Neck muscle tension is a real pain in the neck!! Let me tell you why it leads to all sorts of problems. What I am going to recommend in this post is simple, easy, and a great way to reduce headache and neck pain in a natural way. We first need to start with where it comes from. The most common causes come down to two things which is posture and food (which will be covered in a later post).
We will focus on posture in this post. The foundation of our posture is centered around our spine and having poor posture can seriously effect our spine health.
The bowling ball analogy is one of my favorite ways to explain how bad posture can create tons of unwanted tension. So here it goes... Imagine holding a bowling ball close to your chest with elbow close to your side, pretty easy right. Now slowly lower the bowling ball forward away from your chest while keeping your elbow tucked close to your side, do you feel the burn? We can related this to the positioning of our heads over our shoulders with the ears lining up in the middle. As you replace the bowling ball with your head think about the tension you felt in your forearm as you lowered the ball forward. This same amount of
tension is being applied to the back of your neck and the many muscle supporting it. The image on left shows how the force on the neck increases as the angle of the neck looking forward increase.
The Neck Roll: This is where the magic happens!!! There are many benefits to using a neck roll.
Reduce muscle tension
Improve/restore cervical curve
Decrease headaches
Improves posture
My personal preference is going to be the Elasto-gel 3 inch Diameter cervical neck roll because in addition to improving your cervical curve and reducing muscle tension it has hot or cold therapeutic applications. This roll has help so many people and is seriously one of best ways to reduce tension in the neck and headaches.
For best results you will want to lay on a firm surface such as the carpeted floor or your bed if its not too squishy. You want to maintain contact with your shoulders and head on the same surfaces. Then simple insert the neck roll under your neck and lay there for 20 mins. This is enough time for the ligaments to slightly stretch and over time you can help restore the proper cervical curve.
As a Chiropractor one thing I do every visit on every patient is an adjustment. An adjustment is utilized to restore proper range of motion to the joints and remove any tension or irritation to the spinal nerves. The neck roll is a great way to aid the adjustment and to help maintain proper spinal alignment.
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