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Please read how the neck works before reading the following.
The effect of gravity on the head is that it moves down and forwards, away from the body. As a result of the head being lowered it then has to be rotated upwards in order to look straight forwards not down. This puts a combination of shearing and compression forces through the structures of the neck causing damage, pain and, when severe, other symptoms like weakness. This is worsened by the strain of training during which the head often moves even further forward and is tilted up. After years of holding the head in the incorrect position it is often impossible to correct it without help and self-correcting can make it worse, so you must see a physiotherapist who can take you through the posture correction below.
Start with lying on your back with a small pillow under your head. Put your hand gently over the muscles of the front of your neck. These muscles that you can feel with your hand should stay completely relaxed because the muscles you need to use are deep inside your neck and cannot be palpated. Now, very gently try to elongate the back of your neck and very slightly tuck your chin in. If you can feel the muscles become tense under your hand you are not using the correct muscles so stop immediately. You should be using less than 20% of your maximum effort and all you should feel is a slight increase in tension deep in your neck and absolutely no pain. Do not continue if you have any pain, pins and needles or other symptoms.
Now do the same sitting up. Time yourself to see if you can hold the new for 2 minutes four times a day, in fact, whenever you get a chance until it becomes your subconscious normal.c) When training, always try to keep the back of your neck elongated and your chin very slightly tucked ind) Shoulder posture has a huge effect on the neck please click on the links to learn how to correct your shoulder posture and here to train your shoulder blade muscles.
Please note that although the advice and exercises provided are designed to assist your recovery they are not a replacement for seeing a Physiotherapist or Osteopath. It is essential that you always make sure you see your Doctor, Osteopath or Chartered Physiotherapist beforehand to diagnose your injury and guide you through recovery.
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