The old “stiff neck” season has begun!  With cold weather comes tight muscles and the most common tight muscle injury is a stiff neck.  It is actually the opposite of stiff it is an overstretched/over tight muscle.  We tend to hold our neck muscles tight in the cold weather outside and maybe inside.  This can sit fine until that one night you sleep stretching that muscle and the entire thing explodes.  Your Woodbridge, Dale City VA chiropractor has some stretches to help you avoid this injury.

The muscle runs from the top medial part of your shoulder blade up in to your neck.  So the way to stretch it is to separate those two structures.  You can do the stretch standing or sitting.

1. Lengthen the muscle by raising the elbow above the shoulder on the side to stretch.
2. In this position, first rest the elbow against a door jamb. This rotates the outside of shoulder blade up and the inside of it down, which lengthens the levator scapula muscle.
3. Second, turn the head away from the side that is stretching and bring the chin down, stretching the back of the neck .
4. Third, place the fingers of the other hand on the top of the head and gently pull the head forward increasing the stretch slightly.

Hold this for about 30 seconds to a minute.

If this helps great you got some relief before going to your chiropractor.  If they didn’t call for an appointment because it won’t usually improve on its own.

Doroski Chiropractic Neurology

3122 Golansky Blvd, Ste 102

Woodbridge VA 22192

703 730 9588

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