Neck Pain Relief- Day 1

Hold each neck position for a few seconds and see how your neck responds. If it feels okay, do another set with a hold for a few seconds longer. Then, do it again tomorrow.

Welcome to day 1 of this 5-part Neck Pain Relief series! You will see a few stretches, massages, and strengthening exercises in this series that will hopefully give you a deeper understanding of your neck pain and alleviate some of that pain.

Today, you will actually be starting off with light neck strengthening with the Neck Isometric Holds. We often think of strengthening as something that creates more tightness; however, it is often the right strengthening that reduces the “tight” sensation that we experience. This will be explained in a later email in the series

We have also provided a quick anatomy video showing you what is painted on Katie’s neck below:

Be on the lookout for tomorrow's email, you will be focusing on some gentle movement to introduce blood flow to the area, improve the awareness of your, and promote healing.

Neck Pain Relief- Day 2

For some immediate relief, here is a simple and effective self-massage that you can do at home. Spend 1-2 minutes massaging each area shown in the video. Massaging one or all of these areas will likely give you some temporary relief. Make sure not to massage so forcefully that you guard and tense up. You want to be able to breathe and relax while doing self-massages. Some of these spots may be tender and painful, which is okay!

Follow up the massage with the strengthening exercise from yesterday. Do 2-3 sets of a 5-15 second hold of the Neck Isometrics in each position.

Stay tuned tomorrow for another strengthening exercise!

Neck Pain Relief- Day 3

Welcome to day 3. Nice work sticking with it. The hardest part of this journey is doing the work! Pat yourself on the back.

Now, these Scapular Circles will focus more on the shoulders. However, the shoulders attach directly to the neck, so it is important not to just focus on the neck itself, but also on the things that attach to it!If your upper traps and levator scapulae often feel “tight,” then this will be a welcomed exercise for you.

Spend 1-2 minutes with each shoulder going forward and backward with the blades.

It can be beneficial to do yesterday’s massage prior to doing the Scapular Circles. Doing the massage may offer a temporary increase in range of motion, as well as pain relief.

Then, do the neck isometrics again, gently.

Tomorrow, we will provide you with a relaxing and gentle neck stretch.

Neck Pain Relief- Day 4

Today we will focus on supporting the natural curvature of your neck via a relaxing neck curvature stretch.

You will need a rolled-up hand or bath towel, a ball, a small pillow, or even a roll of toilet paper.

You will gently lie down on your back with the object rolled up under the neck. Relax your head and breathe. Gently rock the head side to side or stay still.

Lie for 1 to 10 minutes. Sometimes this stretch is so impactful for people that it is all they need to do once a week or so.

You are nearing the final day. Tomorrow, we will dive into how this pain started and why it is impacting you so much right now.

Neck Pain Relief- Day 5

Day 5 of this neck series focuses on how the mind and nervous system play a role in your pain.

How long have you been dealing with neck pain? If it is a fresh injury (within the last few months), then doing some muscle and joint strengthening may be just the thing you need.

If this is a chronic issue and you have had hip pain for several months or years, then it’s time to dive into some of the psychology and neurology of pain. At this point, chronic pain is often no longer a mechanical issue or injury (torn tissue for instance).

When you have an injury, your nervous system immediately becomes heightened and aware of the injured area. Sometimes our body and mind become hyper-fixated on the pain. You may find yourself planning your entire day or week around whether or not your neck will be able to do X, Y, or Z tasks. Maybe just sleeping, working at your desk, or bending over to get something is 11/10 pain for you. As time goes on and you continue to ruminate over your pain, you train your nervous system to become hypersensitive to the area. Then, 6 months later, your pain may feel the “same” as it did when it started. This is because your nervous system is hyper-aware of the smallest of sensations in your hip. The fear about your pain and whether or not there is severe tissue damage (despite it being healed) in your neck can also exacerbate your pain. This entire phenomenon is called neural sensitization.

Now, if you are in the chronic pain category, it is essential to understand that your pain is most likely not life-threatening and is not “shredding your neck apart.” You are incredibly resilient. Your neck pain is 100% real and impacting you, however, if it is chronic, the pain is likely not an immediate result of tissue damage.

How can you get your nervous system to chill the hell out? Put your focus elsewhere. At Whealth, we don’t tackle pain by focusing on the area of pain. Instead, our program, Limitless, has you focus on improving the movements of your entire body from head to toe to hands. This type of training causes your nervous system to de-sensitize the area you have focused on and allows your brain to focus on other areas of your body. We have watched this method work repeatedly for thousands of people over the years.

Hopefully, though, the content in this email series offers some incredible relief for you, and we never hear from you again. That would be ideal… but we know often this is not enough.

Keep working through those 4 massages, strengthening exercises, and the stretch over the neck week, and we will check in with you next week.

Are you satisfied with your results so far?

We dive much deeper into these movements, dozens of others, and so much more in our courses, Limitless and Hypermobility. In both programs, we use a 360-degree approach utilizing movement, nutrition, and mindset to empower you to overcome your pain. If you've found this content valuable so far, then you will find this is the tip of the iceberg for all the benefits that await you in this comprehensive pain program.

Which program is right for you?

Book a free 15 minute consultation and let’s find out!