If you feel achy and tired in your neck, especially as the day goes on or at the end of the day or if you have had an injury or neck pain in the past but a little bit of the neck pain still lingers on, you probably have weakness in the core muscles of you neck, that is leading to this persistent pain or achy tired neck.
You may have tried all types of exercises, pain gels or patches, hot/cold packs, medications, etc to address this pain but with not found a long term solution. In this blog we will briefly discuss how a weak core can lead to neck pain and then discuss one simple exercise that can be easily used to strengthen the core muscles of the neck.
Core or stabiliser muscles are the deepest layer of muscles that are present right next to the spine, thus stabilising your spine. These are tiny muscles as compared to the bigger muscles that you see on the surface, which as known as the global or movement muscles as they create the torque or force needed to create movement. When you nod your head the movement muscles are moving your neck while the stabiliser or core muscles are holding the spine stable so that the big muscles can do their work.
Here is a video that explains more about core muscles and how a weak core can give rise to neck pain:
Now lets learn a simple exercise to strengthen the core muscles of your neck. Look at a point ahead of you and then bring your gaze down by 5 to 10 degrees. You can put a finger on your chin to guide this movement but this is optional. This exercise is known as a Chin nod. (Watch the video above from 4.47 minutes to learn this exercise). Be mindful not to push your chin back with a jerk as this produces a grinding movement between the vertebra as opposed to a gentle chin nod that produces a gentle shift of one vertebra over the other. The grinding movement can lead to degeneration and increase in neck pain in the long run.
This same chin nod is applicable to correcting your neck posture through out the day (as shown in the picture below):
If you are looking for looking for ways to strengthen your neck core or manage your neck pain join my free community where we have free trainings on "Core exercises" and "Simple Solutions to Manage your Neck Pain"
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