, you wouldn’t be sitting here reading this at 2:30 am.
| Imaging tests such as X-rays, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and computed tomography (CT) scans can help your doctor visualize your spinal cord to pinpoint the source of your neck pain. –WebMD |
Your doctor can put the picture up on the viewer, point excitedly at the image, and tell you that he / she has found the source of your pain. The only problem is that study after study after study tells us that there is absolutely no correlation between the amount of Spinal Degeneration a person has in their neck and the amount of pain they have (HERE). That’s right. None. Zero. Nada. Zilch. And if you think that surgery might be the answer for you, you might want to talk to someone who has had surgery for their degenerative disc. Or just go online and look at what the studies say. So before you start down that slippery slope of drugs and surgeries, try something that is both safe and PROVEN. If you are one of the millions of Americans who suffers with CHRONIC NECK PAIN or HEADACHES, think about trying our SCAR TISSUE REMODELING TREATMENT. Just make sure you follow our stretching protocols closely.
After I break FASCIAL ADHESIONS in the neck, it is critical that you remodel the tissue. You heard me correctly. You are responsible for remodeling the tissue. Failure to do these stretches means the treatment we did in the office was probably a waste of time. Even after I break the physical bonds between individual fibers that make up the adhesion, the tissue is still in a tangled, twisted, and clumped (scarred) state. You have a brief window of opportunity (5-10 days) to get as much tissue pulled apart as you can before it re-heals — hopefully not in a tangled mess’ a “clump” if you will.
NECK STRETCHES & DIRECTIONS
I call these stretches Yes, No, and Maybe. This does not mean yes do this one, no don’t do that one, and maybe do the other one. Look at the pictures. The model is nodding her head yes, nodding her head no, and if you could imagine her with a quizzical look on her face and her arms outstretched with the palms up, she would be saying, ‘maybe’ non-verbally.
Like I said a moment ago, you have a brief window of opportunity after I treat you to remodel Scar Tissue before it re-heals in the tangled, twisted, clump it was in before I broke it up. This is why you have to do the stretches I give you on the prescribed schedule. Every half hour for the first three days, and every hour for the week after that (waking hours). You need to do at least 1-2 minutes of stretching each time you stretch. Yes, I know that it is a lot of stretching. Do it because Tissue Remodeling without the stretching is not Tissue Remodeling.
Some of you may have been told that you need to start thinking in terms of EXTENSION instead of flexion — you probably have something called Forward Head Posture (FHP). If you want to understand why the Dakota Traction device that you came home with is important, be sure to read THIS POST.
YES
| HEAD FORWARD |
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| HEAD BACKWARDS |
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NO
| TURN HEAD TO RIGHT |
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| TURN HEAD TO LEFT |
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MAYBE
UPPER BACK STRETCH
| TIP HEAD TO RIGHT |
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| TIP HEAD TO LEFT |
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Please exercise some common sense here. If you have pain or problems with these stretches, stop doing them and CONTACT ME right away.
| Pay close attention to this stretch. Although at first glance it might appear that she is simply pulling her arm around towards the front, that is only the first part of the stretch (the horizontal part). The second part of the stretch involves ‘curling’ your twisted body forward. Do not simply bend at the waist. “Roll” your torso in a manner similar to the way you would do a crunch. This way you stretch the Fascia in a completely different manner (this is the vertical part of the stretch). |
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