The real reason your neck gets stuck

You woke up in the morning and suddenly you just can't turn your head or maybe you want to start driving from your home. You try to glance a right hand mirror and then it hits you. A sharp pain shooting through your neck and it hurts like hell. Is it just a bullet muscle or could it be something else?

And when should you actually go and see the doctor? You'll get answer to these questions in this video along with the tips on what to do if this issue keeps coming back from time to time. So what can cause a strong movement restriction to the neck? The facet joints are connecting surface between the upper and lower vertebra.

These need to glide freely in order to allow the smooth motion. If the glide is blocked or the joint cannot move normally, then there is a restriction present. Another factor could be muscular guarding. This might come from prolonged strain or sudden movement.

For example if you look under the table in everyday life and suddenly feel this stabbing pain into your neck and after a short delay you notice that your spinal extensions have gone completely stiff. This is your body way to reacting to the pain and your system basically says nope we are not going to this direction because it doesn't feel safe. Third factor could be poor sleeping posture or unsuitable pillow or terrible screen ergonomics at your workstation. Now how could you make this situation even worse?

If you start forcing the movement into a stiff structure or try to stretch it too aggressively. During that your pain sensors kick in and as a result the muscular guarding just starts to increase and that is your body trying to protect itself. And in acute pain if your face turns into throne it hurts like crazy and you keep doing that things what increases your resting pain you're basically banging your head against the wall. So how on earth should you begin to resolve this?

Next you'll get simple stretching instructions and easy at home mobilization techniques to get your neck turning again. Which muscles are the usual suspects when your head feels completely locked up? The trapezius muscle and the splenius capitis and splenius cervicis can absolutely clamp down the neck so tight that there is no movement getting through. What is the structures of the trapezius?

It is a massive muscle with three parts upper middle and lower part. The upper part attaches to the neck area and stretches down to the shoulders. It helps with tilting and rotating the head which is very crucial in everyday activities. How can we gently stretch the trapezius?

Gently press your shoulder downwards and grab something like your own pants. Then slowly tilt your head into the opposite direction. Very quickly you will going to feel the stretch between the neck and the shoulder. Hold that stretch for a few seconds and ease off.

Stretch again or do this kind of pumping motion for a minute. How about using the ball for the release? Lean forward against the cabinet or door frame. Place the ball on the tender spot into the muscle and then roll up and down.

If the worst tension is a bit further back, place the ball on the muscle and then lean against the wall or cabinet and work the area there. Spend about one minute on each spot before moving to the next. The splenius muscle can be divided into two parts. The upper part, splenius capitis, kaput means the head, moves the upper neck and the head.

Splenius cervicis moves the entire cervical spine. If we want to gently work on the upper areas, we should slightly bend our neck forward. Use your thumb to locate the processus mastoidus behind the ear on the symptomatic side. Then slide the base of your thumb on the side towards the midline.

If you feel any real tender spots, focus on those. Gentle gliding for a minute is a good idea if the area is super tight. Now for the splenius cervicis. Its muscle belly is located more in the mid-cervical spine.

Again, take slightly forward bend position. Possibly add also side bending and rotation away from the treated side. This gives the muscle a slight pre-stretch. Then curve your fingers and press gently into that mid-neck area.

Start making small circular or gliding movements vertically. Again, a minute of work is good if you find the most tender spots there. You can experiment with many different approaches for the stretching mobilization and I've gathered some very simple options for you there. Try them all and go with the ones what gives you the best stretch sensations.

Let's start by stretching the neck this way. Pull your double chin firmly in. Imagine sliding your head backwards, straightening the forward curve of your neck. Then gently press your chin downwards.

You should feel the stretch in the back of your head. If you want to increase the stretch further, place your fingers in front of the chin. Prevent the neck from moving forward. The other hand goes to top of the head and slides the skull forward.

This creates strong nodding motion at the upper neck. This is also easy to do almost anywhere. In another style you can stretch using the towel. Grab the end of the towel firmly.

Locate the bony bump below your ears and from the back apply strong forward glide with the towel just below those bumps. This blocks the cervical spine number two vertebra in the neck and then you nod your head forward and downwards. You should feel good stretch at the base of the skull. If you want to increase the rotation in the upper neck, here's how.

To rotate to the right, grab the right towel end with your left hand and pull it downwards. Your right hand grabs the left towel end and pulls it across the face from under the ear bump toward the side. Keep your forearm roughly in horizontal plane so the pulling direction is optimal. After that you can also try angling the pull slightly upwards or downwards.

Just make sure that you feel the nice stretch in the neck. This might be a bit difficult so let me show how to do this stretch for the left rotation also. Grab the left towel end with your right hand and pull down. Then use your left hand to pull the right towel end from the under of the ear bump across the face.

Start with the horizontal pull. You can try also sliding upwards or downwards the glide too. If in addition to limited movement you're also dealing with the neck related dizziness, these upper neck exercises can be very effective. Hall and colleagues tested 2007 these self-mobilizations on 32 people and found pretty good and effective response.

If the neck related dizziness has become chronic, in studies from 2014 and 2015 shows that the self-mobilization and manual therapy are very helpful treating the upper neck cervical structures. If you want to add gentle motion to the mid or lower neck, here's what you can do. Adjust the height of the pillows. Typically the lower the pillow, the stronger the response during the gentle mobilization.

But there is a lot of individual differences. Gently tuck your chin to create a little double chin and if you want to mobilize to the left, use the left hand to grab the right side of your neck and then start rotating from right to left. Try this at the upper, middle and lower cervical levels. To mobilize to the right, grab the left side of the neck with your right hand and then glide to the right.

If the movement is still painful, just use the hand to create the motion passively and as the muscular quarting starts to relax, you can gradually add active movement using your muscles and then during that your hand is assisting the movement. What's important to remember when you do the stretching? It's good to get some blood circulation into the muscles before the stretching. In the shoulder area, do some light shoulder pumps.

Lift your shoulders towards your ears for a few minutes without the pain and then begin the stretching. Gentle pumping stretches are great before activities and if you want to do the stretches after the activities, then the longer holds are more suitable. Always aim for the mild stretch sensation. If the stretch turns into pain, you are doing it too hard and you might actually make things worse.

Stretching is totally fine, but it's not a miracle fix. But if there is a serious weakness in certain muscles and all you do is stretch, then a more effective low-tempo strategy is to build the strength to that area. But in an acute situation like this, stretching definitely has its place. What should you keep in mind when using the fascia ball or lacrosse ball?

Start gently. As you feel the first sensations in the muscle, gradually start to increase the pressure. If you slam the ball with the full force and start cringing in pain, you are only hurting yourself. Always target the muscle belly, not bones or other structures.

So don't roll the ball over the bones. Remember to breathe calmly during the work. If your breathing pattern becomes rapid, your body goes into fight or flight mode and that's not what we want. When should you not use the ball?

If there is a bruising, swelling or broken skin, bleeding or the area is really hypersensitive to touch. Also be cautious if you are using blood thinners or have other health issues. When should you see a doctor? If you experience these 7D2N symptoms and you'll find more about that and the neck related dizziness in this video.

See you in there!