SM: Chronic Upper Cervical Pain/Postural Strength: Phase 3 (3-19-18)

Phase 3:

  • Reply to your email
    • I understand that you have significant neck pain with much of pain being localized to the top of the neck and then coming down into the upper trap
    • A couple concepts I want you to keep in mind
      • I do not expect your symptoms to completely go away quickly and they may not be initially impacted much with these movements
      • This is a weakness that has built up over a significant amount of time and it will take some time to re establish strength and control, but it will improve if you stick with this type of program
      • As you go through the movements below, I want to specifically know if any of the movements increase pain. The goal initially is that you feel at the very least the same after going through them but we typically see little positive jumps in your symptoms
      • As you go through the movements this week, try to email me every couple days to let me know how things are going
      • I recommend ice after as needed to keep symptoms under control
  • This week will will set up 2 categories
  • Sorry for the long explanation below, but believe me it is necessary
  • Below the explanations you will fond your movements for the week with new ones in BOLD
    • Light movements that I call “Daily Sequence”
      • This is a sequence that is all about light movement and muscle activation
      • It is meant to improve mobility and possibly serve as a warm up, cool down, or a light sequence in the morning or at night to improve mobility
      • I will continue to give you some alternative options over the next few weeks to include in this sequence
      • The goal is to isolate 4-5 movements that you feel are most effective in moving parts of your body that are stiff/painful and feel that they improve mobility/stiffness
      • You will do one set of 10-20reps for each movement so this sequence should be very quick and user friendly
      • There is something called the “5 Tibetan Rites” that had a great impact on me
        • Basically, these monks for thousands of years did this sequence, some calling it “The Fountain of Youth”
        • I do not necessarily hand out the 5 rites, but I do believe that everyone should have their own personalized version of 5 movements that are not incredibly challenging, that move areas of their body that they do no move enough in their daily life
        • This sequence should be brief and take only 5-10 minutes at the most
        • I do my own 5 rite sequence before bed each night and I do it as a warm up pre workout/wrestling practice/jujitsu
    • Strength Circuits
      • These are meant to challenge you with the goal of creating fatigue or tension in muscle without overloading painful structures
      • Your goal with this is to feel muscle tension and hopefully fatigue
      • Each movement will have a time goal or a rep goal, once you achieve that goal with no negative side effects, you are ready for a new challenge
      • When your body fatigues, you may start to get pain and that is your cue to stop
      • Pay attention to what you feel later that day and the next day
        • Mild pain is alright as long as it goes back to baseline within 24 hours
        • If pain is more severe you have a couple options
          • 1) Ice right after to minimize inflammation
          • 2) Try to decrease the intensity of the exercise by not going through as much range of motion or not pushing so hard
            • In my mind, most exercises can be made painful or not painful by the way that you go about it
            • Example: If I give you a squat variation, there are many ways to decrease risk of pain
              • Don’t go as deep into the motion, do it slower, keep weight more on the heels, hold an isometric position squat without moving in whatever range is least painful, do only 2-5 reps
            • Have the mind set of getting through new exercises making it super easy just to find a safe zone…you can always increase the challenge from there
    • Daily Sequence: Complete everyday
    • Strength sequence: Complete everyother day