Neck: treatment, prevention and exercises for your health
The cervical vertebrae are seven located in the top of the spine, are at the height of the neck and every bone is related to one another by joints, keeping a distance between each one through the intervertebral discs. These are the smallest bones of the spine and can move through the ligaments and muscles, enabling and supporting the movement of the head.
Neck pain
When you have a cervical pain is usually located in the neck, but may radiate to the upper back or shoulder, limiting neck movement.
Causes of neck pain:
The health and proper functioning of the entire spine depends on several causes, such as diet, exercise and proper posture. However, cervical pain occurs when:
- There is a sudden movement of the neck or head, as when performing physical exercise without warming up.
- Bad posture, hunched shoulders and upper back. This position causes the vertebrae to support too much weight, getting tired and painful.
- Too much stress, which can become concentrated in this area with ease.
- Sedentary lifestyle.
- In case of injuries such as strokes and sudden movements.
- Prolonged sitting with poor posture, maintained for long periods.
- Cervical osteoarthritis.
- Obesity.
- Muscle weakness.
- Problems with depression, anxiety, stress, etc..
Symptoms of problems in the neck:
- Pain in the neck, shoulders or upper back.
- Lack of stamina or fatigue because the neck muscles are too tight and cannot move or flow through the body with energy.
- Lack of movement or pain when moving the neck or arms.
- After 50 years, if you have a bad cervical health, this area could limit movement and cause pain to the arms, as well as numbness and lack of strength in the upper extremities.
Treatment, prevention and cervical health
Posture
It is essential to maintain the health of the cervical spine. For this, one must ensure that the spine is in balance in the line of gravity. For this, we need to constantly keep an eye on position, avoid bending your back or neck iforward or drop the shoulders to the front, because all this creates a lot of stress and muscle fatigue.
Proper posture is achieved very easily by pushing the abdomen and align your spine with straight back and shoulders, naturally, without forcing. An easy way to learn to be well-placed is to put a heavy book on your head and leave it there without falling. Your body is naturally aligned to take a correct posture. By doing this, tighten or contract the abdomen to achieve alignment in the column. Walk a couple of minutes each day with the book in the head in order to educate your body to be fine. Try to maintain this position when standing and when sitting.
Tension and emotional stress
Neck pain is common when there is a bad emotional weakness, which causes the neck, a very sensitive area because it is the target area of the body, accumulates high tension. Too much emotional control can generate great energy charge in this area, severely straining the intervertebral discs and muscles for this area. The result is a severe pain in the neck.
Contained anger is one emotion that affects the neck. It is recommended in this case, to release anger by some physical technique which permits such relief. For example, you can hit a pillow or squeeze a towel when you're a very angry..
The lack of flexibility or hard criteria also tend to generate too much stress on the neck area. Very stubborn people that do not allow different points of view are more likely to have neck problems.
Fitness
- It is also necessary to perform 30 minutes of daily exercise: like running, swimming, cycling. Practicing yoga, etc.., a few minutes to stretch and strengthen the neck area.
- To this, you need to do soft movements with your head from side to side, trying to push your head with your hand placed on your chin, stopping the movement a few seconds when you feel the pull on the neck without hurting yourself.
- It is also a good exercise to down the head trying to touch your chin to your chest and gently push your head with your hands, feeling stretch your neck.
- Then you can gently throw the neck back, now push your chin back with both hands, slowly and stopping when you feel the pull.
- Finally, move your neck gently several times in different directions. A variation of this exercise is to lift the arms and push back while moving the neck.
Healthy intervertebral discs
The diet is essential for the proper functioning of cervical life. The column does not have to deteriorate or suffer bends if you take care throughout life. To strengthen, heal and stay healthy, it is necessary to include in your diet very nutritious foods such as nuts, fish, vegetable milk and whole grains, which help keep in good condition vertebral bones. It is very important to drink two liters of pure water to avoid drying between the discs.
Obesity
You need to have a healthy weight because otherwise the column is one of the parts of the body that suffers moret. If this is your case, we recommend a cleansing diet to eliminate toxins and other harmful fats that can accumulate with ease between the vertebrae. A cleansing diet like the diet of green tea, or syrup of pineapple and birdseed.
Do you easily bend?
If you often bend your back and forget to put the correct position, try putting the column along a piece of duct tape. For this, you should take before the proper position, i.e., straighten the back and then put the tape pasting very well. So when you slouch, you'll feel the pull of the tape and this will warn you that you need to correct position again. Remember to look like an exclamation mark and not as a question one!
Massage in the neck
Massage is one of the most pleasurable and therapeutic ways to treat pain and cervical disorders. Look for a good therapist or a bioenergy masseur that is dedicated to treat these problems. But if you want a home massage by yourself, try gently massage the muscles along the cervical spine, by applying gentle pressure to them. By doing this, breathe deeply and let go of tension.