Tension occurs from sitting too long, poor posture, previous traumas, and from looking down too much. It may seem like you are in a never-ending battle between working and reading and pain and tension in the upper back, neck, and head. Below, I am going to go over what I do myself and what I tell my patients to do to decrease tension and improve posture.
Set a timer for 30 minutes
Setting a timer for 30 minutes allows you to not sit for that long. When that timer goes off, that means you stop what you are doing, get up, and do stretches, exercises, squats, pushups, etc. to get your body moving. Your brain has a hard time retaining newer information after 25-30 minutes anyway and this is a good thing to do no matter what you are doing to increase productivity and being more alert.
Stretches for the neck
I am going to detail how to do a great stretch for the muscles that are too tight from sitting too long. I am going to choose the right side for explaining purposes. When done with one side, do the stretches on the other side.
- Bring the left arm down toward your feet.
- Bring your right ear toward your shoulder.
- Turn your head toward the left (while your ear is toward your shoulder).
- Look up and look down. Hold when you feel tension.
- Turn your head now to the right (while your ear is toward your shoulder).
- Look up and look down. Hold when you feel tension.
Hold this stretch for 10-20 seconds when you feel tension while breathing in for 3 seconds and out for 3 seconds. Repeat on other side.
Exercises for your posture
This will be an exercise to strengthen your postural muscles that are weak on most people. You should be feeling this exercise in the middle part of your back right below your shoulder blades and behind your shoulders. You should also feel your muscles contract in the front of your neck right below your chin. You want to hold this for 3 – 5 seconds and do this for 10 times. If you feel these behind your upper neck or in the upper part of your shoulders and back stop and reach out to me to make sure you are doing this correctly. Here are the details to do this:
- Bring both hands down toward the floor while standing
- Point your thumb out and backwards
- Bring your hands back as far as you can
- Squeeze your shoulder blades together by attempting to bring your thumbs together
- Tilt your head slightly upward
- Slightly tuck in your chin and bring your head slightly backward
Do these exercises together. You will notice almost immediately how your posture improves, your mood will improve, and you will much stronger in general.
Spinal adjustments, exercises, and traction through chiropractic care
The best way to improve your posture is through specific chiropractic care that focuses on improving your nervous system. The nerves control your muscles and when they function normally, then tension and pain can be eliminated. Specific exercises can be given to you to strengthen the weak postural muscles and specific traction to hold your spine in the correct position will then be given to align your spine and posture in the correct position.
These are great stretches and exercises to be doing every day. You may notice that this will help with your tension headaches, tension in the shoulders/neck/upper back, and your posture. If you are doing these stretches and exercises and you notice sharp pain, an increase in headaches, pain in the upper part of the back of your neck, numbness or pain in the hands, dizzy, feeling of nausea, or any other “weird” symptoms STOP IMMEDIATELY. I want you to email me at admin@optimalspineandbody.com, call my office at 770 274 4840 for a free consultation, or send me a private message on Instagram or Facebook at “optimal spine and body”. I will guide you to do these correctly.
This can also indicate that you have a structural issue in your neck or upper back caused by trauma such as car crashes, sports injuries, or improper alignment and posture. These misalignments of the spine, called subluxations, can cause a decrease of your health and possible symptoms like migraines, headaches, chronic pain, herniated discs, spinal arthritis, and reversed neck curve. These need to be analyzed by a proper history, exam, and X-ray with a detailed plan to correct these underlying issues.
Dr. Mike Weiner (the author of this blog) specializes in correcting subluxations and misalignments of the spine. I give out specific exercises to do at home, specific homecare devices called dennerolls to improve your posture and alignment, and specific adjustments to be done in the office to correct these issues.
I am a chiropractor that specializes in Chiropractic Biophysics, the most evidence-based chiropractic technique. I am the owner and lead chiropractor of Optimal Spine and Body in Alpharetta, GA. Email me at admin@otimalspineandbody.com or call my office at 770 274 4840 and mention this article and I will do a free phone consultation to figure out the issue and give you detailed instructions on the best steps to improve your health for a lifetime.