Neck Exercises: A Key To Posture Correction and Neck Pain Relief

Lets look at some simple neck exercises to help reverse the ill effects of poor neck posture and the pain of arthritis. Help determine your posture with the wall test.

This exercise can be done for 20-30 seconds each time throughout the day to prevent the ill effects of the slumped posture.

Roll your shoulders back and down by squeezing your shoulder blades together, rotate your hands outward, then pull your chin straight back as if you are trying to touch your chin to your neck. Do not bend the head forward.

To begin, stand in a position of good posture illustrated at the top of the page and breathe. Breathing should be relaxed and full using the diaphragm. When you breathe in - your belly should go out and when you breathe out - your belly should go in. Watch yourself in the mirror and make sure that when you breathe your neck muscles do not move. This has a relaxing effect, can lower blood pressure and oxygenates the body. Practice this breathing exercise at night lying in bed on your back with your hands on your belly pushing your hands in and out with your belly. Check out the breathing exercises article for illustrated examples.

Do not strain during these neck exercises. You should notice a gradual improvement over a period of time. If the exercise works for you then continue and try increasing the number and/or amount of time. At advanced levels, small weights can be held in your hands to increase the effect.

Below is another example of the neck exercise done without the arms. You can see the neck component easier as the whole body is raised and the neck is extended back. The third picture shows correct motion of the neck and illustrates that you can apply small pressure to achieve the retracted position.

Don't forget to check out the neck exercisers below which are great tools in performing these exercises. While not necessary to perform the exercises, I have found that people tend to perform the exercises more often and get better results with these simple and easy to use devices. Also, to decrease correction time and aid in restoration, there is neck traction and a neck support pillow to help passively restore the normal neck curve while actively restoring form and function. Neck supports are also a good idea to help prevent prolonged forward bending of the head while at work or leisure.

The next part to the exercises is actually part of neck stretches and is to be done after you have practiced the above and feel comfortable with it. Also see back pain exercises.

An article in the Archives of Physical Medecine and Rehabilitation. 2007 Nov;88(11):1441-5, Differences in isometric neck muscle strength between healthy controls and women with chronic neck pain: the use of a reliable measurement, indicates that women with chronic neck pain have lower neck muscle strength in extension than a healthy female group.

If you have questions related to the neck exercises, please feel free to contact Neck Solutions.