Blog

Try these simple exercises to relieve neck and shoulder discomfort.

Do you struggle with neck tightness.?  Is turning your head sometimes nearly impossible or at least quite uncomfortable?

Do you need to constantly stretch your neck or move it around, looking for a comfortable position?

We have been talking this month about your rib cage connections to your head, neck, arms, core, and spine.

In this installment, we are going to:

1. Have you checked four muscles in your neck that are attached to your rib cage that, when ‘tight’ can restrict how your head and neck move
2. Discuss what may be driving the tightness 
3. Give you some strategies for you to try

Let's get started:

• Stand in front of a mirror.
• Turn your head to the right. Return to center.  Turn to the left. Return to center.
• Repeat three times. 
•  Do you feel a difference side-to-side?
•  When you do this, do you notice your torso moving as well?

Now check:

• Bring your right ear down towards your right shoulder.
• Return to center.  ...

Prominent organizations like Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic agree that the common causes of neck discomfort are posture and osteoarthritis. They both concur that osteoarthritis is the most common cause of shoulder problems. At the same time, prominent orthopedic organizations believe rotator cuff issues like tendonitis to be the most common cause.

Now you know the most common causes of neck and shoulder discomfort. Here is the good news, most of these are related to your habits. Osteoarthritis and tendonitis do not happen overnight. They occur over days, months, and years of repeated activity performed in a manner that wears and tears on the soft tissue (muscles, tendons, cartilage, etc.) and then begins to wear away the bone.

So what is the good news?

You can change your habits to slow the wear and tear in these areas. The biggest challenge is knowing what to change and how to make the changes.

A widespread piece of advice is to get stronger. Very often, this is not good...