Long hours at work, tension and exhaustion can lead to tightening of neck and shoulder muscles and can end up in a headache. A bad posture, i.e. hunchback while walking or slouching while sitting can also lead to tired and stressed neck and shoulder muscles. If these muscles are regularly stretched and strengthened, then their endurance can be increased and one can get relief from headaches and backaches.
Some simple exercises which you can do any time anywhere will help deal with this problem:
Head Isometrics: Sit with your head and neck in a vertical position; interlace your fingers and place your hands against the forehead. Push forward with your hands exerting equal pressure. In this exercise, your head and neck do not move at all. Hold in the same position for five seconds. The next step is to place your hands with interlaced fingers behind the center of your head and slowly push your head back with equal forward pressure from your hands. Again, your head and hands do not actually move.
Neck lateral: Sit erect on a chair keeping your neck, shoulder and trunk straight. Tilt your head slowly to the right until your right ear almost touches the right shoulder. Hold for 2-3 seconds. Bring it back and then tilt likewise to the left. Do not rotate your head while tilting. Do not lift your shoulders to touch the ears.
Twisting a towel: Hold a cloth or towel in both hands. Outstretch your hands and twist the towel first one way then the other as though you were wringing it out.
Rotary motion: Most headaches and feeling of tightness around the shoulder and lower part of the neck are caused by weakness of those muscles. The following exercise can help avoid it. While inhaling, slowly lift your shoulder upwards to touch the ears. Exhale and drop the shoulders to normal position and then take them lower down and then again relax to normal position. Then, rotate both the shoulders in a forward motion in a circle, i.e. bring down both shoulders up and forward and then down and back making a full circle. Reverse the motion and complete the circle. Then pull arms back so that shoulder blades pinch together. Hold for a few seconds and relax.
3 min read
