An inch back, ten times, twice a day

Move it Monday

A physical therapist once put two fingers on my chin and pushed it back about an inch.

I had come in about my lower back. She had watched me read the forms in the waiting room, and she wanted to talk about my neck.

My head, she said, was out in front of my shoulders like a lamp on a long arm. And the small muscles that hold it up were tired of the job.

I did not like hearing it. But I went home and stood side on to the hall mirror, and she was right… my ears sat well in front of my shoulders.

So this week is the neck. And today is the move she gave me, which you can do in a kitchen chair.

The move

Sit tall in a chair with a firm back. Feet flat. Look straight ahead at something on the far wall.

Now slide your chin straight back, as if a string tied to the back of your head was pulled gently. You will make a small double chin. That is fine. Nobody is watching.

Keep your eyes level the whole time. This is not a nod down. You are sliding your head back over your shoulders, like a drawer going shut.

Hold it for five slow seconds… then let go. Do ten. Twice a day is plenty to start.

It should feel like work at the front of the neck, low down, behind your throat. It should not hurt. If it does, make the move smaller.

The easier version, lying down

Lie on your back on the bed, head on one thin pillow. Knees bent.

Now give a very small nod, as if you were saying yes to someone at the foot of the bed. The back of your head slides a little way up the pillow. Hold for five seconds, then rest.

This one is gentler, because the bed takes the weight of your head. It is a good place to start on a sore day.

Which muscles, and why bother

The muscles this works are called the deep neck flexors. In other words, small muscles that run down the front of the spine, tucked behind your throat. They hold the head steady while the big outer muscles do the turning.

Think of a tent. The pole is your spine. The deep flexors are the guy ropes. If the ropes go slack, the big muscles at the back of the neck end up doing two jobs… and by evening they let you know about it.

Bear in mind that your head weighs ten to twelve pounds. That is about a bowling ball, held up all day on a stack of seven small bones.

What the trials say

The best known test of this kind of exercise came from Australia in 2002. Gwendolen Jull and her team took 200 people whose headaches came from the neck. Some got six weeks of low load exercise for these deep muscles. Others got nothing.

The exercise group had fewer headaches and milder ones. And the effect was still there a year later. Bear in mind that this was a headache trial. It tells us the move is worth doing. It does not tell us it fixes every sore neck.

A wider look comes from Cochrane, the group that pools trials and grades them. Their 2015 review took in 27 trials. Strength work for the neck, shoulders and upper back helped people with long running neck pain. Stretching on its own did not do much.

The evidence was moderate, not high. I would rather tell you that than dress it up. But the move is cheap, it is safe, and it takes two minutes.

Anyway, I do mine at the kitchen table while the kettle boils. Carol says I look like a startled pigeon. She is not wrong.

Two weeks in, I could stand at the hall mirror and see my ears closer to my shoulders. That is not a trial result… it is just what I saw.

Here is to an inch further back,
Walt

The Health Brief is for education only. It is not medical advice. Always check with your own doctor about your own situation.