You may know that massage can help to alleviate neck and back pain. However, it isn’t always easy to budget for appointments with a licensed massage therapist.
California physiotherapist Nadia Perez recently suggested a quick and simple trio of tactics that offer a structured DIY approach to self-massage and stretching. These tricks can loosen your muscles, enhance range of motion, and combat chronic pain.
Neck self-massage
If you’re suffering from neck pain, this trick can be extraordinarily effective. You just need two small pieces of equipment: a tennis ball and either a yoga cube or hard sponge.
Grab the cube (or sponge) with your left hand and the ball with your right. Stand looking toward a wall, about 12 inches away. Place the ball directly against your neck, with the yoga cube extending toward the wall. Still using your left arm to support the cube, gradually push the cube against the wall so that the tennis ball can softly but deeply access your neck muscles.
Maintain for 15 seconds. Repeat on the reverse side.
Upper-back self-massage
“Pain in the neck is often associated with back pain,” explained Perez in RealFarmacy. “So when we are massaging the neck, it is recommended to massage your back, whether you feel pain in it or not.”
Assuming you are transitioning from the above exercise, now turn away from the wall. Put the ball in the area midway between one of your shoulders and your spine. Lean back into the wall; and move the ball in a slow circle, maintaining consistent pressure.
It can help to stabilize the ball with one of your hands – although you should alternate often to avoid strain.
Neck and chest stretching
The heavy workplace emphasis on digital use combined with our own personal access places an incredible amount of additional force on the neck – as indicated by a recent study. While a skull typically weighs ten to twelve pounds, tilting it forward to interact with mobile devices or PCs greatly increases the downward force experienced in the cervical spine.
“As the head tilts forward,” study author Kenneth Hansraj, MD, asserted in Surgical Technology International, “the force seen by the neck surges to 27 pounds at 15 degrees, 40 pounds at 30 degrees, 49 pounds at 45 degrees and 60 pounds at 60 degrees.”
To prevent neck pain from digital use, stretch to regain your balance.
Stand with both hands at your lower back (lumbar region of the spine). Tilt your head slowly backward. You should feel a stretch through your chest, back, and neck.
Maintain for 15 seconds.
The help you need from experts you trust
Stretching and self-massaging can be helpful, but many people prefer taking a multidisciplinary, comprehensive approach to their recovery. To find out about our program – combining the expertise of board-certified doctors, award-winning chiropractors, and compassionate physical therapists – get a free consultation now.