It’s Just A Pain In The Neck

I woke up yesterday morning with a crick in my neck. They happen occasionally. Fortunately, less often now than in the past.

One of the advantages of massage school for me was learning how to stretch and strengthen the muscles that are typically involved in a neck crick.

Most cricks are actually aggravated trigger points in the muscles of the back that cause referred pain and tightness experienced in the neck. I found that strengthening my back cut down significantly on repeated incidents of cricks. I was experiencing severe cricks two to three times a month.

This crick though, it was different. So I turned to the internet to see if I could find some relief as all my standard tricks weren’t working.

I found this interesting article by Barbara Benagh over on Yoga Journal. And while interesting, wasn’t exactly what I was looking for. Fortunately she wrote another article which includes an exercise list with photos.

I tried almost all of these exercises last night. The crick is somewhat better, but still here. I’ll be trying them again. It’s been a while since I’ve been on the mat. It felt good.