Ahhh! My Neck

by Ross Ashcraft

Do you suffer from reoccurring neck pain in the mornings?  Massage Therapists constantly hear about their client’s neck pain.  They hear stories like, “I woke up this morning and couldn’t move my neck.  I must have slept wrong.”  I truly hope that if this ever happens to you that you can get yourself to a massage therapist and let them work it out.  Nothing is more irritating than walking around for several days not being able to look around.  It’s amazing how much we take for granted simple actions until they are gone. 

Below I’d like to share a few tips on how to prevent many neck pains if you suffer from a chronic stiffness or reoccurring headaches.   This technique will also help if your neck is already in agony.  It won’t be a substitute for a massage therapist but my experience has shown that it will drastically decrease the pain and get your neck back to normal faster.  I’ll reveal the technique as if the left side of your neck is hurting.  It can be applied to any portion of the neck. 

 1.  Firmly rub the left side of your neck from the skull all the way to the shoulder.

2.  Press your finger tips firmly but not painfully into the muscles on the left side of your neck.

3.  Then maintain the pressure while moving your neck from side to side or ear to shoulder about 6 times

4.  Finally stretch the muscles on the left side by taking you right ear all the way to your right shoulder

5.  Repeat as needed or move to another portion of the neck.

Challenge:  Try this out on yourself on two separate days.  Let us know the changes you feel.  The ideal time to try this is right before you got to bed…try doing it while you brush your teeth 🙂