Easy Exercise to Cure Stiff Neck
By Carolin
I used to wake up every morning with a stiff neck.
For years I slept with a pillow from Tempur and yes that certainly helped but it still wouldn’t make the stiffness go away. I was even considering buying a new bed.
Then something happened. I read a book about zone therapy. In zone therapy they use zones on your hands and feet to massage or remove blockage in different parts of the body. It was a very interesting book and it had a small section with daily exercises.
I tried all the exercises and found one that works wonders for me. It is almost ridiculously easy and takes about 2 minutes.
I do it before I get out of bed in the morning. It’s actually a great way to wake up.
The best of it all is that the stiffness in my neck disappeared within days.
Here is the exercise I do lying in bed:
- Begin with your right foot. Put your right foot comfortably up in the air supporting it with your left knee.
- Bend your toes down and up a couple of times.
- Then try to sspread out your toes sideways away from each other.
- Do the 2 exercises a couple of times depending on how it feels.
- Finish with rotating your foot from the ankle clockwise and then in the other direction. (This part is actually for you back but it’s very comfortable)
- Repeat the exercises with your left foot.
In zone therapy the base of the toes, where they bend, represents your neck. The first time I tried this my toes cramped and I was not able to spread them at all. But it quickly improved and with the improvement my stiffness disappeared.
No more stiff neck for me!
image courtesy of Menage a Moi
Learn More About.. zone therapy, cure, stiff neck, natural remedy
That is great but is your neck still ok or is it stiff again? It would be interesting to know if this is something that only works for a couple of weeks, or if really works.
Cheers.
anderss last blog post..Pilates Mat Exercises
Hi Anders,
My neck is great. No problems at all.
Thanks for asking,
Carolin
I have have problems with my neck in the past because of a inappropriate sleep position and bad pillow, but from one year I sleep without pillow and I feel great.
Do you sleep on your back?
/Carolin
Ok I havent try this But i wish it will work IT HURT REALLY BAD!! is this because i always swim??
If you get a stiff neck from swimming try to change your exercise routine. Swim on you back as well. Do something totally different when you exercise and stretch out your neck after swimming.
Hi Carolin,
Yes I sleep on my back, and this position is very comfortable, I feel very well and my neck feel great.
Wow! that’s really amazing. Thanks for sharing
Thanks for asharing Caroline, great blog, great articles
You’re welcome. Glad to see you here, Alex.
I haven’t experience yet and I wish I don’t get a stiff neck. Maybe, the best thing to avoid this is to recall your sleeping position habit. If you experienced stiff neck on a certain sleeping position then avoid that sleeping position. Just my opinion.
I’ve had a share of stiff necks myself. And believe me, you don’t want to have it. I’ve had a severe case once that I really couldn’t move my neck, and that I feel that my head’s going to snap out of its place if I move it. But, hot compress and massage helps alleviate the pain.
Wow Edwin that sounds pretty bad.
I woke up like that one morning but I just turned my head slowly, slowly and very carefully in one direction and then the other. At first you couldn’t actually see me move. I think it took me somewhere between 30 min and 1 hour before my neck was back to normal again. But it worked.
That’s amazing that a simple toe exercise could eliminate pain in the neck. I’ve never heard of such a thing. I don’t have neck pain, but my mom does, so I’ll tell her to try this out.
Wow I’m glad I found your page. I’ve really enjoyed your post and look forward to your updates.
It’s always fun when you find someone with similar ideas as your own. Keep up the good work!
This information looks familiar; I think I’ve read this before in a magazine somewhere. Are you an editor for a blog magazine?
I am at the stage I will try any thing I have printed this out to put by my bed for the morning when will I get to notice a improvement
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my neck is ok but it takes about an hor to get my lower back to feel comfortable
how much does the choice of pillow have to do with it as well
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I’m sure the choice of pillow has as effect it just never helped me.
I tried this for the last 2 mornings and I have noticed a distict immediate improvement thank you so much
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Every fortnightly have a neck message by a therapist, and never use a pillow if you have stiff neck, rather use a soft towel to fill the gap at neck so that it doesn’t allow the neck strain.
That’s a really good article. I’ve got stiff necks in the past and it’s so annoying. I should remember this for the future
Thanks a bunch.
Thanks for these tips! What also helps, is, before you go to sleep, put your head on the pillow and push your head as deep in the pillow as possible, while trying to lie down as relaxed as possible. It helped me a lot after doing it 3 times a week, 3 minutes each time.
Thank you for sharing an exercise. How do you push your head down and relax at the same time?
I’ve been having neck pain the last couple of days. I will have to try these out! Thanks!