Video

Transcript

i’d like to show you something very

helpful

uh to help correct this forward posture

situation where you’re it’s not the

whole body going forward but your neck

is going past this midline right here

let me let me show you something

on this spine right here you can see

this right here

so

whether you’re sitting at your desk all

day creating this postural problem or if

it came from an old injury which i’m

going to talk about your head is

anywhere between 12 and 15 to 17 pounds

it’s like a bowling ball and it’s

resting on this little spine

so every inch it goes forward it adds a

tremendous amount of tension in the back

part through here now we have this

connection between the back of your

skull called the occiput

and the first bone right here called the

atlas okay and there’s these really

strong ligaments and tendons and you

have nerves back here you also have the

brain stem that is right in this

location and that is the location of the

parasympathetic

nervous system okay another name for the

parasympathetic nervous system is rest

in digest

so having a problem in this upper part

of the neck can create problems with

insomnia it can create problems with

dizziness okay or even pots which is a

condition where you’re standing up and

you’re getting dizzy and you have to lay

down you’re not able to handle the

adaptation from lying down to standing a

lot of stiffness a lot of constant

tension in the upper neck okay now when

i was in practice i would always ask

people

have you ever had any compression

injuries to your head whether something

falling on your head or you falling from

some place landing on your head i

remember when i was five years old

swinging on a swing set and i slipped

off and i fell

about three foot right on

my head okay creating a compression

injury right through this area that was

the start of my neck problems and the

reason i eventually went to see a

chiropractor

you also have tailbone injuries okay so

where you’re falling on your butt really

hard the force will travel all the way

up the spine and actually gets stuck

right here in the occiput okay

so if you had a history of a tailbone

injury okay

chances are you have a lot of tension

and stiffness in guarding in the top

part of your neck which will pull you

forward eventually then you have

whiplash whether you’re driving a car

and get hit from behind

okay and your neck goes back this way

and forward which you end up creating

trauma on the front part of the neck

right here because it’s going to over

stretch or a front end collision where

your head goes forward first and you’re

creating micro trauma in the back part

or even from the side someone hits you

from the side and your head goes this

way so there’s all sorts of traumatic

things that can happen to your neck that

tend to haunt you later in life or you

spend eight 10 12 hours behind a desk

behind your computer and your head just

naturally kind of gravitates forward

okay so the question is what can be done

for this next situation well there are

three things that i would recommend you

focus on

the first would be a very very simple

stretch okay

now if you think about what’s happening

if the head goes forward

the muscles on the front part of your

neck

and the upper chest are pulling you

forward okay they’re too tight compared

to the back muscles because we always

have this balance between the front part

of the muscles and the back part now

logically you would think if the neck is

going forward we just have to stretch it

backwards but that’s not how these

muscles work

a better solution would be to stretch

the back part of the muscles through

here okay going down

this way because what’s going to happen

when you stretch all these back muscles

all through here going

forward

what happens is you send a communication

to the front part of the muscles okay

and the communication is relaxed so

anytime you stretch a muscle

the opposing muscles will automatically

relax so we’re sending relaxed signals

to the front part okay when you

stretch the back part so there is this

first stretch that i’m going to

recommend called the jefferson

curl okay now this jefferson curl

is usually done

kind of a gradual approach from very

very light without weights to adding

weights and a lot of athletes do this

gymnasts

weight lifters etc but what i’m going to

recommend is to do it without weights

with not standing in a platform but

basically what you’re going to do is

you’re going to curl your head

forward as much as possible and then

curl your mid-back forward and start to

touch your toes bending your lower back

so your upper body is completely going

forward and what this is going to do

it’s going to stretch the entire

posterior or back part of your spine and

your neck

sending signals to the front part

allowing for all these muscles on the

front part to be really really loose so

when you come out of this jefferson curl

you’re going to be able to stand up

taller and it’s going to feel really

relaxing now of course over time when

you’re more flexible you can start

adding weight and really stretch not

just your hamstrings but it’s a great

exercise to add flexibility and strength

to your entire spine now the second

thing i’m going to recommend is cervical

traction okay you can actually purchase

a traction device

an expensive one online maybe 50 75

maybe a hundred dollars

that will give you so much relief to

your neck

and

help you with your posture so much

especially if you had a compression

injury or even a tailbone injury in the

past

and what you basically do is you hook up

this device to your head and you’re

either laying on your back and you’re

putting this elastic bungee cord type

thing

on the other side of the door handle as

you close the door and you can control

how much traction is on your neck you

can also do this on the top of your door

pulling your head upward this way

creating uh this

separation between your occiput and your

c1 through here realize that the

ligaments through here are super super

strong and you can actually put a lot of

pressure on your neck to create this

attractioning effect between the occiput

and in the first cervical

vertebra but the reason i did cervical

traction in practice for 30 years

because it gave people so much relief

not just with their neck but

improving their sleep okay because

you’re stimulating the parasympathetic

nervous system remember rest and digest

you’re going to allow this person to

finally get into this relaxed state and

a lot of people carry so much tension

right through in here now there is my

device that you can get that’s not

necessarily

a traction device it’s more for pressure

points that you can put in the back of

your neck and i have videos on it it’s a

very very relaxing but if you’ve had a

compression injury or a tailbone injury

you need to get a cervical traction

device that can literally reverse the

injury over time and i’d recommend doing

this towards the end of the day maybe a

half hour before bed for about five

maybe ten minutes

and you’re going to find that your whole

body not just your neck but your mid

back and then your lower back are going

to

get into this relaxed state and it’s

going to really improve your sleep

because try to sleep if your neck has

constant tension you also notice the

range of motion the neck pain and maybe

even your headaches will go away as well

now the third thing i would recommend

after the stretching and the traction

would be neck strengthening exercises

and you would get on all fours and

you’re going to start to do extension

type exercises as well as on your back

doing flexion type exercises and i did

put some links down below of how to do

this because a lot of times people go to

the gym and they’re working their entire

body but they don’t actually strengthen

the neck and if you’re behind the

computer a lot you can actually lose

this normal curve that you should have

in the neck and you have to do things to

actively

undo

that

micro trauma now i’m really curious

about your past have you had

any trauma to your neck whether it’s a

compression injury tailbone injury or

whiplash injury go ahead and comment

down below and then after that i think

you should watch this next video on

whiplash check it out i put it right

here

you