The degenerative disc disease in my cervical spine used to cause a lot of neck pain. Years ago, I’d look down at a computer screen 40 hours per week. My front neck muscles would compress and get shorter. My rear neck muscles would overextend and get longer. Holding my neck in this long term position caused a lot of dysfunction and muscle confusion.
The cervical spine is located in the neck and upper back. It’s the uppermost portion of the spine. It’s made up of the top 7 vertebrae. Having a healthy, strong cervical spine is incredibly important to maintain good postural habits at a computer. It plays a huge part in supporting the head.
Fixing My Neck: Cervical Spine Exercises
To fix my neck pain, the first step I took was to better understand the natural curves of the spine. Next, I would do neck stretches to improve my range of motion. Finally, strengthening the muscles around the cervical spine has helped improve my posture.
Prolonged sitting in front of a computer can increase the risk of injury and neck pain. This can happen regardless of how good or bad our posture is. However, having strong and flexible neck muscles in a good postural position will help resist injuries. Once my posture suffers, neck pain is much more likely to happen quicker. Exercise and frequent movement can help prevent this from happening. So today, I’m dedicating a post on cervical spine exercises that can help improve the strength and flexibility of the neck muscles to help prevent injuries and neck pain in the long run.
Nothing on my website is medical advice. It’s for informational purposes only. I’m not a medical professional or a physical therapist. I simply share my experience, what has worked for me, and what hasn’t. I talk about the poor posture mistakes I’ve fixed and the good postural habits I’ve learned. Consult a medical professional for medical advice before performing any of the exercises mentioned in this article.
Cervical Spine Exercises
Raise your monitor so the top of your screen is eye level
In my opinion, this is more crucial than any neck exercise program. This is the most important good postural habit that has decreased my neck pain. When my monitor is the correct height, I’m only looking down at a 45 degree angle to see the very bottom of my screen. If my monitor was too low, or if I was working from a laptop monitor screen, I’d be looking down at a 45 degree angle just to see the top of my screen. That’s a very big difference.
Photo by Anyaberkut via Megapixl.
Chin tucks
Before I raised my monitor to the correct height, my front neck muscles were compressed 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. At first, it seemed counterproductive to do chin tucks. Because my front neck muscles were already overworked, but they would be doing most of the work during chin tucks. However, this helped me to activate my front neck muscles. This helped with improving the blood flow throughout my neck. It was a good warm up before I did neck stretches. During each set of chin tucks, I would repeat 10 times each rep. Then, I would do about 3 sets before I would move on to neck stretches.
Neck stretches
After chin tucks, the first stretch I do is slowly slide my head side to side. I would basically move my ear down towards my shoulder blades. This required some contraction of my back neck muscles, which was a very good thing. Because they were typically overextended and deactivated throughout my workday of sitting at a computer. I made sure to maintain a safe range of motion during these neck stretches. I didn’t want to force anything. My neck muscles are already overworked from supporting my head all day.
The second stretch is to turn your head slowly. I would also maintain a safe range of motion as I slowly turn my head side to side, as far as it would comfortably go. I will usually turn my head 5 times on each side. This was the most helpful of all the neck stretches for me. Mainly because my head got range of motion that it doesn’t get when it is looking straight ahead at a computer monitor for long periods of time.
The final neck stretch I do is head circles. I’ll let my head fall forward into the starting position, then I’ll draw an imaginary circle with the top of my head. I’ll slowly slide my head around in the same direction about 5 times on each side. Then, I will do it in the opposite direction.
During all 3 of these neck stretches, I make sure to maintain a comfortable range of motion, while still getting a good stretch. I usually practice these neck stretches once a day, usually in the afternoon, after I’ve been working on a computer for long term that day.
Thanks for your interest in sitting posture. If you’ve read this far, congratulations! You’re taking valuable steps that will decrease the risk of degenerative disc disease in the cervical spine. That’s something to be proud of.
If this article was helpful, check out my book titled “45 Ways to Improve Computer Posture.” It’s available in both digital and paperback versions.
>>> Click here to pick up your copy
This book explains how to improve your posture through different variables of health and wellness. These include sitting posture, standing posture, sleep, hydration, and breathing. Poor posture is not just how we sit at a computer. The health habits we practice, 24 hours a day, are directly related to how good (or bad) our computer posture is.
Go to SittingPosture.com/book to learn more.
Take care,
Todd Bowen
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