A Simple Neck Stretching Exercise

Hello, Dr. John Murray here with a really simple neck stretching exercise.

Chiropractic isn’t about treating your systems. It’s about optimizing life expression. The fact is you’re alive, and while you’re alive in this material body of yours, there are certain essential things that you have to provide for it. There’s nutritional considerations, emotional considerations, and movement or exercise considerations. This is all about helping you with some stretching that will help the function of your neck area, and this is a really simple neck stretching exercise.

Most people are in a forward head posture for much of the day. People are very tense and stressed. Through the adjustment, we activate segmental function of the vertebrae and the nerve system. We remove nerve interference through correction of the subluxation, but we can also ring motion and flexibility into the spine with this simple neck stretching exercise I’m going to show you. You want to try and do it daily if you can. It’s part of the tai chi stretching set that I do every day.

Here’s how it works:

1. What you want to do is put your hands on your hips and relax your shoulders, and bring them into a neutral position. You don’t want to be rounded. You don’t want to be extended and protracted. You want to stay neutral.
2. Then, from this position, what you’re going to do is gently tuck your chin.
3. Once you do that, you’re going to turn your head to the right, keeping your chin tucked, relaxing my shoulders.
4. From there, you’re going to look up towards the ceiling or towards the sky if you’re outside. Keeping my shoulders relaxed, I now feel the left side of my neck, the musculature on the neck area on the left side and in the front, stretching nice and gently. Hold for about 10 seconds.
5. Come back down to where you were. Hold for another 5 seconds or so.
6. Gently, while keeping your chin tucked, turn your face to the left once again. Hold for 5 or 10 seconds, keeping your shoulders relaxed and breathing.
7. Look up towards the ceiling again. Now, I’m stretching the musculature on the right anterior or front side. Hold for about 10 seconds.
8. Come back to that original position.
9. Slowly turn the head to the right, chin tucked, open to the right. Then, look up towards the ceiling again. At this point, you can relax and drop your hands to your side.
10. Gently come back down.
11. Turn your head to the left once again, keeping the chin tucked. Hold for 5 seconds or so. Look up towards the ceiling again, keeping the shoulders relaxed. Come back down.
12. Gently turn your head to the middle. Come to a neutral position, looking forward.
13. Now, gently extend your head backwards comfortably, keeping your shoulders relaxed. Hold for about 10 seconds.
14. Come back to a neutral position, facing forward.
15. Now, slowly turn your face to the right, your head to the right. Remember to breathe and stay relaxed. Hold for about 10 seconds.
16. Slowly rotate your head to the left. Hold this position, a nice comfortable stretch, don’t force it. Hold this position for about 10 seconds. Release. Slowly rotate once more all the way to the right, nice and slow in these transitions. It’s very important. Rotate it fully to the right now.
17. Now, with your eyes, look behind you as far as you can with your eyes. You’re actually going to stretch your eye musculature. Straight back.
18. Now, look upward and behind you as far as you can.
19. Now, look backward behind you and down at the floor. Release the eye.
20. Slowly rotate your head to the left. Look behind you over your left shoulder now with your eyes as far as you can, and behind you, looking up towards the ceiling, and behind you, looking down at the floor. Hold for 10 seconds or so.
21. Release and relax your eyes. Slowly turn your face, facing forward in a neutral position.

There you have it. That’s the simple neck stretching exercise set from the tai chi stretching set that I do daily, so give it a go. I think you’ll see great results. You’ll feel less tension, and you’ll be contributing to your own well-being, which is what this is all about. Have a great day.