Three Exercises to Help Your Neck Without Working On Your Neck

My training routine yesterday was tough for me. Not because I was using a lot of weight or sprinting stairs or hopping on and off boxes. It was tough because one of the drills required me to press a relatively light weight (20 lbs) over my head.

Lifting your hands over head is what is called a "coupled" motion. To achieve normal range of movement, the movement occurs in more than one area of the body although to the eye it appears to be coming from your shoulder.

Most sources report normal shoulder flexion motion as 160 degrees. It's not. Shoulder flexion of 160 degrees is composed of 140 degrees of glenohumeral motion and 20 degrees of thoracic spine extension. So, if you're like me with osteoarthritis of the thoracic spine and lack some flexibility in that area, when you try to reach up over your head, you will either move too much in your shoulder or take up the motion elsewhere which most often in the neck or lower back.

So, for example, for me to perform a simple yoga drill like a Warrior I pose, I feel lots of tightness in the thoracic region from a lack of flexibility there and the muscles work really hard to help me move my arms up where they need to be. Because my thoracic motion is limited (about 10 degrees), my muscles work harder and fatigue faster.

When I add a load, like a dumb bell, and press the weight over head, the muscles in my neck contract more than they should. They're just being neighborly. Lending a hand. As my shoulders reach 140 or 150 degrees of motion, my upper trapezius and levator scapula kick in too much in an attempt to pull my humerus up. This is what then creates the extra stress in the neck. I have to focus on form and not look up. If I look up, I'll increase the amount of neck muscle activity even more from an eye-neck reflex. So, I look straight ahead, hold my spine in a neutral posture and pay attention to how hard I'm working in the thoracic and neck areas.

Some people might just skip any movements that require hands overhead but my attitude is that when you start letting go of movements because they're hard to do or even create some short-term pain, you'll lose that ability forever. Before long, you can't do very much at all.

I help my neck without actually doing anything with my neck by using a couple of flexibility and mobility drills:

• Touch downs. I lie on the floor with my legs on a large swiss ball. This position places tension on the latissimus dorsi muscle and keeps the lumbar spine from moving too much.  I position my arms at my side and bend my elbows and allow my arms to fall away from my body. I slowly slide my arms up over my head but keep contact with the floor. My goal is to reach a "touch down" position with my elbows straight, arms near my ear and in contact with the floor. I do this for about five minutes.
• Roll outs on a Swiss Ball. On my knees, I place my forearms on the Swiss Ball. I then lean back onto my heels (this also stabilizes the lumbar spine) and gently move the ball side to side. This is also about a five minute drill.
• Warrior I pose. This is much more difficult because I am unable to passively stabilize the lumbar spine as I did in the touch downs and roll outs. The Warrior I is a lunge position with arms directly overhead. I reduce tension by focusing on my breathing. I also make this drill easier by holding onto an elastic band or tube. I anchor the tube in a door, hold onto it and then step away from the door. The tension in the tube helps me hold my arms up but the tension needs to be light. Otherwise, it will make the drill harder. I usually perform 5 to 10 repetitions holding the pose for five deep breaths. (Image source: www.atouchofyoga.com)

I have other drills I use but these are the easiest for you to perform. I use a piece of equipment I call a LymberGymber. It's a stretch station made by True Fitness, invented by Gary Grey, PT and it's awesome. It's a 3D stretching and mobility tool. More on that later.

DK

Theodoridis, D. and S. Ruston (2002). "The effect of shoulder movements on thoracic spine 3D motion." Clin Biomech (Bristol, Avon) 17(5): 418-21.