Pain In Your Neck?Discover The Most Common Causes of Neck Pain And How To Get Rid Of It
Every time June came into my office, she complained that her neck hurt.
She was getting pain radiating from her shoulders to the base of her head.
She wasn't happy.
June hadn't yet figured out the reason for her neck pain, but she told me she had recently started a water aerobics class.
She knew her neck pain always occurred after the aerobics class.
I asked her to show me what she did in the class.
June waved her arms back and forth, at shoulder height.
As she did so, her head moved forward in front of your body--a lot! I pointed out how her head had moved forward.
She was surprised.
When she repeated the movement, she could feel the tension it caused in her neck.
I asked her if she could do the movement while keeping her head over her shoulders.
"Sure," she demonstrated.
And that took care of June's neck aches.
There are lots of causes of neck pain.
and most of them have a muscular component.
Muscles are largely overlooked as a cause of pain, but muscles that are overstretched can cause a lot of grief.
"Forward head posture" causes lots of types of pain, all over your body, but one of the first places you will probably notice it is in your neck, upper back and head, like June did.
With forward head posture (holding your head out in front of your body, rather than over your shoulders) the muscles in the back of your neck and shoulders get overstretched.
Overstretched muscles complain.
They hurt.
Some big causes of forward head posture are couches, chairs and cars seats because the seat backs are tilted back too far.
Flat feet cause forward head posture, because our structural bridge (the arches of our feet) is not supporting us.
Sleeping with our head pushed forward with pillows also contributes to this out-of-balance posture.
The solution is to learn how to have the same perfect posture we did when we were toddlers.
We need to lift our chests, strengthen our backs, and get back into neutral.
We had perfect posture when we were young, and we can get back to it again.
When we do that, we can get rid of that pain in the neck.
She was getting pain radiating from her shoulders to the base of her head.
She wasn't happy.
June hadn't yet figured out the reason for her neck pain, but she told me she had recently started a water aerobics class.
She knew her neck pain always occurred after the aerobics class.
I asked her to show me what she did in the class.
June waved her arms back and forth, at shoulder height.
As she did so, her head moved forward in front of your body--a lot! I pointed out how her head had moved forward.
She was surprised.
When she repeated the movement, she could feel the tension it caused in her neck.
I asked her if she could do the movement while keeping her head over her shoulders.
"Sure," she demonstrated.
And that took care of June's neck aches.
There are lots of causes of neck pain.
and most of them have a muscular component.
Muscles are largely overlooked as a cause of pain, but muscles that are overstretched can cause a lot of grief.
"Forward head posture" causes lots of types of pain, all over your body, but one of the first places you will probably notice it is in your neck, upper back and head, like June did.
With forward head posture (holding your head out in front of your body, rather than over your shoulders) the muscles in the back of your neck and shoulders get overstretched.
Overstretched muscles complain.
They hurt.
Some big causes of forward head posture are couches, chairs and cars seats because the seat backs are tilted back too far.
Flat feet cause forward head posture, because our structural bridge (the arches of our feet) is not supporting us.
Sleeping with our head pushed forward with pillows also contributes to this out-of-balance posture.
The solution is to learn how to have the same perfect posture we did when we were toddlers.
We need to lift our chests, strengthen our backs, and get back into neutral.
We had perfect posture when we were young, and we can get back to it again.
When we do that, we can get rid of that pain in the neck.