Although neck pains can be an indicator of a more serious problem, stress and tension usually cause pain to park itself in that area. Please do not perform these stretches if they cause discomfort or shooting pain!

Now let’s get to it!

Stretches feel even better with deep, slow breathing where you exhale a bit longer than you inhale. Hold each position for a count of five.

 

1.      Behind-the-back Neck Stretch

This one relieves those small stress-knots in the muscles you use when shrugging.

• Sit (or stand with your feet hip distance apart) with one hand clasping the other’s wrist.
• Keeping your arms straight, slowly lifting them away from your body.
• To increase the stretch, slowly lower your head.

 

2.      Clasped Neck Stretch

Stretch the upper back and neck with this one subtle move.

• Interlock fingers behind your head.
• Slowly move your elbows backward while pushing your head forward with your clasped palms.
• Pause for five seconds at your most comfortable point then repeat.

 

3.      Arched back Stretch

This one targets the lower back, shoulders, and lower neck

• Sit as you normally would, then slowly lean forward while exhaling, your waist being the pivot.
• At maximum stretch, relax all your upper body muscles and let gravity take over (please be careful else you’ll topple over!). You may want to try this on a stationary chair.
• Take five deep, slow breaths, then return to your starting point.

 

4.      Shrug!

• Raise your shoulders as if to touch your ears (this is impossible to achieve, but you get the idea!).
• Breathe in while raising and tensing your shoulders and breathe out when slowly returning to rest position.
• Doing this multiple times will tire out your shoulders and they’ll relax naturally.

 

5.      Lean To The Left, Lean To The Right

Sit or stand, your choice.

• Place your right hand behind you
• Slowly lean your upper body to the left, keeping your lower body unmoved.
• You will feel a satisfying stretch in your obliques(aka love handles)
• You can also incorporate your hand on your head to gently intensify the stretch(illustrated above)
• Repeat for your other side.

 

And oh, a bonus one:

The neck roll

Sit or stand, most people sit

• Straighten your back and let your head lean forward slowly
• Then in a slow, controlled movement, lean your head to your left shoulder
• Continue in this direction until your head is leaned back, then move it to your right shoulder
• Continue along that direction until you arrive at your starting point
• Take a deep slow breath and repeat, but in the opposite direction

 

Hope these help!