The Best Exercises and Tips for Stiff Neck and Shoulder Pain Relief

Neck/shoulder stiffness is a common thing for today’s people. Most of us are stuck in desk jobs and spend almost the whole day sitting which causes stiffness and pain in these parts of your body. The simplest solution to get a stiff neck and shoulder pain relief is to be aware of the way you walk, sit or sleep.

This is because the load to hold your head upright causes a lot of muscle tension.

This tension could be a reason for migraines and headaches. Other factors include poor sitting habits, stress, drafts and bad sleeping.

Stiff Neck and Shoulder Pain Relief
There are three main muscles on your shoulder: trapezius, the pectoralis, and the latissimus dorsi. Their purpose is arm movement, while that of the rhomboids on your upper back is to support the shoulder joint.

So, as the first two muscles rotate your arm inward, the muscles on your upper back starts to get weak. As a result, your shoulder joint can move far too forward and leave its natural alignment. To avoid this, you should strengthen your rhomboids muscles on the upper back.

Here are several exercises to strengthen these muscles in order to put your shoulders back into the right position.

Exercises for Stiff Neck and Shoulder Pain

1. Shoulder Alignment

Start in a standing position and let your arms hang loosely by your sides. Then, rotate your wrists outward as much as you can. Turn your palms towards your thighs as you release the rotation in the lower arm. However, make sure your upper arm and shoulder stay in the same position as in position two.

2. Relax the Shoulders

If your shoulders are often raised, they will deepen the curve in the back of your neck. In such case, you need to do the arm swings, and full arm circle exercises described below and then continue with the following neck exercises.

3. Arm Swings

Begin in a stable lunge position (put the right foot in front of the left with knee bent and both feet flat on the floor.) Take a deep breath and swing the left arm up as far as possible. Exhale and swing the arm down and as far back as possible.

Do around 8 swings and then gradually increase the speed of the movement to make sure all the crackly noises from your shoulder joint are gone. Next, change the legs and do the same movements with the opposite arm.

4. Full Arm Circles

Start in a stable lunge position once again, and begin making slow backward circles with your right arm. Inhale as your arm goes up and exhale as it goes down. Gradually increase the speed and momentum until you feel a tingling sensation in the fingertips.

This indicates that you are making enough fast circles to throw off all the tension in your shoulders. Switch sides and repeat.

5. Yes and No Exercises

Your neck moves around the transverse, sagittal, and frontal axes when doing these exercises.

But, before doing these movements, make sure you consult a doctor or chiropractor to establish the severity of your pain.

‘Yes’ Exercises

The point of yes exercises is to move your head up and down. Try to move your head down until your chin touches the breastbone. If you succeed lowering your head this far, it means your neck is free of tension. Raise your head with the back of the neck extended as much as possible.

Repeat these head movements at a slow pace, until no noises are coming from your neck.

However, don’t go too far on this move if you have a posterior disc bulge to prevent further damage.

‘No’ Exercises

First, position your head in the center of your shoulder, central above the spine. Move your head to the right as far back as possible without raising your nose.

Repeat on the opposite side, and don’t forget that the whole movement should go at a slow pace. Do these lateral rotations until the crackly noises from your neck are gone.

‘Maybe’ Exercises

Slowly lower your ear towards your shoulder with your nose faced forward the whole time. Do the same movement on the opposite side. Repeat at least 8 times until you no longer hear any noise coming from your neck.

6. Head Rolls

For this exercise, you need to roll your head around clockwise at a slow pace. Do about 5 roles and then repeat counterclockwise. What’s more, you can do these movements under water while having a warm bath as in such environment the head is practically weightless.

Tips for Neck and Shoulder Pain
Besides these movements, here are several tips that will help you get a stiff neck and shoulder pain relief.

How do You Sleep

Your sleeping position and condition matters about your neck more than you think. If you sleep in a cold draft your neck muscles can contract during the night. Moreover, don’t sleep on a pillow that moves your neck out of its natural alignment.

Instead, choose a firm one that’s no thicker than the area your head needs to lie flat on the ear and not cause curving of the other side of your neck.

Good vs Damaging Movements

Poor head movements can be the culprit of your chronic neck pain. However, you must know the difference between the good and damaging movements. So, to prevent and reduce your neck pain do good movements as those above, and avoid the damaging ones.

Gravity Inversion Table

Gravity Inversion Table is the ultimate solution to your chronic neck pain. The gentle anti-gravity fraction will help reduce compression, tightness, and over-curvature in your entire skeleton.

These simple exercises and tips will help you get a stiff neck and shoulder pain relief. What’s more, if you practice them regularly, you’ll no longer feel pain in these parts of your body

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Treat shoulder pain with these home remedies

If you’re experiencing shoulder pain without suspecting a broken bone, use this handy self-diagnosis tool from Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation center The Stone Clinic. Try the following recommended home remedies and do your best not to strain or put pressure on the shoulder. We’re almost certain you’ll feel better. But if not, it’s time to see a doctor.

1. Stretch arm across the chest. To relieve pain in the right shoulder, hold your right hand out in front of you at waist height. Reach your left hand behind your elbow and gently pull your right arm to the left and across the chest. Hold for 30- 60 seconds, relax, and repeat 3- 5 times. Reverse for pain in the left shoulder. Genesis Orthopedics and Sports Medicine says if you do this and you still feel pain, lower the arm until the pain subsides. The goal is to do this exercise without experiencing pain.

2. Neck Release. Sitting upright, slowly lower the chin until you feel tension in the back of the neck. Taking care not to strain, lean the head to the left. You should feel the stretch in the right shoulder. Hold for up to 1 minute. Repeat on the opposite side. Genesis recommends repeating on both sides 3- 5 times for best results.

3. Chest Expansion. For this exercise, you will need an exercise band, rope, strap, or tie. Hold the band behind your back, grasping it with both hands. Draw the shoulders back and gently lift the chin toward the ceiling. Genesis says to breath deeply for 10- 15 seconds and then release before repeating 3- 5 times.

4. 90-90 shoulder stretch. Begin by standing in a doorway. Raise your arms so the elbows are at a 90-degree angle and the forearms form 90-degree angles with the rest of the body. Place each hand on one of the sides of the door frame. Stand so one foot is forward and the body is upright, the neck aligned with the spine. Lean forward, bracing yourself against the door frame. Hold the stretch for 20-30 seconds, as instructed by Genesis.

5. Turmeric pain reliever. Home Remedy Hacks recommends applying a home remedy of coconut or olive oil mixed with turmeric directly to the shoulder in order to benefit from the anti-inflammatory properties of turmeric. Take precautions not to lie down, as the turmeric will stain.

6. Garlic. Like turmeric, garlic is anti-inflammatory. To relieve pain, massage garlic oil into the strained shoulder, says Home Remedy Hacks.

7. Stand straight. It sounds simple, but Arthritis Research UK explains the importance of good posture in treating shoulder pain and preventing it from getting worse. Check yourself when sitting that you’re not slouching and when standing that your head is in line with your shoulders. Always make an effort to keep your shoulder blades up and back. Small adjustments can make a monumental difference.

8. Sleep right. If shoulder pain makes it difficult to sleep, try this supported sleep position, as suggested by Arthritis Research UK. Lay on your good side with a pillow under your neck and a pillow in front of the body so you have a place to prop up your arm.

Which of these home remedies worked for you? Tell us when you SHARE this article on social media!


source: http://remedydaily.com

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Say Goodbye to Neck and Shoulder Pain With One Simple Exercise

Do you struggle with neck and shoulder pain? If so, you are not alone. This is a condition that affects a large proportion of people these days and in many ways is symptomatic of our current lifestyles.

Don’t dismay: there is a simple and easy exercise you can use that has been shown to help reduce discomfort in these areas in a whopping 50% of cases. And as an added bonus, if you add this program to your routine you’ll also benefit from a better stance that will flatten your stomach, increase your height and generally improve your health.

The Problem

As mentioned a lot of people these days suffer from neck and shoulder pain. This is particularly true for those that work in an office at a computer. In this case, you will likely spend much of your time hunched over and typing with your shoulders and neck leaning forward.

Over time, this causes your peck muscles (the ones on your chest) to shorten and tighten, while the muscles on your back (the lats and the traps) become slack and weaker.

The end result is that you walk around like a caveman and unsurprisingly experience pain in the affected areas. This is known as kyphosis in extreme cases.

The Movement

The exercise then is simply the side lateral raise. Here, you stand with your feet together and arms by your sides, holding in your hands two light dumbbells. Now, you are going to raise your arms directly up by your sides in a crucifix position.

This works to strengthen your lateral deltoids – the muscles on the outside of your shoulders. As these strengthen, this in turn helps to keep your shoulders in the correct position throughout the day. As an added bonus, it will also help to stretch your pecs due to the similarity with the pec fly and that will help to prevent the pulling that brings the arms forward.

Other Exercises

There are also a number of other exercises you can to do improve your flexibility and posture. Bent over raises are a similar movement that require you to bend forward as you perform reps and this targets your posterior (rear) deltoids.

Another useful one is to perform either pull ups or lat pull downs. Either of these will target the lats which can act as a counterpoint to the pecs and pull your body back around the front.

Also important is to avoid doing what a lot of people do in the gym – focusing on the ‘mirror muscles’. Mirror muscles are the ones that look good in the mirror – like the abs and the pecs and invariably they are found on the front of the body.

Spend all day doing sit ups, bench presses and bicep curls though and ignore your lat pull downs, shrugs, triceps extensions and erector spinae and the result will be that your front pulls the rest of your body down into a ball.

Bear all this in mind next time you hit the gym and you can remedy your poor posture instead of adding to it!


source: http://www.healthyfoodhouse.com

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