Exercise therapy is used to treat many diseases of the musculoskeletal system. Simple and safe exercise saves us from various diseases. What exactly to do if your neck hurts? In this case, training comes to the rescue of cervical spine osteochondrosis.
The neck is one of the most exposed places
The neck is really very vulnerable and requires careful handling. The vessels that feed the brain through it, as well as the nerves, through which the signals that control our activity (motor activity, for example) enter the body.
Our neck is in tension almost all day, because his muscles have to continue to hold the head, his mass reaches 2 kg or more. Usually, the muscles do their job. But adding to this the uncomfortable and irregular posture that we tend to wear, the immobility is extended. We load the muscles unevenly, preventing them from relaxing and blocking the blood supply.
The first problem with the cervical spine arises precisely because of excessive neck muscle fatigue. Common symptoms are leakage and muscle fatigue. This main problem is solved in a simple sequence, which I will discuss later.
Often people do not pay attention to such symptoms, therefore, we are talking about the treatment of a problem that has turned into a disease - cervical osteochondrosis.
Hence the importance of charging for the neck with osteochondrosis.
How physical therapy can save you from pain
With the development of the acute stage of cervical osteochondrosis, first of all, it is necessary to remove the pain syndrome. When the pain symptoms go away, you can start treatment with exercise therapy. This is a set of exercises for cervical osteochondrosis, which includes several head movements, including isometric exercises for the neck.
Gymnastics for the neck with osteochondrosis is a must. Without it, the treatment will not give the desired effect. Indeed, without a strong muscular corset, the spine will continue to experience vertical gravitational pressure.
The natural cause of all spinal diseases is gravity. The vector is perpendicular to the surface of the earth. Now let’s imagine what happens to the spine if this load presses on it instead of vertically. For example, this happens when we are bent over, sitting at a table, immersed in different papers.
The neck is bent, tilted 45 degrees versus vertical, if average. Due to the severity of the head, there is little diagonal displacement of the vertebrae relative to each other. The intervertebral cartilage experiences an extraordinary load for them, over time they are erased and deformed.
Usually, although this position is compensated by strong neck muscles, but what strong muscles can we talk about when someone has difficulty moving? That's the problem.
If we delve further into this issue, then nutrition, more precisely, the lack of joint -forming substances in food complicates the situation. Cartilage tissue is already slowly renewed, and if the body lacks the necessary substances, it has nothing to renew itself.
So, the cause of osteochondrosis is gravity. But strong muscles can hinder this process. This means that weak neck muscles are already a secondary cause of osteochondrosis. Hence the conclusion: if cervical osteochondrosis has already started, exercise will help in solving this problem.
Exercise therapy strengthens neck muscles, relieves clamps and improves blood circulation. This is an effective method for the treatment of osteochondrosis and for the prevention of its development in the future.
Therefore, the problem can be solved by acting comprehensively on all the reasons for its appearance:
- Strengthen neck muscles with neck exercises for osteochondrosis. Exercises for cervical osteochondrosis will be given below.
- Avoid incorrect postures and prolonged sitting motionless in one place.
- Eat a special joint supplement or develop a complete diet for yourself.
It is better to do everything at the same time.
In addition to osteochondrosis, another unpleasant thing can happen to the neck - hypothermia. In this case, no exercise will help you until the inflammation subsides. Do not delay treatment for a long time.
And another option, limited head mobility. In this case, you need to knead the neck thoroughly and do it for the neck with osteochondrosis to an amplitude that allows you to perform movements without pain.
About dizziness
The thinning of the intervertebral disc in the cervical spine leads to the fact that the nerve endings can be pinched. In addition to nerves, blood vessels also suffer. This leads to a lack of oxygen supply to the brain and manifests itself in the form of dizziness. There are other symptoms - headaches.
There are also exercises for dizziness with cervical osteochondrosis. In fact, they are the same as for osteochondrosis. The point is to stretch tense muscles, strengthen them, release nerves and blood vessels from the clamps.
In general, any physical exercise for osteochondrosis (without load) improves blood circulation throughout the body, including more intense blood exchange between the body and the head. Our brains get more nutrients and oxygen, and this affects productivity.
Resistance training is not recommended for cervical osteochondrosis. They certainly won’t save you from cervical spine osteochondrosis, but they can speed up the process of cartilage degradation.
For various spinal diseases, weight-bearing exercises should generally be done with caution. Depending on the disease, movements that provide a vertical load to the spine, back flexion, etc. may be excluded.
How Long to Do Exercise Therapy?
Human laziness has no boundaries. Often we stop learning as soon as the problem is gone. One is involved in fitness while losing weight. Once he achieved the desired result, it all stopped. With disease, this approach is not only ineffective, but also fraught with disease recurrence.
For the prevention of cervical osteochondrosis, you need to periodically address your neck. This is easy to do at home. Moreover, it does not take much time. The process is very pleasant - the feeling of warmth and relaxation in the muscles will not keep you waiting.
You can also buy a neck brace and wear it during the acute period. But there are some subtleties here. After getting used to artificial support, you can live it for the rest of your life, because the corset holds the head instead of the muscles. And this is completely useless for the cervical spine. As a result, the muscles eventually lose their tone.
The therapeutic effect of exercise on cervical osteochondrosis lasts from 2 weeks to a month. If you stop exercising as soon as your muscles lose tone again, you risk having headaches and difficulty turning your head back. Therefore, exercises to strengthen the neck muscles in this case play a big role in maintaining comfort.
So decide - to do exercise for osteochondrosis or not.
Neck gymnastics complex
It is better not to do any exercises with exacerbation of cervical osteochondrosis. Your doctor should treat the acute symptoms first. After all, if it hurts to move your head, all gymnastics will be painful.
The most effective exercise for cervical osteochondrosis is very simple: head movement plus isometric muscle tension. Everything is done very easily - at home, at work, on the road.
Here is an approximate set of exercises (let’s agree that the initial position is sitting straight, hands on knees):
- In the starting position, turn your head to the right until it stops, then to the left. Feel your neck muscles stretch. The nuance here is: turn your head and try to turn it a little more without jerking, maintain this tension for 5 seconds. In general, any exercise for the spine should begin with exercises to strengthen the neck muscles. This includes developing its flexibility and strength. Make 5 rounds in each direction.
- Now tilt your head to the side so that your ears are close to your shoulders. No need to shrug! In the same way as in the previous movement, hold the tension. If you have a flexible neck, use your hands to bring your ears to your shoulders. If it hurts, do the movement with a painless amplitude! Make 5 turns to the right and left.
- Now make a circular motion with your head clockwise and counterclockwise. 8 movements in each direction. Slow down! You can hold your head with your hands. This is an effective gymnastics for neck osteochondrosis.
- The warm -up is over, and now work out for strength: place your right hand on the right temple. Try to tilt your head to the right, and with your hands block this movement. Strive to be heavy, but your head is moving in the right direction. 10 times in each direction (to move to the left, use the other hand, respectively).
- Now hold your head from the back (occipital region) and, through the resistance of your hands, try to tilt the back of your head backwards 5 times, then 5 times move your head backwards in a horizontal plane. It will be released 10 times in total.
- Now place the palms of your hands on your forehead and tilt your head down through the resistance of your hands (pull your chin to your chest). Do this 10 times, then move your head horizontally forward through resistance (like a dove while walking).
- And finally, you can stretch the trapezoid by raising and lowering the shoulders. Raised - suspended for 2-3 seconds (pull up), lowered - relaxed. Do 10 repetitions.
- Pull your neck in a different direction, the gymnastics is over. Do all this once a day. This is an excellent neck exercise for osteochondrosis.
What other exercises can you do? For example, for neck flexibility. These are also exercises for the neck muscles, but they also pull the tendons. This will make your neck more flexible.
Additional training for flexibility
This exercise should be done not only with osteochondrosis of the cervical spine, but also, in principle, at the beginning of 30-40 years. At this age, muscle fiber degradation begins, loss of flexibility gains momentum very quickly, if you are not engaged in your physical form.
- Stretch your chin to your chest, help your head with your hands.
- Use your hands to tilt your head to the side so that your ears touch your shoulders. Stretch the sides of your neck with your hands.
It's enough. And remember what you can’t do with cervical osteochondrosis - work through the pain.
Sort element
When your head hurts or your neck is stiff, you can grind and knead your muscles.
Remember:
- The muscles that hold our head are attached to the back of the head. Run your index and middle fingers over the muscle from the back of the head and down, applying moderate pressure (so that it doesn’t hurt, but it’s pleasant). Rub this muscle up to shoulder level.
- Now we feel the trapezoid with our hands and knead it. The trapezoid is located between the neck and shoulders from the back. After that simple manipulation, you seem to be reborn.
Among other things, make sure your neck is not blowing. After the massage, she became hotter and more prone to colds than before.
And, finally, we remind you that although cervical osteochondrosis is shown acutely, therapeutic exercises are not necessary.
To summarize: if you do the exercises listed in the article, osteochondrosis of the cervical spine will not disappear completely (after all, the cartilage is already damaged), but the condition will improve, clamps, pain symptoms will disappear, the disease will stop growing. So you can forget about this unpleasant disease and live a full life.
But remember, neck exercises for osteochondrosis need to be done regularly.