Neck feeling stiff, sore, or severely painful? Regardless of whether you answered yes to one or all of the above, we have several exercises for sore neck relief you can try.
From sleeping to sitting at a desk, neck pain can make even simple activities nearly impossible. With time, these difficulties often wear on your patience, leaving you frustrated and lost. As the resident experts on neck exercises for pain near Bucktown, the Balanced Flow team understands the debilitating nature of chronic pain and is here to provide solutions.
Stay tuned as we share insights on:
- Neck pain causes and related symptoms
- Exercises for neck pain relief
- Common errors in self-treating neck pain
- Benefits of professional help
- Neck pain treatment at Balanced Flow
- Frequently asked questions about neck pain
Ready to skip the reading and go straight to expert help? Take our quick quiz to connect with our team and discover services tailored to your needs—all without leaving your couch.
Get to Know Neck Pain
Most neck pain clients need tech neck treatment, at least in part. “Tech neck” is the pain or stiffness you can develop from looking down at your devices too often. Your head weighs around 10 to 12 pounds, and every time you tilt it forward, your neck muscles work extra hard to hold it up.
Imagine lifting a weight with your arm and holding it there for hours—that would cause a lot of strain on your arm and shoulder. All the time you spend with your head down looking at your phone or laptop is causing this level of unnecessary neck strain.
One of the absolute best ways to get rid of persistent neck strain is to look up more often. But for many of us, that’s easier said than done, especially if your work requires screens. Plus, standing upright can’t always reverse years’ worth of tech-induced slouching. But your phone isn’t the only possible culprit.
For many people seeking neck exercises for pain near Bucktown, their issue stems from a combination of variables. For example:
- Injuries involving whiplash
- Genetic predisposition
- Past traumas
- Tension-causing activities
- Unnatural movement habits
Interestingly, these factors don’t always manifest in traditional neck pain; sometimes they cause related symptoms:
- Headaches
- Jaw pain
- Arm and shoulder issues
One sign of arm and shoulder problems may be a tingling sensation in your fingers and arms. People often mistake this symptom for carpal tunnel syndrome, but it may be alleviated through neck pain treatment. If you’re experiencing an array of symptoms, you may benefit from visiting a medical provider for a professional evaluation.
At-Home Exercises for Neck Relief
Whether you’re preventing or treating neck pain, it’s beneficial to focus on strength and flexibility. Consider how architects design skyscrapers: they must bear immense weight, but also possess flexibility to sway with the wind. This approach helps you reduce tension, increase mobility, and avoid future injuries.
Here are our favorite options to provide when clients ask about neck exercises for pain near Bucktown.
1. Chin Retractions
Chin retractions are an easy but useful exercise that can help people with neck pain, particularly those who frequently spend time at a desk.
Sit tall and imagine a string pulling the crown of your head straight up. With this sensation in mind, tuck your chin directly backward (not downward). Return to a neutral spine position and repeat.
Chin retractions relieve tension in your upper back and between the shoulders, and help you sit longer without pain or discomfort.
2. Chin Retractions + Resistance Band
Adding a band to chin retractions helps activate your deep neck flexors—tiny core muscles that support your head and keep your neck aligned. Strengthening these muscles reduces neck tension, helps prevent headaches, and can even prevent neck lines long-term.
For these more advanced chin retractions, loop a resistance band around your neck and brace your hands on a wall, placed slightly wider than your shoulders with the band securely held underneath your palms. Press back into the band as you retract your chin, keeping your hands on the wall. And repeat!
Watch how this exercise works by viewing our instructional video.
3. Upper Trap Release
Constantly jutting your head forward and frequently hunching your shoulders can cause tension in your upper trapezius muscles and neck discomfort. Rolling a lacrosse ball across your upper traps can release this strain.
Simply place a ball at the midpoint of your upper trap, between your neck and shoulder, and lean against a wall for pressure. Gently move the ball back and forth across this area, alleviating neck stiffness and pain.
Review this exercise in detail with our instructional video:
Need help with any of these neck exercises for pain near Bucktown? Give our team a quick call!
Common Neck Pain Mistakes You May Be Making
Seeing a doctor is not most people’s idea of a good time, so many try to cope with their ailments alone. Unfortunately, without proper education, training, or guidance on musculoskeletal issues, it’s easy to make mistakes that exacerbate your issues, rather than help them.
Here are some of the most common mistakes individuals make when dealing with neck pain on their own.
Stretching Against the Tension
Many people instinctively stretch their necks forward when experiencing neck pain, hoping to relieve the tension. However, this can actually exacerbate neck strain because it not only repeats the movement causing your pain but also increases the pressure on it.
Overdoing Screen Time
One of the best things you can do for neck pain is to simply look up more! Most people spend around a third of every day looking down at screens. Plus, slouching during screen use can affect your posture throughout the day, often becoming a habitual problem.
Unfortunately, it’s quite difficult for many working people to disconnect from their laptops and phones during the day. We recommend finding small ways to lift your head even slightly, such as elevating your computer’s position, using a standing desk, or holding your phone higher. These are small actions that can make a difference when done consistently.
Waiting for Pain to Subside on Its Own
One of the most frequent errors people with neck pain make is passively waiting for the pain to disappear. A week or two is a fair amount of time to let a new worry pass, but if the problem continues past 3 to 4 weeks, it’s time to act. While your discomfort might improve temporarily, it’ll probably return with even the slightest agitation.
The Benefits of Professional Help
If you’re struggling to cope with neck pain, a healthcare professional can recommend neck exercises for pain near Bucktown that lead to better, quicker outcomes.
Expert Evaluation
Although pain relievers and specific exercises can help with some neck pain, addressing the underlying cause is crucial for resolving a chronic concern. Sometimes, an objective opinion from a professional is necessary to pinpoint the origin of your neck pain.
For instance, at Balanced Flow, we recognize that neck pain often affects the entire body, prompting a more comprehensive assessment. We’ll have a team member take you through a series of movements to evaluate your mobility and look for any interconnected issues.
Guided Movement
Self-directed exercises demand thorough research and caution. Otherwise, mistakes and misinformation can do more harm than good. Alternatively, in-person instruction offers accurate guidance, injury prevention, and consistent scheduling.
At Balanced Flow, for example, we guide you through proven physical therapy exercises, which are tailored to your condition to strengthen neck muscles and promote better posture.
Advanced Treatment
Healthcare professionals provide not only expertise but also access to medical technology and resources you wouldn’t have with self-treatment. Through these advanced tools, you can experience enhanced benefits and longer-lasting relief.
For example, at Balanced Flow, we use EMS training and trigger point injections to improve your outcomes.
EMS Training With Miha Bodytec
EMS training delivers electromyostimulation in coordination with precise movements to promote more effective muscle contractions. With our Miha Bodytec workout suit, we quickly increase strength building in your upper body to create more stable, mobile neck muscles.
Trigger Point Injections (Wet Needling)
With trigger point injections, or wet needling, we locate trigger points, where you’ve been holding tension related to your neck pain. Next, we inject a saline-lidocaine solution into these areas to relax the pain-causing tension.
By resolving your trigger point, the injection improves blood flow and reduces inflammation, giving many patients immediate and lasting relief. Following this, we take you through neck exercises for pain near Bucktown to retrain those tissues and unlearn movement patterns that cause habitual strain.
Frequently Asked Questions
As a leading wellness center in Chicago, we get many questions regarding chronic pain, and neck problems in particular. Here are our answers to some of the most popular questions we get.
When is it time to see a medical professional about my neck pain?
If heat, ice, and aspirin can ease your pain, you may not need additional help. If your neck pain doesn’t improve, gets worse, or keeps returning, you should consult a healthcare professional.
At Balanced Flow, we can quickly eliminate your pain and teach you how to prevent it from recurring.
For neck pain, should I see a chiropractor or a different type of doctor?
Most medical specialists have a unique approach to treating chronic pain. It’s not accurate to place all chiropractors, or physical therapists for that matter, into the same box. That’s why, as a patient, it’s crucial to look into an individual practitioner’s philosophy and method of care to determine their suitability for your needs.
We recommend finding a provider that focuses on identifying and treating the root cause of your issues using various proven methods.
Get Expert Help With Your Neck Pain
If our neck exercises for pain near Bucktown restore your comfort and mobility, then great! But if you’re still struggling for relief, reach out to our team for support. Our experts offer the knowledge, experience, and resources to help you feel better faster!
Get started by scheduling an appointment at Balanced Flow.
