How to Exercise Your Neck To be more stretching
We may pay more attention to our biceps or buttocks, but every part of our body is full of muscles that can benefit from exercise. Our neck is no exception.
If you spend a lot of time stretching your neck forward—for example, staring at a computer screen—you may miss other actions that keep your neck and surrounding muscles pleasant. Because just as we can exercise our feet, we can also exercise our necks.
These stretching exercises from physiotherapist Dr. Jo will help you move your neck in all directions and may relieve the cramps or general stiffness we call neck cramps.
(Doctor Jo notes that you should consult a medical professional if you think you may have a medical issue.)
Try some neck yoga
Yoga applies to everything, of course, our friends like Adriene's daily training mainly focuses on the neck and adjacent areas, such as our back and shoulders. (Neck muscles are connected to other parts of the body, so many "neck muscles" actually belong to the back and other body parts.)
Stretch your neck in all directions
These stretching exercises from physiotherapist Dr. Jo
will help you move your neck in all directions and may relieve the
cramps or general stiffness we call neck cramps.
(Doctor Jo notes that you should consult a medical professional if you think you may have a medical issue.)
Neck training is sometimes ridiculed as a stupid thing, and wrestlers and football players do often want to lift their necks as much as possible in their exercises to protect themselves. But one thing I noticed is that when researching the best neck strengthening exercises shared with you, the fleshy head and the slim physical therapist looked exactly the same stupid, with resistance bands wrapped around their heads.
So when you exercise your neck in all directions, grab
the band and follow these guys (or Dr. Jo, because she also has videos
of similar exercises).
Get some normal exercise
The advantage of whole body exercise is that you don't have to consciously consider every muscle and body part when using it. If you participate in a normal resistance training program—with weights, or challenging weight movements like those found in strength-focused yoga forms—you will end up using all the muscles in your neck, even if you don’t. Consider the neck training you are doing.
To give a few examples, sit-ups require the use of muscles in the front of the neck to stabilize the head and prevent it from hitting the ground. Your trapezius muscle extends from your skull to the middle of your spine, which means that many back movements, such as high pull-downs, involve at least your neck muscles. Any movement of the body sideways, such as side plank support, requires some work from the neck muscles to prevent the head from shaking side to side.
Similarly, exercises that make you aerobic, such as hiking or dancing, will also give your neck muscles a little exercise. As a bonus, spending half an hour hanging out with the kids in the backyard is half an hour, and you won't bend over to look at the computer. Give yourself a chance to go for a walk, and you will find that the whole person feels much better.