Physical Therapy for Neck Pain: Best Physical Therapy Neck Stretches to Relieve Pain
ATI Physical Therapist, Colleen from Waukesha, Wisconsin, goes over a few helpful stretches to help relieve neck pain from stress or poor posture in this physical therapy video:
An edited video transcript follows:
Common Reasons You Have Neck Pain
Hi, my name is Colleen Kelm, I'm a physical therapist and clinic director of our clinic in Waukesha Wisconsin. What I'm going to show you today is a couple of physical therapy neck pain exercises. The reason why we would have people do those is because they're coming in with neck pain, that could be because of stress or a bad posture. Those are the two most common reasons why people would need these stretches, and why they would need physical therapy for neck pain.
Easy Physical Therapy Neck Pain Exercises to Do at Home or Work to Improve Your Range of Motion
Okay, so what I'm going to do now is show you a couple of neck therapy stretches. The first one is going to stretch your upper trap muscle, which is going to go right on the outside of your shoulder, the top of your shoulder here. What I want you to do is, you're going to tilt your right ear to your right shoulder. You should feel the stretch right along there, you're going to feel it in the tightest spots. So anywhere along there where the stretch is okay. Hold that stretch though for thirty seconds, and you're going to do both sides for both neck therapy stretches. Now let's try this way, and again, feel the stretch along the side here. One way you can make this stretch harder is to tilt to the side, and bring your arm behind your back. So what that's going to do is help keep your shoulder down, and stretch that muscle out a little bit more. Never stretch to the point of pain, but you should feel strong but comfortable pulling. Okay, now come back- move your neck up.
Front Neck Physical Therapy Exercises
The next stretch I'm going to show you is going to stretch out the front of your neck muscles. This time, you're going to give yourself a hug. Look over your shoulder, and then look up and back to the ceiling behind you. So this stretch is intended to stretch more of the front of your neck muscles, you should feel it anywhere right along here. Hold for thirty seconds, and try both sides again. Over here, back, and good. This is where I'd like for you to feel the stretch.
Back Neck PHYSICAL THERAPY EXERCISES
Now for the last one, we're going to stretch the back of the neck muscles. So this time we're going to have arms resting at your side, and look over your shoulder, and down like you're going to look at your armpit. This stretch I want you to feel more back here, and again hold for thirty seconds. Come back to the middle, and same to the other side. Good, and feeling it right through here.
Do You Need Neck Therapy? Get a Complimentary Screening to Assess Your Neck Pain
Here's just a couple ideas of some things you can try at home if you're experiencing neck pain. We still recommend you still come in for physical therapy for neck pain, or see your doctor if you’re experiencing pain, even though you've tried some of these stretches. We also offer complimentary screenings at all of our locations, so you can come in and have a physical therapist assess you to see if you'd be a good candidate for neck pain physical therapy.