Exercise therapy is used to treat many diseases of the musculoskeletal system. Simple and safe exercise can keep us away from various diseases. What should I do if my neck hurts? In this case, exercise can help treat cervical osteochondrosis.
The neck is one of the most vulnerable parts
The neck is really fragile and needs to be handled carefully. The blood vessels and nerves that provide nutrients to the brain pass through it, and signals that regulate our activities (such as sports activities) enter the body through the nerves.
Our neck is in a tense state for most of the day because its muscles need to continuously support the head, and the mass of the head reaches 2 kg or more. Normally, muscle tissue responds to its tasks. But in addition, there are also uncomfortable and irregular postures that we tend to adopt, and long periods of immobility. We load muscles unevenly, depriving them of rest and obstructing blood supply.
The first problem of the cervical spine is due to the fatigue of the neck muscles. The typical symptoms are leakage and muscle fatigue. This main problem can be solved by simple massage, which I will talk about later.
Often people don't pay attention to these symptoms. Therefore, we are talking about a problem that has been transformed into a disease-the treatment of cervical osteochondrosis.
Therefore, it is very important to charge the neck with osteochondrosis.
How physical therapy can save you from pain
With the development of the acute phase of cervical osteochondrosis, the pain syndrome must be removed first. When the pain disappears, you can start exercise therapy. This is a set of exercises for cervical osteochondrosis, which includes many head exercises, including neck isometric exercises.
Gymnastics must be performed for the neck with osteochondrosis. Without it, the treatment will not produce the desired effect. In fact, if there is no strong muscle corset, the spine will continue to bear the vertical pressure of gravity.
The natural source of all spinal diseases is gravity. Its vector is perpendicular to the surface of the earth. Now let us imagine what would happen if this load were not strictly perpendicular to the spine. For example, this happens when we bend down and sit at a table, immersed in different documents.
If average, the neck is curved and inclined 45 degrees relative to the vertical. Due to the severity of the head, the vertebrae have a slight diagonal displacement relative to each other. The intervertebral cartilage is subject to unusual loads, and over time, they will be erased and deformed.
Under normal circumstances, even in this posture, there are strong neck muscles to compensate, but when a person is hardly moving, what strong muscles can we talk about? That's the problem.
If we study this issue in depth, nutrition, or more precisely, the lack of joint-forming substances in food will complicate the situation. Cartilage tissue is already slowly renewing. If the body lacks the necessary substances, it has nothing to renew.
Therefore, the root cause of osteochondrosis is gravity. But strong muscles hinder this process. This means that weak neck muscles are already a secondary cause of osteochondrosis. Therefore, it is concluded that if cervical osteochondrosis has begun, exercise will help solve this problem.
Exercise therapy can strengthen neck muscles, relieve clamps and improve blood circulation. This is an effective way to treat osteochondrosis and prevent its future development.
Therefore, the combined effect of all the reasons for its appearance can solve the problem:
- Strengthen neck muscles through neck exercises for osteochondrosis. The exercises for cervical osteochondrosis will be given below.
- Avoid incorrect posture and sitting motionless for a long time in one place.
- Take special joint supplements or develop a complete diet for yourself.
It's best to do it at the same time.
In addition to osteochondrosis, another unpleasant thing happens in the neck-hypothermia. In this case, no amount of exercise will help until the inflammation subsides. Don't delay treatment for a long time.
Another option is limited head movement. In this case, you need to knead your neck carefully, and knead the neck with osteochondrosis, the range of which allows you to exercise without pain.
About dizziness
The thinning of the cervical intervertebral disc can cause the nerve endings to be squeezed. In addition to nerves, blood vessels are also affected. This leads to insufficient oxygen supply to the brain, which manifests itself in the form of dizziness. There are other symptoms-headache.
There are also exercises for dizziness in cervical osteochondrosis. In fact, they are the same as osteochondrosis. They mean stretching tight muscles, strengthening them, and releasing nerves and blood vessels from the clamp.
Generally speaking, any physical exercise (without burden) for osteochondrosis will improve blood circulation throughout the body, including stronger blood exchange between the body and the head. Our brain gets more nutrients and oxygen, which affects productivity.
It is not recommended to perform resistance exercises for cervical osteochondrosis. They will never save you from cervical osteochondrosis, but they can accelerate the process of cartilage degeneration.
For various diseases of the spine, weight-bearing exercises generally need to be cautious. Depending on the disease, exercises such as vertical loads on the spine, back bending, etc. may be excluded.
How often do you do exercise therapy?
Human laziness has no boundaries. Usually, once the problem disappears, we stop learning. A person is engaged in fitness while losing weight. Once he achieves the desired result, everything will stop. For diseases, this method is not only ineffective, but also full of disease return.
To prevent cervical osteochondrosis, you need to treat your neck regularly. This is easy to do at home. In addition, it does not require much time. The process is very enjoyable-the warmth and relaxation in the muscles will not make you wait.
You can also buy a neck brace and wear it in the acute phase. But there are some subtleties here. After getting used to artificial support, you can live a lifetime, because the corset fixes the head instead of the muscles. And this is of no use to the cervical spine. As a result, the muscles eventually lose their tension.
The therapeutic effect of exercise on cervical osteochondrosis can last from 2 weeks to one month. If you stop exercising immediately after the muscles lose tension again, you may be at risk of headaches and difficulty turning your head again. Therefore, in this case, exercises to strengthen the neck muscles play a huge role in maintaining comfort.
So decide-do or not do osteochondrosis exercises.
Neck gymnastics complex
It is best not to do any exercise that will aggravate cervical osteochondrosis. Your doctor should treat acute symptoms first. After all, if moving your head hurts, then all gymnastics will hurt.
The most effective exercise method for cervical osteochondrosis is very simple: head movement plus isometric muscle tension. Everything is very simple-at home, at work, on the road.
This is a set of approximate exercises (let us agree that the initial position is sitting upright with hands on knees):
- In the initial position, turn your head steadily to the right until it stops, then turn to the left. Feel the neck muscles stretch. The nuance here is: turn your head, try to turn a little bit more without violent conditions, and maintain this tension for 5 seconds. Generally speaking, any spine exercise should start with exercises that strengthen the neck muscles. These include developing her flexibility and strength. Make 5 turns in each direction.
- Now tilt your head to one side so that your ears are close to your shoulders. There is no need to lift your shoulders! As in the previous action, maintain the tension. If your neck is flexible, bring your ears close to your shoulders with your hands. If it hurts, please exercise with no pain! Bend to the left and right 5 times.
- Now use your head to make circular motions clockwise and counterclockwise. 8 actions in each direction. Take it easy! You can support your head with your hands. This is an effective exercise for treating osteochondrosis of the neck.
- The warm-up is over, now we will do strength exercises: place your right hand on your right temple. Try to tilt your head to the right and stop this movement with your hands. Try to make it heavier, but your head is moving in the right direction. 10 times in each direction (move to the left, use the other hand respectively).
- Now grab your head from the back (occiput), with the resistance of your hands, try to tilt your head back 5 times, and then move your head back on a horizontal surface 5 times. It will be released 10 times in total.
- Now place your palms on your forehead, and tilt your head down with the resistance of your hands (pull your chin to your chest). Do this 10 times, and then move the head forward horizontally with resistance (like a pigeon when walking).
- Finally, you can stretch the trapezoid by raising and lowering the shoulders. Raise-delay 2-3 seconds (pull up), lower-relax. Do it 10 times.
- Pull your neck in different directions and the gymnastics is over. Do all this once a day. This is an excellent neck exercise for treating osteochondrosis.
What other exercises can you do? For example, for the flexibility of the neck. These are also exercises for the neck muscles, but they also pull the tendons. This will make your neck more flexible.
Additional flexibility exercises
This exercise should not only be performed when cervical spine osteochondrosis, but also in principle at the beginning of 30-40 years old. At this age, muscle fibers begin to degenerate, and if you are not involved in your body form, the loss of flexibility will become particularly rapid.
- Extend your chin to your chest and hold your head with your hands.
- Tilt your head to one side with your hands so that your ears touch your shoulders. Stretch one side of the neck with your hands.
enough. And remember what you can't do with cervical osteochondrosis-work through pain.
Massage elements
When you have a headache or a stiff neck, you can rub your muscles.
remember:
- The muscles that support our head are attached to the back of the head. Use your index and middle fingers to stroke the muscles from the back of the head and apply moderate pressure (so that it is not painful, but very comfortable). Sweep this muscle to shoulder level.
- Now we feel the trapezoids with our hands and knead them. The trapezoid is located between the neck and shoulders from behind. After such a simple operation, you seem to be reborn.
Among other things, make sure that your neck does not blow. After the massage, she warmed up and was more susceptible to colds than ever before.
Finally, we remind you that although cervical osteochondrosis is an acute manifestation, it does not require therapeutic exercise.
To sum up: if you do the exercises listed in the article, cervical osteochondrosis will not completely disappear (after all, the cartilage has been damaged), but the situation will be significantly improved, the clamp, pain symptoms will disappear, and the disease will stop progressing. Therefore, you can forget this unpleasant disease and live a fulfilling life.
But remember, neck exercises for osteochondrosis should be done regularly.