Neck And Shoulder Pain Relief, Part 1

Text neck, or forward head posture, can lead to headaches, tinnitus, shoulder and back pain, limited range of motion, and in severe cases a herniated disc and arthritis. The terrible part is, this neck pain is often purely self-inflicted from bad habits. Worse than that, some of us have become locked into misalignment and are going about finding relief in all the wrong places.

I can’t say it enough: where you feel the pain is rarely the source of the pain.

Rubbing and working your pain point won’t permanently fix it if you don’t find the source of the problem. In the case of neck and upper back pain, chances are very high the source of your problem comes from the front of the body. Why?

When we shorten the fascia and muscles on one side of the body, the opposite side has to overextend and overwork to compensate. This results in signals of discomfort or outright pain in the overextended muscles, and no amount of rubbing those sore spots will bring permanent relief until the pattern of shortening is stopped and reversed.

Most of us spend way too much time looking down at our phones or computers and have locked ourselves into a rounded forward shape. The front of the body doesn’t feel as strained as the back of the body does because it’s the back body muscles that are working overtime to keep us from falling face-first onto our phones or desktops. But the only way to find relief is to focus on the muscles in the front, even though they aren’t usually signaling pain.

I am going to show you how to lengthen the front body so you can find relief in the back body.

Part 1 of this series is in the video below. I show you how to find your tight spots. Then we release them through self-massage and a series of stretches that require nothing more than a wall, a kitchen sink (or park bench, etc), and a blanket or two. Do these regularly and you may be ready for Part 2.

If you decide to go deep into self-massage, here are some props to help you. I will be posting many massage and fascial release exercises and Tune Up Fitness Therapy Balls will definitely be used.

Part 2 focuses on deeper stretches so we can move the bones into proper alignment. If you start to strengthen around misaligned bones you may well create a whole new set of problems, mostly in the form of joint pain. So spending time to get the bones in their proper places is an absolutely critical part of this process.

In Part 3 we begin to strengthen the back of the body so that you can easily stand in correct alignment and FINALLY be free of your text neck. Hallelujah!

Now, at the risk of stating the super obvious - if you don't stop the bad habits that create the problem, this process will be long, frustrating, and possibly futile.

For tips on how to identify and fix your posture problems, please watch my Posture Audit video.

As always, reach out to me with any questions. I know some of you are working with injuries or other special considerations and may need some variations on what I offer in these videos. I am happy to help!

To book a consultation for a customized plan, click here.