The Dos and Don’ts of Neck exercising

As long as the doctor has checked on you and has given you the go-ahead to start exercising, start as soon as you can. Neck strengthening equipment is advisable when starting your neck exercises. Resting for a long time, for instance, more than a number of days will make it very hard for you to start moving again. To avoid pain in your neck, it is important for you to avoid resting your neck for too long by doing some simple neck exercises in order to reduce discomfort in your neck. If you have weakness in your hands or experiencing severe neck pain don’t exercise, and if it starts while you are exercising, stop immediately and talk to your doctor for further treatment.

Simple exercise helps to relieve strain and pressure on the muscles within the neck. Gently and slowly move your head to the left and held on for about 10 seconds. Repeat the same process holding your neck on the right side for the same duration of time. Move your head up and down for 10 seconds, repeat the process 5 times every single hour or when sitting for a long period of time.

If that becomes impossible you can also use neck strengthening equipment to meet the same purpose as exercising. If any of these mentioned exercise result in severe pain or weakness within your arms and hands, stop the exercise right away and consult your doctor.

While sitting, irrespective of where you are, be it at work or home, sleeping, or even driving, it is good to pay close attention to your posture. While sleeping, make sure you do not use hard pillows. They tend to force your spine to bend at the neck that results in neck pain when you wake up. Most importantly, do away with sleeping on your stomach as it keeps the neck turned sideways and throws the spine into curvature which is natural. Through maintaining a good posture you can prevent chronic pain. If you are suffering from excess neck pain, make sure you see your doctor without delay.

You can work the muscles of your neck like any other muscles. You can also use a neck stretching machine to help reduce the pain. There are several simple exercises that can help improve your neck strength and a person’s range of motion. These exercises include rotations, shoulder circles, resistance exercises, head lifts among many others. With each of the exercise, you start with 5 repetitions and try to estimate if you can build up to 10 repetitions.

Before indulging in this neck pain exercise, it is important to check with your doctor first, just to make sure you are not experiencing any kind of pain that can put you in danger while exercising.

According to experts, psychological stress is a factor that causes an increased perception of pain in the body. The presence of pain is also related to increased stress levels. While at home, you should take measures to ensure your stress levels are decreased when dealing with neck pain that has no identifiable cause. You should also not roll your neck as it grinds the bones together leading to increased neck pain. The neck pain exercises highlighted above are effective and you can try them out if you are having neck pain or tension.