During our everyday lives, there are times when acute pain is felt at our neck. This feels like a distinct sharp pain and may have a radiating effect. For less severe medical conditions, the neck pain may be due to the muscle strain or ligament sprain.

The damage may be caused by daily minor events or unforeseen serious accidents. An accident that causes a high impact force may stress and damage the muscles, ligaments and nerves. The neck being a delicate area of the body is highly compromised in forceful accidents, an example will be a car related accident. Minor events such as sleeping with your head in an awkward position could also cause a muscle strain in the neck.

Another common cause is the constant slouching while sitting in front of the computer. This causes a constant pull on the upper back muscles which then affect the muscles leading upwards to the neck.

For most neck pain cases, acute pain should not last more than three months. Should the pain last more than three months, chronic pain is developed. Without proper care and medical/physiotherapy/yoga therapy treatment, the neck pain eventually leads to shoulder ache and backache. Acute pain that is mild may last for a moment or up to several weeks.

How do you develop a restorative yoga practice for acute neck pain?

All you need is just 20 mins to develop a daily self-practice at home to ease neck pain with 5 relaxing yoga therapy poses.

*Note that prior to the practice, doctor consultation should be done to access your medical condition.

Materials required:

– Yoga Mat and Towel

Here are 5 yoga poses for neck pain relieve:

Start the yoga practice for neck pain by lying down flat on the back on your mat and use a folded towel as a pillow, supporting the neck.

1. Press and release the neck

Lie down in corpse pose with knees bent and maintain eyes closed. Place a folded towel onto the back of the neck. Gently press the back of the head, neck and shoulder to the folded towel. Angle the chin slightly towards the chest to ensure that the back of the neck is rested onto the towel. Hold for a few seconds and release. Repeat five times.

2. Hands in and out with breathing

Bring both arms out towards the side of the body at shoulder level, palms facing up. Exhale and raise the arms up and over the head with palms touching each other. Repeat five times.

3. Press and release the neck with breathing

Repeat step one with breathing. Inhale and press, exhale and release. Repeat five times.

4. Movement of head from side to side

Gently roll the neck slowly to the left, feel the stretch and come back to center. Then roll to the right and back to center. Feel the stretch at the side of the neck. Repeat five times at a slow and comfortable speed.

Repeat the same movement five times with deep breathing. Exhale while rolling towards the side and inhale when you roll your head back to center.

Repeat the same movement five times with chanting “MMM” while moving the neck from side to side. Feel the stimulation and massaging effect of the sound to the neck and shoulder area.

5. Hands stretch from chest

Interlock the finders of both hands and rest them on the chest area. Inhale, stretch the hands out with palms facing towards the ceiling with elbows straighten. Exhale and bring the hands down slowly to rest the palms on the chest. Repeat five times

Lastly, relax in corpse pose and feel the difference in the body before and after the practice.

With these 5 yoga therapy poses for neck pain relief, we hope that it can ease you into relaxation daily. It is still crucial to monitor the condition, if pain and muscle tightness still persist, it is important to get checked by the doctor. Consistent yoga practice helps to build strength and relieve muscle tension.

*Note:

– For more effective results, the following steps should be guided with a yoga therapist.

Namaste,

Hazel Kok

Credits:

– Steps of practice is abstracted from Yoga for Back Pain by Dr R Nagarathna and Dr H R Nagendra (Published by Viveka Yoga Research Foundation Swami Vivekananda Yoga Prakashana)