Discover the 'core' muscles of your neck – the deep neck flexors
We are all aware of the role of the deep abdominals, pelvic floor and diaphragm as postural support muscles for the lower trunk and pelvis. These act together and in balance to support and stabilise the gentle curves of the lumbar spine and the alignments of pelvic joints.
Just as we have this deep and balanced support in our lower trunk, we have a similar set up and about the neck. The neck or cervical spine, like the lumbar spine, has a gentle concave curve to it and there are many muscles attaching to these vertebrae. It is again the relative activity or balance between these muscles that can help support our curve well and release tension from the larger superficial muscles at the back of our neck. We probably all know of these after too much time spent in a poor posture at the computer or after a long drive.
The neck flexors sit at the front of your neck (near your throat) and the extensors behind our neck from the base of the skull to across the upper shoulders. Postures with our chin poked forward or with a head that tilts back too much (such as reading though bifocals at the computer screen), cause a relative imbalance between these 2 sets of muscles with too much activity, tiredness and tension in the extensors and not enough activity from the front at the flexors. How often have you had the painful tense neck and shoulder region, possibly stretching to the shoulder blade region, or up to the head as a headache?
Gentle lengthening through the back of your neck from the base of your skull and remembering to hold your mango gently under your chin is a great start to achieve muscular balance around the neck. Try this when you next sit at your desk, drive or read the newspaper at the breakfast table.
Here is another deep neck strengthening exercise to try on your mat on the floor. All movements here are extremely subtle, so learn to take it easy and feel for slight contractions in your neck muscles near your throat.
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The Starting Position:
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The focus:
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- Lie on your back in the basic relaxed position, pelvis neutral and with your head resting on a folded towel of approximately 9 layers.
- Make sure your towel is pulled to the base of your neck for support.
- Focus on your wide shoulder blade placement and feel their heaviness on the mat.
- Allow your neck to melt, release your jaw and feel your shoulder melting away from your ears. Imagine a mango held delicately under your chin.
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- You could picture the clowns with wide open mouths for pingpong balls here at the Easter show – turn with a lovely long neck on a pure central axis.
- Keep breathing
- Focus on subtle contractions and slow movements
- Try to maintain a soft length to the back of your neck.
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The Movement:
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- Gently lengthen the back of your neck as if your skull is moving away from your shoulders.
- Now gently push your tongue to the roof of your mouth. Become aware of the subtle muscle activity at the front of your neck near your 'voice box'.
- While keeping this tongue position, gently roll your head to one side. Imagine the front of the neck melting, shoulder melting away from the ears and the neck feeling long at the back. Repeat rolling side to side 8-10 times.
- Finish by gently pushing the back of your head down into the towel. Focus on your long neck, soft jaw, tongue pushing upwards and not squashing your mango
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Tip: Try this every night before you go to bed. It will take you 2 minutes and will help alleviate neck tension from the day and support your neck in the balanced way as it were meant.
