This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in February of 2024. For the original video go to https://youtu.be/1tTR4Zva8VI
Mike: When Bob, Brad, and myself have worked with people that are 55 and older and have neck or shoulder pain, there are some inherent issues we are cautious of, including an aging spine and some tight muscles.
Brad: We're going to explain two techniques that are going to be fast relief as well as done very safely.
Mike: The general area we're talking about is when pain coming from the neck often can radiate from the neck and down into the shoulder blade region. And we're going to show you a couple of options to try to alleviate this pain.
Brad: That's right. First, we're going to show you one option Bob and I had great success with years ago, but there were always certain people that it didn't work on. Now we have the option that'll help take care of that as well. It's going to be linked at the end, so you're going to have good success one way or another. All right, before we go any farther, we want to talk about the biggest precaution that you need to with neck exercises. Now, one of the treatments that works so well is neck cervical extension. So Mike demonstrates it here.
Brad: Come back up. Now, if you're 55 or older, there are certain things that happen within the cervical spine, the neck bones, as well as the muscles get tight. This exercise can be uncomfortable, and we have found to keep it safe, we're actually going to do it supported with a towel. So we always recommend, if you're going to try this exercise, use a towel to support it. We're going to give you details in just a second. Are you ready, Mike? All right, when we get to the exercise, we're going to show you specifically that precaution with the towel. But before we get on with it, I want to show you how to test your neck, and then we'll do the exercise, and then retest. And it's a good way to find out your particular success and how often to do the exercise. So you have this pain near the shoulder blade. Now, what I want you to do is flex your head forward like Mike is doing, and then extend your head back. Now, at this point, you can see Mike's grabbing for shoulder. We've seen this many times. This motion oftentimes is limited in range of motion and makes this pain worse.
Brad: If that's the case, then we need to do the stretch using the towel. Now, the stretch is actually the same exercise as what hurts. So the towel is going to help out with that. Go ahead, Mike. We're going to roll the towel up and then get it behind the neck. Low on the neck, not up by the top of the head or behind the ears, but low down by the shoulders. And at this point, you're going to be in a chair, a nice firm one like a kitchen chair that does not have a backrest that goes up too high. It has to go at shoulder blade level or a little lower works better. Now what happens is you'll get to a point typically and it's going to start to hurt. But if you can go back further and the pain is less than it was when you did the testing, that's a sign that this is going to be a good exercise.
Brad: If you do it three or four times and the pain continues to improve and your range of motion is actually getting better, you're right on, continue to do it. The big precaution is do not do it too fast. If it does create pain or creates pain down into the shoulder, red flag, stop, do not go any farther, you do not want to the go. Go to the video that we have linked down below, and that's going to give you an option where it does not do this type of approach. If you find that this helps, the towel support feels good, you can go further, and there's less pain in that shoulder area, that's what you want to do is every hour do this exercise in the same chair or one just like it, and you'll find within a day or two you're going to have no pain anymore. It's a great way to go. Again, remember, if it makes it worse, particularly into the shoulder, stop, and go to the other video. When you start out with this and you find you don't have any pain going back like that and you have a normal range of motion, everything is good, but now we're going to test rotation right to left. So in Mike's situation, it hurts when he turns to the left, it increases pain. He is starting to wince, you can see it in his eyes. So we have a simple stretch. Well, it's not a real simple stretch, but it is once you learn it. How to stretch that using the towel again so it's safe, you're going to do it gently, gently, gently with all of these. Go ahead, Mike. We'll use the edge of the towel. Now, notice the towel's low around his shoulders more. He's going to cross his right hand to the left tail of the towel, and his left hand to the right tail of the towel. Now, the left one stays low on the chest. The right one's going to go across the jawline, okay, in a gentle stretch. If it hurts, particularly sharp pain, it's a red flag, you stop, and in don't go any farther. Try going the other direction.
Brad: There you go. So you have to switch hands. Again, the towel goes across the jawline. And you'll be amazed how the towel support around the neck really makes us feel much better. However, if it's a sharp pain when you do this, you stop, you're done with it, it is not for you. If it feels better and every time you do the stretch at a frequency and speed that Mike is going and it feels better each time up to 10 reps, then you continue to do it once every hour or two. Good. Okay, now the third scenario is, let's say you do the range of motion back extension, no pain, feels normal, flexion, no pain, feels normal, looking straight ahead, rotate to the right, all the way over, or to the left. Everything feels pretty normal, but you still have pain and it feels like a knot in that muscle right in the upper trap area. Sometimes you need to get into that muscle and massage it deeply with your fingers. And you'll find a trigger point. There is a trigger point there where the muscle tightens up in one spot. If you can break or release that trigger point, it can take care of it and you'll feel much better. The big problem with this is it's kind of hard to massage this back by yourself because your fingers get sore, they get tired. If you have someone else in the house to come over with their thumbs and work in that spot, that can work. But if you're by yourself, another option is if you happen to have a massage gun that reciprocates, we're going to show you a good option for that right now and the technique on how to do it. All right, a big precaution when you're using a massage gun that reciprocates when you work around the neck, you DO NOT want to massage anywhere near the cervical spine or the neck bones here. We can work this on the trapezius and it works well, but not up on the neck. So, okay, don't even try it. It's not fun. It doesn't feel good don't do it. I'm going to use a soft head. Mike will show one with a rounded head, which I prefer for this situation, and you can just work in the area.
Brad: Again, you notice I stop before the neck. I'm not getting up into the neck, feels good. The trigger point is right there. Everyone has a trigger point there. And you're just going to work that for a few minutes. And boy, it really beats doing it by hand with, you know, when you're doing a self-massage. Mike, you want to show them with that particular gun?
Mike: Yes, this is the Q2 massage gun. It is very small and lightweight. Again, you can do the same type of massaging, just simply reaching over if your knot is up top. You can possibly reach behind your back too, which I sometimes do to get in the shoulder blade region. But obviously, you have to have flexibility for this, because oftentimes I have the knots in the shoulder blades themselves.
Brad: So a wonderful thing about these massage guns is outside of the neck, they work really well on most all parts of the body, the thighs, the calves, the back, the hip, the mid back, the arms, the shoulder. They really are universal.
Mike: Feet. You forgot feet.
Brad: The feet. Anything from the neck up you stay away from. But everything from there down is pretty darn close to being good.
Mike: You can find them in the link down below. Or you could find them on Amazon as well.
Brad: Oh, this is the Air 2 Mini massage gun. I don't know if I mentioned that. All right, now the other video that we talked about, if this option is not working for you is, Mike, give the details, please.
Mike: Another video on neck pain, "Most People With Neck Pain Should Try This." Now this uses Rick Olderman's technique, who is a friend of ours. So he has a different approach to treating neck pain. So if these didn't work for you, this may, so just click the video link.
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