SM: Chronic Upper Cervical Pain/Postural Strength: Phase 1 (2-27-18)

  • Hopefully you are about to learn a lot this first week
  • This week is designed to add a new movement every 2 days to assess your response to each exercise
  • Your goal is to get through each movement without increase in symptoms
  • With each exercises you should ask yourself a very important question
    • IS MY PAIN GETTING BETTER, GETTING WORSE, OR STAYING THE SAME?
    • This goes for during the exercise, after the exercise, and the following day
    • If the answer is getting better or staying the same….THAT IS GOOD
    • If the answer is it hurts a little, with only mild pain afterwards that is gone the next day…ALSO GOOD
    • If the answer is it is getting worse the more I do it OR I know this is going to hurt when I am done OR I was really sore after and had trouble sleeping OR It hurt for 2-3days after doing that exercise…. NOT GOOD…I HOPE YOU GET THE IDEA
  • I know this is a little repetitive, but you have to understand….I have no idea what you are feeling when you do this stuff and any exercise you do can be helpful or harmful depending on what you are personally getting out of it
  • Your goal is not to be really good at these exercises…your goal should be “I am going to do the movement he is talking about, I am going to do it slow and controlled, if I feel pulling or muscle fatigue, that is good, if I feel pain I will see if I can stop just short of pain but if that is not possible I am going to hold off and email him. My goal is to get through each movement, even if I make it easy so that I can prove to Dr. Brad that I am able to control my body during these very basic movements and then he will be able to give me harder stuff that gets me closer to my goals”
  • I run into some road blocks with this online approach, and above is the big one
  • Goals:
    • Decrease symptoms with movements or positions that reduce pain
      • Kinesiotape is an option for this with video below including option to reduce upper cervical pain
      • Try to spend as much of time as you can with head supported
        • lay on the floor with head propped up slightly
  • NOW….Time to get started
    • Do each movement 5-20 reps SLOW and CONTROLLED, the slow
  • Movement #1 (Try for 1-3days)
    • 53) Deep Neck Flexor Activation Head Supported Chin Tuck VIDEO
      • The light tuck of the chin can be done frequently throughout the day
      • This can be done seated with hands behind your head as a portable head rest
      • This can be done in the car lightly pressing your head back into the head rest
      • Ideally this can be done lightly 5-10x every couple hours
      • Do it lightly, pushing too hard may cause pain
  • Movement #2 (Try on day 4-6 in addition to the movement above)