How To Easily Treat And Cure Stiff Neck Or Shoulder To Ease The Pain

  Most common areas for muscle spasm creating excruciating pain.

"How To Treat and Cure a Stiff Neck or Shoulder to Ease the Pain" follows the upward progression in body awareness versus gravity. In  this latest article, we explore the shoulder area first to create a strong base to support the neck and head.


You can treat and cure a stiff neck, frozen shoulders and upper back ache, even headaches and migraine by being aware of your posture. There is no such thing as a short neck. We all possess 7 cervical vertebrae. A short neck is merely curved too deeply. The neck supports the head and it is therefore obvious that if the head is carried too far in front of the body instead of above it, where it belongs, the muscles at the back of the neck are doing unnecessary overtime. Permanently tense and raised shoulders, poor sleeping habits, stress, or cold drafts also contribute to neck and shoulder pain.

Shoulder Muscles

 The main muscles that work the shoulder are the trapezius, the pectoralis (pecs) and the latissimus dorsi (lats) muscles. Their job is to move the arm. Muscles work in a chain reaction fashion. When the arm rotates inward, it takes the shoulder with it. As this happens, the muscles at the front of the shoulder tighten, while the muscles of the upper back become overstretched and weak. This results in:

• kyphosis with forward head posture
• tight muscles in the front of the shoulder
• weak muscles in the upper back
. Anyone who works for long hours at a desk is prone to this imbalance.

Correct Position of the Shoulder Joint

While the pecs and the lats are primarily movers of the arm, the rhomboids at the back provide stability to the shoulder joint. As the pecs and lats work to rotate the arm inward the rhomboids in the upper back become weak. This causes the shoulder joint to go too far forward, out of its neutral alignment, beyond its range of safety. This can be avoided by strengthening the upper back, using the rhomboids. Get off your chair for a minute and do the following shoulder alignment move to feel the rhomboid muscles putting your shoulders back into their correct place.
 turning out the shoulder joint

Shoulder Alignment

1. Rotate the wrists outward as far as possible.
2. Release the rotation in the lower arm (turn your palms in towards your thighs from the elbow) BUT...
3. Stand up with the arms hanging loose by your sides, like the sleeves of an empty coat.
4. Keep the shoulders and upper arm in the same place as in 2. Above.

You should feel a widening and flattening of the area immediately in front of your shoulder, allowing the shoulder joint to be placed at the side of your body rather than in front of it. That is where your shoulder likes to live most comfortably.

 Relax the Shoulders

Raised shoulders cause the curve in the back of the neck to be too deep. As you can see from the red line of gravity, the head is carried too far in front of the body. This puts unnecessary strain on the muscles of the neck. A shortened neck often causes head aches and migraine. A double chin also often appears when the head is not carried above the spine. Firstly loosen the shoulders with the Arm Swings and Circles moves, then proceed to the neck exercises in the following section.

 Bad and good neck alignment. See the Double Chin in the first picture?

Arm Swings

1. Stand in a stable lunge position, the left foot in front and the right foot behind with the front leg bent and both heels on the floor.
2. Swing the right arm up as far as you can until you feel the limit in the shoulder joint.
3. Swing the arm down and back, again as far as you can feel it stop in its joint.
   

Breathe in on the uplift and out on the down swing. Use momentum rather than force, allow the arm to drop as it goes down. Do about eight or more swings while increasing speed and momentum until you are sure that all the little crackly noises (stiffness) have gone from your shoulder joint.
Reverse the position of the feet and repeat with the left arm.

Half and Full Arm Circles

 

It should feel like you want to throw away your hand.

 

Full Arm Circles

Stand in the same position as in the previous sequence and now make continuous backward circles with your arm. Again, breathing in as you go up and breathing out as you go down. Begin slowly and increase the speed of the movement until your arm wants to circle quite fast to throw off all the tension; until you feel a tingling in your fingertips. If you look at your hand, it is quite red, full of blood. When you finish, hold the arm above the head and shake the hand to allow all the blood to flow back down again.
Change the position of your feet and repeat on the other side.
Note: Welcome any clicking or crunching noises in your shoulder as long as it doesn't hurt. Your Arm Swings and Circles are oiling your rusty joints. After a few repetitions those noises soon vanish.

When the neck is over-curved, the head is not aligned above the spine but has to be carried in front of the body. That takes a lot of effort and pain.

This looks painful. No wonder people with sunken necks don't like to look up.

Over Curvature of the Neck

 Get the photo album and find a picture of yourself in profile. Sorry but if you hold your neck in this position, you are in real trouble. Muscles turn into spasm and cause neck and shoulder tension, headaches and migraine. A partly self-strangulated neck cuts off regular blood supply to the brain. Help!

Those who don't like to look up
Often we suddenly look up from this position, thereby increasing the over-curvature of the cervical vertebrae even more and begin to look like a vulture. Finding it difficult to look up also affects one's mood and attitude. Someone who can only look down is a negative person.

Gentle Neck Traction

If your neck is over-curved you are in serious need of some gentle traction before you can even start to attempt lengthening your neck. A horizontally used neck traction device helps to re-establish the natural curve and alignment of the neck by gentle traction.

The neck traction device cradles the head and neck on two soft foam cushions. An air-inflated bellows is capable of providing up to 35 lb. of continuously adjustable traction. As the bellows expands, it lifts the head upward supporting the cervical curve and maintains an even distraction in the anterior and posterior cervical discs.

 Where Your Neck Should Be

Anatomically the skull is supported by the Atlas (the top cervical vertebra) centrally somewhere between the ears, in line with the central line of gravity. Then, when you look up, keep your neck long as shown here. Doesn't that look much better?
 Correct head alignment when looking straight ahead and when looking up.

Yes, No, and Maybe

You can do these moves daily under the shower or when brushing your teeth. No Pain, Just Gain!

 

These moves allow the neck to move in the three planes of motion, round the sagittal, transverse, and frontal axes which I prefer to call 'yes', 'no', and 'maybe'.
Caution before attempting neck exercises you must establish the severity of your pain by consulting a physician or movement therapist.

Yes

1. In the downward movement of the "yes" sequence aim to touch your breast bone with your chin. If the back of your neck is completely free of tension your chin should touch your breastbone when you look down - with your mouth closed (don't cheat!).
2. On the upward movement of the "yes" sequence keep the back of your neck long as explained earlier.

Slowly repeat 1. and 2. for as long as the little noises inside your neck disappear.
Caution if you suffer from a posterior disc bulge avoid going too far down on this move as it would only increase the damage.

No

On the "No" sequence, keep the head central above the spine (between your shoulders. Try to see as far back behind you as you can on each lateral rotation but don't lift up your nose. Slowly repeat looking to the left and right until all the little noises inside your neck disappear.

Maybe

On the "Maybe" sequence, drop your ear down towards the shoulder while keeping your head in its centrally balanced position and your nose facing the front.
Gently repeat each move eight times or more until all the little crunching noises in your neck have stopped.

Head Rolls

Slowly roll the head around clockwise to see how much of your entire periphery you can see. Or, pretend a butterfly is flying around your head and try to follow it with your eyes. After about the third circle you will notice that you can see a little further. There may still be some little noises going on in your neck. They will eventually disappear. When you've done about four or five rolls, repeat them anti-clockwise. For best results head rolls can be done in a warm bath under water where your head is virtually weightless.

 

Another Tip

An easy way to relieve neck/upper back pain at the office is to use a reading stand where you can place papers and bring them up to eye level by holding them vertically. This reduces the strain on the neck by keeping your head in a more upright position instead of holding it forward and down, which causes the neck extensors to be under a lot of stress. You will feel the difference at the end of the working day.

How Do You Sleep?

Certain sleeping conditions can give you a stiff neck. Make sure you don’t sleep in a cold draft as this will cause your neck muscles to contract during sleep. Avoid pillows that take the neck out of its neutral alignment. For example, if you are on your right side and the pillow is too large, the neck is vulnerable to being pushed too far towards the left shoulder. Then you might wake up with a stiff neck. Your pillow should be firm and no thicker than the space needed for your head to lie flat on its ear without curving up the other side of the neck.
To train yourself for a better sleeping position you may first want to learn how to meditate in a horizontal position on the floor. Lie on the floor (not on a bed) on your back and simply allow gravity to straighten you out while you relax. Close your eyes and meditate as shown in the illustration below.

No More Pain

In most cases of chronic pain, the pain is self induced from poor movement habits. By slightly modifying your daily movement habits and patterns and being aware of the difference between "good movements" and damaging ones, you are on the road to healing yourself. Once your body can, as a habit, correct itself on an ongoing basis, there is no longer the need to spend extra time "exercising" as such. Just avoid making the wrong, damaging moves.

Neck Traction Device

If your neck has been over-curved for many years and remains painful even after implementing the above suggestions, you may want to speed up the healing process with a neck traction device. For those suffering from chronic neck pain, migraines and frozen shoulders the NEW Model Comfortract Home Cervical Traction Unit is a stepping stone towards permanent self induced well-being.
 NEW Model Comfortract Home Cervical Traction Unit

Check-List

Just remember this checklist on how to prevent, treat and cure your stiff neck or shoulder. Then your pain will soon ease away.

1. Re-align your shoulders so they are at the side of your body and not in front.
2. Retract the head so it sits above the spine (between the shoulders) and not in front of it.
3. Keep the chin down.
4. Perform the “yes, no and maybe” exercise at least once a day or whenever you feel stiff in the neck.
5. Perform the slow head rolls at least once a day or whenever you feel stiff in the neck. Don’t wait until your neck hurts so much you don’t want to move it.
6. Check your sleeping habits and use of pillows as described above.
7. Use a Gravity Inversion Table to straighten you out. No more osteopath bills, no more pain.

The exercises and tips given above will help you attain a level of physical consciousness and awareness to treat and cure a stiff neck or shoulder to ease the pain for ever. 

PS- THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.

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