Exercise therapy is used to treat many diseases of the musculoskeletal system. Simple and safe exercises save us from various ailments. What exactly to do if your neck hurts? In this case, exercise comes to the aid of osteochondrosis of the cervical spine.
The neck is one of the most vulnerable places
The neck is indeed very vulnerable and requires careful handling. Through it pass the vessels that feed the brain, as well as nerves, through which signals enter the body that regulate our activity (motor activity, for example).
Our neck is tense most of the day because its muscles have to constantly hold a head whose weight reaches 2 kg or more. Normally, the muscles cope with their task. But add to that the awkward and irregular positions we usually occupy, prolonged immobility. We load the muscles unevenly, deprive them of rest and interfere with blood flow.
The first problems with the cervical spine occur precisely due to excessive fatigue of the neck muscles. Typical symptoms are leakage and muscle fatigue. This primary problem is solved with a simple massage, which I will talk about a little later.
Often people do not pay attention to such symptoms, so we are talking about the treatment of a problem that has grown into a disease - cervical osteochondrosis.
Hence the importance of filling for the neck with osteochondrosis.
How Physical Therapy Can Save You From Pain
With the development of the acute phase of cervical osteochondrosis, first of all, it is necessary to eliminate the pain syndrome. When the pain symptoms disappear, you can start treatment with exercise. This is a set of exercises for cervical osteochondrosis, which includes a series of head movements, including isometric neck exercises.
Gymnastics for the neck with osteochondrosis is mandatory. Without that, the treatment will not give the desired effect. Indeed, without a strong muscular corset, the spine will continue to suffer from the vertical pressure of gravity.
The natural cause of all diseases of the spine is gravity. Its vector is perpendicular to the earth's surface. Now imagine what happens to the spine if this load is pressed not strictly vertically. For example, this happens when we are hunched over, sitting at a table, immersed in various papers.
The neck is bent, inclined by 45 degrees in relation to the vertical, if it is on average. Due to the weight of the head, there is a slight diagonal movement of the vertebrae in relation to each other. Intervertebral cartilages experience an unusual load for them, they are erased and deformed over time.
Normally, even this position is compensated by strong neck muscles, but what kind of strong muscles can we talk about when a person can barely move? That's the problem.
If we go deeper into this issue, then diet, more precisely, the lack of substances that create joints in food complicates the situation. Cartilage tissue is already slowly regenerating, and if the organism lacks the necessary substances, it has nothing to regenerate from.
So, the main cause of osteochondrosis is gravity. But strong muscles can interfere with this process. This means that weak neck muscles are already a secondary cause of osteochondrosis. Hence the conclusion: if cervical osteochondrosis has started, exercise will help solve this problem.
Exercise therapy strengthens the neck muscles, relieves contractions and improves blood circulation. This is an effective method for the treatment of osteochondrosis and for the prevention of its progression in the future.
Thus, the problem can be solved by comprehensive action on all the reasons for its occurrence:
- Strengthen your neck muscles with neck exercises for osteochondrosis. Exercises for cervical osteochondrosis will be listed below.
- Avoid improper postures and prolonged sitting in one place.
- Eat special joint supplements or design a complete diet for yourself.
It is better to do all this at the same time.
In addition to osteochondrosis, another unpleasant thing can happen to the neck - hypothermia. In that case, no exercise will help you until the inflammation subsides. Do not delay treatment for long.
And another option, limited head mobility. In that case, you have to carefully knead the neck and do it for the neck with osteochondrosis to an amplitude that allows you to perform the movement painlessly.
About dizziness
Thinning of the intervertebral discs in the cervical spine causes the nerve endings to tighten. In addition to nerves, blood vessels also suffer. This leads to a lack of oxygen supply to the brain and manifests itself in the form of dizziness. There are other symptoms - headache.
There are also exercises for dizziness in cervical osteochondrosis. In fact, they are the same as with osteochondrosis. Their meaning is to stretch the tense muscles, strengthen them, release the nerves and blood vessels from the clamps.
In general, any physical exercise for osteochondrosis (no load) improves blood circulation throughout the body, including a more intense blood exchange between the body and the head. Our brains get more food and oxygen, and that affects productivity.
Resistance exercises are not recommended for cervical osteochondrosis. It will definitely not save you from osteochondrosis of the cervical spine, but they can speed up the process of cartilage degradation.
For various spinal diseases, weight exercises should generally be performed with great care. Depending on the disease, movements that give a vertical load to the spine, back flexion and so on can be ruled out.
How long should exercise therapy be done?
Human laziness has no limits. We often stop learning as soon as the problem goes away. A person engages in fitness while losing weight. As soon as he achieves the desired result, everything stops. In disease, this approach is not only ineffective, but also fraught with disease recurrence.
To prevent cervical osteochondrosis, you must occasionally deal with the neck. This is easily done at home. Moreover, it does not take much time. The process is very pleasant - the feeling of warmth and relaxation in the muscles will not make you wait.
You can also buy a neck brace and wear it during acute periods. But there are some subtleties here. Once you get used to artificial support, you can live your whole life because the corset holds your head instead of your muscles. And that is not useful for the cervical spine at all. As a result, the muscles finally lose tone.
The therapeutic effect of exercise against cervical osteochondrosis lasts from 2 weeks to a month. If you stop exercising as soon as your muscles lose tone again, you run the risk of experiencing headaches and difficulty turning your head again. Therefore, exercises to strengthen the neck muscles in this case play a big role in maintaining comfort.
So decide - do exercises for osteochondrosis or not.
Neck gymnastic complex
It is better not to do any exercises with worsening cervical osteochondrosis. Your doctor should treat your acute symptoms first. After all, if it hurts to move your head, all gymnastics will be painful.
The most effective exercises for cervical osteochondrosis are very simple: head movements plus isometric muscle tension. Everything is done very simply - at home, at work, on the road.
Here is a general set of exercises (agree that the starting position is sitting upright, hands on knees):
- In the starting position, smoothly turn your head to the right until it stops, then to the left. Feel your neck muscles stretch. The nuance is this: turn your head and try to turn it a little further without jerking, hold this tension for 5 seconds. In general, all spine exercises should start with exercises to strengthen the neck muscles. This includes developing her flexibility and strength. Make 5 turns in each direction.
- Now tilt your head to the side so that your ear is close to your shoulder. No need to lift your shoulders! In the same way as in the previous movement, hold the tension. If you have a flexible neck, bring your ears closer to your shoulder. If it hurts, do the movements with painless amplitude! Perform 5 bends to the right and left.
- Now make circular movements with your head clockwise and counterclockwise. 8 movements in each direction. Take it easy! You can hold your head with your hands. This is an effective gymnastics for osteochondrosis of the neck.
- The warm-up is over, and now the strength exercises: put your right hand on your right temple. Try to tilt your head to the right and prevent this movement with your hand. Try to make it hard, but keep your head moving in the right direction. 10 times in each direction (to move to the left, use the other hand).
- Now grab the head from behind (occipital region) and, through the resistance of the hands, try to tilt the nape 5 times, and then move the head back 5 times in the horizontal plane. It will come out a total of 10 times.
- Now rest your palms on your forehead and tilt your head down through the resistance of your arms (pull your chin towards your chest). Do this 10 times, then move your head horizontally forward through the resistance (like pigeons as you walk).
- Finally, you can stretch the trapeze by raising and lowering the shoulders. Raised - delayed 2-3 seconds (pull), lowered - relaxed. Do 10 reps.
- Pull your neck in different directions, the gymnastics is over. Do all this once a day. This is a great neck exercise for osteochondrosis.
What other exercises can you do? For example, for door flexibility. These are also exercises for the neck muscles, but they also pull the tendons. This will make your neck more flexible.
Additional flexibility exercises
This exercise should be performed not only with osteochondrosis of the cervical spine, but also, in principle, at the beginning of 30-40 years. At this age, the degradation of muscle fibers begins, the loss of flexibility gains momentum especially quickly, if you do not deal with your physical form.
- Stretch your chin to your chest, help your head with your hands.
- Tilt your head to the side with your hands so that your ear touches your shoulder. Extend the side of the door with your hand.
It is sufficient. And remember what you can't do with cervical osteochondrosis - get rid of the pain.
Massage elements
When you have a headache or a stiff neck, you can knead and squeeze your muscles.
Remember:
- The muscle that holds our head is attached to the nape of the neck. Run your index finger and middle finger over the muscles from the nape of the neck and down, with moderate pressure (not to hurt, but to be comfortable). Pull this muscle to shoulder level.
- Now we feel the trapezoids with our hands and knead them. The trapeze is located between the neck and the shoulders from the back. After such simple manipulations, you seem to be born again.
Among other things, make sure your neck doesn't blow. After the massage, she is warmer and more susceptible to cold than ever.
And, finally, we remind you that while cervical osteochondrosis is acutely manifested, therapeutic exercises are not necessary.
To summarize: if you do the exercises listed in the article, osteochondrosis of the cervical spine will not completely disappear (after all, the cartilage is already damaged), but the condition will improve significantly, cramps, pain symptoms will disappear, the disease will stop progressing. So you can forget about this nasty disease and live a full life.
But remember, neck exercises for osteochondrosis should be done regularly.