In this video, I'm going to
show you how to instantly relieve nerve pain in your neck
and arms. Stay tuned. Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe coming
to you from SpineCare in Saint Joseph, Michigan. In this
video, I'm going to go over various traction, or pulling,
exercises into the neck to relieve pressure on a pinched
nerve that might be caused by a bulging or herniated disc. All
of these exercises can be done at home. They're very safe.
They're very effective and may give quick relief, even in as
little as thirty seconds. So, let's get started and get rid
of that nerve pain in the neck and arm right now. This neck
pain relief exercise is what I'd like to call the anywhere
stretch be cause you can do it at home, at work, standing, seated -- it doesn't require any
equipment either. What I'm gonna do is start with very
good upright posture. Let's make a fist, turn it upside
down to the point where the thumb is facing down towards
the floor. I'm going to take the flat edge of that fist,
place it directly right underneath my chin. From there,
I'm going to lower my chin and my head until the bottom of the
fist right here makes contact with the top of the chest.
Press down until you feel a very good activation of the
muscles into neck. Once we hit that point let's take the hand
on the other side place it on the back side of the head and
then I'm going to pull forward while I press down into my fist
into my chest with my chin. When you do this it should feel like
a very good stretch, pretty much from the base of the neck all
the way to the base of the skull. Really focus on that. If
this does cause discomfort too please discontinue immediately.
You want to hold this stretch for about twenty to 30 seconds
you can hold it longer if you do feel comfortable but from
there, take a breather and then on the next repetition, drive
further into your fist and try to bring the head forward even
more for five complete repetitions. What you also want
to do from there is then build into rotation to target this
just a little bit differently. So, I'm going to make that
fist. I'm going to repeat this but instead of going straight
down, I'm going to go just a little bit towards one certain side. I'm going to turn a little bit towards my left and
then I'm going to repeat. You'll notice that this hits the
muscles, hits the neck just a little bit differently. So, go
all the way through those motions, all the way towards
the left, go all the way towards the right. If you
notice one certain spot like let's say right here for me,
just offers more pain relief, I want to make note of that,
throw more repetitions in, target that spot because it's
only going to focus on the areas that need it the most.
Give that a try and I hope it gives a lot of quick pain
relief. With this pain relief exercise, I like to call it the
neck pump and pull because we're going to do pumping and
pulling motions to help release pressure into the neck. This
one is best done on the floor. I'm gonna start off on my back
and I'm going to take a soup can a nice can of beef barley
soup. You can use any flavor you like. You can also use a
foam roller if you have one. You can also use a water
bottle. We just want something large enough that we can place
right at the back of the neck over the curve of the neck and
just allow it where our head does not touch the floor. From
here, what I want to do is just allow my head to be taken
backwards into extension. Allow it to relax as much as you can.
If this feels really good and it's relieving pain, you can
hold this position for several minutes. Grab a book, an
iPhone, iPad, just relax as much as you can. But what we
want to do is the first part of this exercise which is the
pumping motion. So, I'm going to take two fingers, put them on
the chin, and I'm going to do a simple chin tuck like this.
Hold this for a couple seconds and then I'm going to go all
the way backwards into extension. So, I'm going into
flexion and extension as much as I can. This pumping motion
will help put more range of motion into the neck and
hopefully start to relieve pressure onto those spinal
discs and again, if it causes discomfort, please discontinue
immediately. You can do this over and over again for about
twenty complete repetitions and if it feels good, throw some
more repetitions in there. For the next part, we're going to
focus a little bit more on a pulling motion, a traction to
help open up the joints. So, what I'm going to do is feel
off to the backside of my ears. You'll find right at the
base of the skull right here, two bony points. They're pretty
much right behind the ears, right at the bottom. That is
our contact point that we want. I'm going to use the mini
portion of the palm right here right in the middle to hook
over that spot and then pull over my head like this. So, let
me get right over that spot. I'm going to start off by
pulling again this way right here which you should feel a
nice, comfortable stretch. Allow the head to relax towards the
floor while you do this also into extension. From here, I'm
going to take it to the next level by taking my heels and driving
my body weight downwards while I resist it with my hands like
this and it feels like a very very good stretch into the neck
all the way into the upper back. Only go to your comfort
level. Hold this position for about twenty to thirty seconds.
Do nice, slow, control breathing too. Let the tension
out. From there, you're going to relax, take a breather, and
simply repeat this up to five times. With each repetition,
really cup the spot and also try to cup around the ears too
not for not to cause any discomfort but pull forward as
much as you can and then use your heel weight to also pull
down with this exercise because it's only going to help reduce
pressure into the neck. Give that a try and I hope that
gives a lot of quick pain relief. So, here is a great
traction exercise that you can do right in bed. I'm going to
be using a hand-drying towel. So, just roll it up, place it
on the back of your neck. We're going to start off in bed, on
our back, slide off until your head can rest comfortably off
the edge of that bed. Allow gravity just to take it into
extension or a backwards movement just like this. From
here, what I want to do is a head retraction. That is just
driving my head down towards the floor. This will intensify
that stretch but only go to your comfort level. From there,
let's take the two ends of the towel, pull up towards the
ceiling for initial amount of tension over the spot into the
neck. I'm going to then lower the two end down just like this
and then pull on it like this overhead until that towel
slides up and then hooks right at the base of the skull. Pull
forward as much as you can with those two ends. You should feel
a very comfortable stretch throughout the neck. From the
top all the way to the base of the neck. Focus on that. Once
we hit that very comfortable stretch, let's try to hold this
one for at least twenty seconds. Do nice, slow,
controlled breathing too. Let the tension out. If you do feel
comfortable, you can hold the position for longer. Half
minute, a minute, whatever feels comfortable to you but
when you need a breather, relax, take one, and then on
the next repetition, try to lower the head even further,
bring the head back into that retraction and then pull even
more with the two ends. Challenge yourself to open up
those disc spaces because it's only going to take more
pressure off of those bulging disc. Hopefully, relieving that
nerve pain into the neck and to the arm. Do this for five
complete repetitions. To take this one to the next level,
what I'm going to do is start off in this position but I'm
going to raise the two ends up towards the ceiling. Let's pull
up just a little bit to cause some initial traction. What I'm
gonna do from there is I'm going to take one end, keep it
locked. So, in this case, it's going to be my right. I'm going
to keep this locked but I'm going to take the other end and
then I'm going to go 45° towards the opposite direction.
So, I'm pulling up on the left end, taking it 45° up like
this. Almost kinda like towards my other side's eye and then
I'm going to pull into it. When you do this, you're going to
feel it hook right there on the left and the head is going to
turn towards the right and it just hits that area a little
bit differently so try to pull into it as much as you can if
this feels comfortable and it's releasing pain hold this one
for up to 20 seconds relax take a breather and then repeat this
up to five times try it on the other side also and see if that
helps out just a little bit more experiment with it if it
feels like it helps more throw more repetitions in and try to
focus on relieving pressure by always pulling into it with a
towel even more. Here is a great neck traction exercise in
which we can let our body weight do all of the hard work
for us. We just need a couple things. The first being a flat
elevated surface. Depending on your height, you can use the
edge of a couch, your bed, a desk, a chair, it all works.
The other thing that we're going to be using is a
medium-sized hand-drying towel. I'll also start off on my
knees. So, let's put something underneath it like a pillow or
towel for extra comfort. Let's go up to the edge of that flat
surface. I'm going to roll up a towel, place it over the center
of the spot that I'm having pain in my neck. From there,
the back side of my arms, pretty much the elbows are
going to rest comfortably on the edge of that flat surface.
I want to take the two ends, pull forward to create an
initial tension over that uh painful spot in the neck and
then I'm just going to do a slight chin tuck like this.
From here, the movement is very simple. I'm going to pull
forward on the as much as I can and then I'm going to start to
lower my butt down towards my heels. When you do this, you're
going to feel the towel hook right over that spot in the
neck and you're going to feel a gentle pulling motion happen
throughout pretty much the whole neck into the upper back.
Really focus on feeling that. But once we have a very
comfortable stretch, we've really lowered the butt down
towards the heels as much as we can, we want to hold this
position for about twenty to thirty seconds. Do nice, slow,
controlled breathing also. Let as much tension out as From
there, you're going to relax, take a breather, and then on
the next repetition, pull with the ends just a little bit more
and try to lower the butt down even further. Challenge
yourself to get a better stretch with each repetition
because it's only going to help take more pressure out of the
neck and hopefully get more pain relief. Do this for five
complete repetitions. To take this one to the next level,
what we can do is incorporate a turning or rotation into this
exercise to target it just a little bit differently. So,
what I'm going to do is get back into that position but in
this case, what I'm going to do is then turn my head just
slightly uh towards the left while I do it. You'll notice
that this traction, it hits it just a little bit differently.
So, go through different motions. Go all the way towards
your left and go all the way towards your right. If you do
notice that one certain spot just hits it a little bit more
and you're getting more pain relief. Make note of that.
Throw more repetitions in because it's only going to help
take pressure off where it is needed most. I hope that gives
very quick pain relief. If the video helped and gave relief,
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