Those of you with Neck issues, how do you workout?
- I practically have a straight neck. It’s been bothersome since I played sports as a teen. I have some minimal to mild issues with the discs in my neck that have shown up on a few mri scans. Recently, it was also determined that i have weak shoulder blades, so my neck has always compensated for it.
I’ve been in physical therapy for it many times, currently finishing my recent bout of sessions.
I’ll be getting back into a gym soon after missing a year due to healing from a different injury. Before when I was lifting, I’d have a hard time doing weight lifting exercises such as bench press, dumbbell Bicep curls, or anything overhead. Those of you with Neck problems, what do you do for training in the gym? Have you found good substitutes for neck provoking exercises?
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Sports massage helps as does foam rolling
The gym I go to has this contraption called the iron neck. It looks goofy as hell! But using it a few times a week has really helped.
Use the posture pump on Amazon to correct your curve. If u have money and want an expert Dr hutcheson is the worlds leading expert on curve correction he has YouTube videos and u can call him.
I put together a series of exercises to strengthen your neck. They took me from bedbound to playing basketball comfortably which I was told was impossible.
https://youtu.be/yZFjOfiIgbM?si=oF-X9LDQ1zGoDxgO
I probably know more than most people in regards to neck issues from curve and ligament damage. More than any neurosurgeon or physical therapist. Feel free to let me know if u have any questions
Chiropractic, home therapy, and extra caution!
I have cervical disc issues and I climb instead nowadays. You may find comfort in more calisthenic oriented exercise.
Resistance bands, tens unit, hot soak, stretch.
https://youtube.com/shorts/VSzpvg0-hMo?si=Y8R-uGEqhhN-WoJk
Those can be done in every direction
Idk about “straight neck” i have a bulging disc and arthritis in my neck. It helps me.
For shoulders in the gym, lat raises, reverse flys, shrugs, and overhead press. I dont bother with front raises because those muscles get so much work from other lifts. None of those really do much for the neck itself though.
Don’t take this as an old man yelling at kids to get off his lawn type comment, it’s for your health.
This is the question you should be asking a physical therapist, or a sports therapist. Going online to Reddit for people to recommend as seen on TV gizmos, weight machines from the 1980s, and other pseudoscience runs the risk of getting you hurt.
Every neck injury, especially things that sound like they’re compounded with other conditions will require unique input and guidance for that specific case.
There are some general rules to follow. Having proper form in the movement you were doing, as well as your posture or critical. Focus on engaging the correct muscles through the entire range of motion, and have controlled movement all the way through the entire range of motion. Your movement should look like a machine that’s done at $100,000 times before, not shaky and random. Taking the time to work on range of motion exercises instead of all strength workouts is also beneficial. A gentle warm up, and ice afterwards is something that you can take from physical therapy and apply it to your workout regimen. Staying properly hydrated to help reduce inflammation and other injuries. These are the basics of any exercise routine, but everybody seems to gloss over it.
As someone with a lifelong injury, you’ll also need to make sure that you stay in tune with your body’s needs. I’ve had multiple surgeries for multiple injuries. I have multiple disc injuries as well. I’ve had to learn, sometimes through trial and error, when I needed to change exercises, stop mid exercise, take a rest day, or if I could go hard. It’s not about being afraid of getting hurt, it’s more about learning how your body indicates to you what it is capable of at the time. This is also probably sounding quite similar to what a good physical therapist would be telling you. Probably because I’ve spent far too many sessions in physical therapy myself.
You also don’t want to focus on your neck. Your spine is a complex supporting structure for many other parts of your body. You’ll need to go through proper workouts that engage multiple muscle groups around your spine while keeping your back and neck in proper alignment for that exercise. The best example I can provide may or may not be relevant to you, but if you’ve ever tuned to guitar with a floating bridge you’ll understand you don’t just crank on a single adjustment, it has to be a balance between different forces to be successful.
I also realize that I just gave you a bunch of tips as some rando on the internet after I told you not to listen to a bunch of randos on the internet. Go to a professional. You can evaluate my advice based upon what they direct you to do.
I got a shit ton of fused vertebrae in my neck. Lots of stretching, low weight, high reps
I don’t attend a gym however I had minor neck issues and had surgery on it to repair some misaligned disk and to make a long story short I am now in a wheelchair due to something the surgeon must’ve done wrong during surgery that cost me the use of my legs. So I basically made this comment to warn you no matter how bad you’re neck issues might become in the future just deal with them don’t ever get surgery on your neck it’s to sensitive of an area with a lot of potential mistakes you’re surgeon could make and end up in a wheelchair like me