Best Neck Stretches in 2022 for Neck Pain!

Neck Pain can become debilitating and extremely annoying when it continues to annoy you throughout the day. Our practitioners have put together for you the Top 3 Neck Stretches that will help alleviate and minimise your neck pain!

Upper Trap Stretch (Neck muscles)
Procedure:

• (Seated) Reach one hand down by your side to hold onto the edge of the chair (or sit on your hand).
• With the other hand, pull your head forwards and across to the armpit – “ear to armpit”.
  

Recommended Tasks:

• Hold the stretch for 30 seconds.
• Perform the stretch 3 times.
• Rest for 15-30 seconds between stretches.
• Complete this stretch twice per day.
  Special Instructions:
  • Take the muscle to a point of gentle and comfortable pulling
  • If you feel increasing tightness, discomfort or pain, ease off the stretch until you find a point your muscle can relax
  • Breathe normally throughout, focusing on relaxation

Suboccipital Stretch (Neck Stretch)
Procedure: 2 ways to complete

• (Seated/Standing) fingers apply pressure just under the back of the skull
• Pull your chin towards the back of your skull whilst maintaining pressure with fingers
  
• (Laying on your back) with a low pillow/support under the back of the skull.
• Place the tongue on the roof of the mouth, just behind the front teeth.
• Gently pull your chin in – like nodding “yes”, without dropping your head or looking down.
  

Recommended Tasks:

• Hold the stretch for 30 seconds.
• Perform the stretch 3 times.
• Rest for 15-30 seconds between stretches.
• Complete this stretch twice per day.
  Special Instructions:
  • Take the muscle to a point of gentle and comfortable pulling
  • If you feel increasing tightness, discomfort or pain, ease off the stretch until you find a point your muscle can relax
  • Breathe normally throughout, focusing on relaxation

Sternocleidomastoid (SCM) Stretch (Side Neck Stretch)
Procedure:

• (Seated/Standing) Rotate your head to the opposite shoulder
• Tilt your chin up slightly
• Push your head just above your ear backwards gently until you feel a stretch
  

Recommended Tasks:

• Hold the stretch for 30 seconds.
• Perform the stretch 3 times.
• Rest for 15-30 seconds between stretches.
• Complete this stretch twice per day.
  Special Instructions:
  *STOP if any nausea, dizziness, feeling of spinning or light-headedness occur
  • Take the muscle to a point of gentle and comfortable pulling
  • If you feel increasing tightness, discomfort or pain, ease off the stretch until you find a point your muscle can relax
  • Breathe normally throughout, focusing on relaxatio

*Note: If you are suffering from severe neck pain, headaches or migraines and need more than just a good stretch our team of practitioners are always happy to help and bookings are available online 7 days a week!

https://themelbournechiropractor.com.au/book-now

What Can Our Team Do To Help?

Depending on the severity of the Sprain or Strain our practitioners will treat accordingly to your complaint. Treatments that may be provided but are not limited to include:

• Spinal manipulation, Activator Methods, Drop Piece, SOT and other adjustive techniques can help alleviate joints that have restriction such as ribs and spinal segments (LeFebvre, Peterson & Haas, 2012)
• PNF/PIR/prescribed stretching – Stretching has shown to reduce pain, improve functionality of the wrist and hand also maintains strength and improves patients in both long and short-term outcomes.
• Remedial Massage, Trigger point therapy or use of handheld massager – Have shown to decrease pain/tenderness, enhance both range of motion and quality of life and influence flexibility (Shah et al., 2015) (Imtiyaz, Veqar & Shareef, 2014)
• Advice on daily living activities/diet – This enables advice on how to change to make healthy        actions into habits and may offer a valuable alternative with potential for long-term   impact. (Gardner, Lally & Wardle, 2012)
• Prescribed exercises – produce more beneficial outcomes in terms of increased strength, improved function and reduced pain scores. (Fernandes, Pedrinelli & Hernandez, 2015)
• Dry Needling or Cupping to the surrounding musculature to help decrease tension and inflammation around the area of the hand and forearm.