Your neck is an area for me and many others that get incredibly tight for most people due to sitting down for long periods or looking down at a phone or computer screen. Additionally, those with muscular dystrophy may have weakness in back, shoulder, and neck muscles, leading to even more tightness. Sometimes I will wake up from sleeping and find myself with a stiff neck, leading to discomfort throughout the day. Not dealing with neck tightness will inevitably lead to tightness in muscle areas surrounding the neck and could eventually lead to significant pain. It is essential to do things like stretching, self-massage, strengthening, and seeing a massage therapist to reduce tightness accumulation in your neck. Trust me when I say that treating your neck to avoid pain will free up your entire upper body, enhance your posture, and make you feel great. This post will look at various articles that discuss ways you can massage your neck. I will be pointing out the techniques in each article that I find useful, but you can always do your own research or look into the articles more if you want. After I do this, I will explain a general strategy I use to relieve neck tightness.
Pain Doctor’s article “4 Types Of Self Massage For Neck Pain” is the first article I will be using. For the first technique, you need to place the palm of your left hand on the back of your neck. The thumb should be parallel with the other fingers. After, apply a gentle squeeze to your neck and slowly turn your head to the right. Repeat this five or seven times and then repeat it with your right hand and turn your head to the left. Make sure you do not squeeze too hard but do enough to help give you a stretch and slight massage. The last technique from this article I like is to place the knuckles of the right index finger and middle finger below the right ear (I put my hand in a fist and put all my knuckles under the right ear). Then, slowly turn your head to the left, and if you want, you can create a circular motion with your knuckles for a light massage simultaneously. Then, repeat with the other fist and turn your head to the right.
The next article I will be using is BrightSides, “4 Self-Massage Techniques That Can Free You From Neck Pain.”
For the first technique, I will be using for this article, put your left hand on the neck muscle behind your left ear, which you can see in the picture below. Apply slight pressure to this area and slowly turn your head to the right. Do not move your fingers and only move your head. After doing this for about thirty seconds, repeat on the other side. After doing this, massage the same area with your fingers in a gentle circular motion to increase blood flow and release tension in this area.
For the last technique, sit with your back straight and have the palms of your hands on the sides of your neck. Start gently squeezing the sides of your neck as you move your neck backwards, forwards, to the left, and to the right. Starting at the bottom of your neck, you can move your hands further up your neck and continue to squeeze them slightly. Doing this for thirty seconds to a minute will ensure you massage your neck plenty.
Another thing I generally do to massage my neck if I am not following any video is to massage my shoulders, sides of my neck, and up the back of my neck. After doing a light massage on all these areas, I will locate tenser areas than others. In these areas, I will softly put pressure on them and massage them in a circular motion. After doing this for a bit, I will stretch in any direction that can help that specific area release itself. As I stretch, I will continue to massage my neck in that spot. This all takes me about five minutes, and doing it a few days in the week has helped me significantly reduce tightness in these areas.
Hopefully, my general strategy and the techniques from the article can help you massage your neck and relieve any tightness present. Helping reduce tightness will do wonders for your posture and will help release tightness in the shoulders and upper back. Over time, I have noticed a dramatic decrease in tightness for the neck, and now I can walk for an entire day without any pain or discomfort in the shoulder, upper back, and neck areas. You can accomplish this by stretching and massaging your neck for five minutes each day. Please decide to help your neck because your body will be incredibly grateful.
