Neck & Back Pain Help
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Most people already hold their neck in a forward-stretched position, which is a bad posture called a forward head. They don't need to stretch it more forward. Although it is common to stretch by pushing the neck forward, it adds to existing problems. Adding body weight to this stretch can degenerate the discs in your neck and gradually push them outward to the back (herniate). The pressure on the back of the neck bones from your body weight also can eventually make the bone protect itself by growing a bone spur.
The Point of Neck and Back Exercises
Strengthening and stretchingare crucial, but alone will not change posture or lifting habits, and so cannot "cure" back pain or posture problems. Some may actually contribute to the original problem of over rounding and bad posture. Neck and upper back exercises are supposed to be used to retrain you how you hold your body all the time. Doing exercises for pain is not like getting a shot of penicillin or going to confession. It does not "fix" bad habits the rest of the time. For example, lying down for pelvic tilts, then standing up and letting your back flop into any old bad posture, not keeping the proper tilt. Back exercise is supposed to retrain your thinking and habits *all the time* not just during the hour of worship. Strengthening has no effect on posture if you dont apply the strength the rest of the day to control joint angles for all activities.When you bend over things during the day, don't droop your head forward.
Remember not to crane your neck when doing other stretches. Most people round their back and neck all day. It only adds to the problem to do exercises like this too. Even sillier, by doing the stretch by rounding your neck and back, you lose the stretch on your leg, which was the whole point of doing the stretch in the first place.
Discs Can Heal
Disc injury is not a life sentence. Disc degeneration or slippage (herniation) can heal - if you let it. Stop damaging your discs with bad bending, standing, and sitting habits and the discs can heal. It takes years to herniate a disc, and only weeks to months to heal it by stopping bad habits.
Muscles Can Heal
When you over-tighten muscles with hunching and bad habits, they can remain too shortened to let you stand properly. Or they stay tightened in "knots" or spasm. This changes their muscle chemistry. When you slouch, you keep muscles overly stretched, which weakens and strains them. Stop straining your muscles and they can heal.
People Let Their Bodies Slump to Wherever They Slump
* Instead of holding body weight up on muscles, they let all weight rest on the joints and discs of their neck.
* Using muscles would burn calories, strengthen, and be a free workout. But instead they grind their neck away.
* Sitting flexed imposes a large stress on the discs of the neck.
* Many simple mechanical factors ruin the back, hundreds of times a day, through ordinary daily bad habits, yet, when many people go to the doctor, the diagnosis is often written off as stress.
