Ask Dr. LJ: Unkinking tension muscles?

[saxikath]

Other than getting a massage (which would be lovely, but is somewhat impractical in the middle of the workday), anyone have good ideas for stretching or otherwise unkinking the neck/shoulder muscles where I, at least, tend to store tension?

Comments

[desireearmfeldt]

A good stretch (works even better with a strip of stretchy stuff in your hands, but can be done without) is to bring the shoulder blades together, hold, release; repeat for a set of 10.

I also find these to be handy neck stretches: for each side, tilt head to side, hold it there with pressure of hand. Then do the same thing, except after you tilt to the side, then tilt forward (like you're looking at your knee), then hold with pressure of your hand.

[lemurtanis.livejournal.com]

Fully agree with second paragraph. When you tilt your head to the side, place the hand you don't have on your head behind the small of your back, to make sure your posture's correct. When you tilt forward, move that other hand to basically hold the back of your shoulder on the same side. (Like you're trying to scratch your left shoulderblade with your left hand, for example.) Helps make sure you're not overdoing it.

(Advice from PT friend mchiesi. Made Anything Goes much more manageable.)

[ex-colorwhe.livejournal.com]

drink some extra water. lower hydration = muscles that want to clench.

[mammothali.livejournal.com]

I took some hatha yoga classes, and the big teaching point was "warming and cooling." So for every stretch you do in one direction, make sure you do a counter-stretch in the other direction. Bring your shoulders together in the front for 10 seconds and hold. Then link your wrists together behind your back and pull so your shoulders come together behind your back. Stand up and bend over forwards, then bend backwards. Try to bring your shoulders all the way up to your ears while bending your head back. Then push your shoulders down all the way while bending your head forward and down. Basically, do what feels good, then do the opposite - it will feel even better!

[kayre]

Shoulder circles, both directions.
Full arm circles, separately and together but not fast.
Pull your arms forward like hugging yourself, and let your head fall forward; then pull arms, especially elbows, back and lift your head.
Just lying flat on a relatively hard surface may help, too. Then roll to one side and curl up before standing up.

Can you tell this is where I carry my tension? Occupational hazard of organists. :)

[chris-warrior.livejournal.com]

all good. also breathe, and watch your posture. :) coming up with a mnemonic to help you remember to check your posture and stretch your neck can help a ton. plus, no one said you can't self-massage. press where it hurts, esp along the bones/muscle attachments.

[wellstar.livejournal.com]

My resident massage therapist suggests leaning the sore parts on a pinky ball (try a Google image search if you don't know what I'm talking about) or a tennis ball while standing against a wall. (Or lying on the ground, but maybe not so much with that at work?) She also says make sure the ball isn't on any bones. Good luck!