If the muscles that are responsible for balancing your head on your neck begin to tighten, pain can begin within a few minutes. You will want to free up your movement, and fast. But you may want to find a way to do this slowly, effortlessly, gently, and as pleasurably as possible. I like to think fine-motor re-calibration VS. big prime mover action. Not: “Argh gotta sit up straight!” gross-motor re-posturings.
Stay mobile
Free micro-movement needs to be maintained at the skull to neck joint to help the olive of the head roll in the spoon of the neck. It’s an image of free-float. There is a stand (the neck) doing big movements and then these nice and small movements happening above. Your neck to head system is not just a big crane, there is some servo-motor activity going on up top that is very finely calibrated. It just happens fast and is mostly reliant on proprioceptive signals and data from the vestibular system so we don’t pay attention to it much.
Sensory awareness is key
Use your felt sense and notice the initiation of a lock down in your face, head, jaw, and neck early on, before pain and tension begin to escalate.
Relax your face
Tension in the face and jaw can also cause pain. Stay relaxed in your face. Breathe out, smile, or yawn a few times if you feel tense. Have someone say something nice to you or give you a hug.
Office workers
Yes, get an ergonomics assessment. You want to find a way to adjust your whole body position relative to the work plane and the surfaces and objects you are in contact with. Not allocating your mass to this or that permanent support. Keep it mobile. They keys are: feet on floor and only temporary leaning pauses to rest. Leaning should not be the MO for the work day. Your body has to stay in active tensegrity, not relaxed decompression.
Adjust your viewing angle and body position
When your spine is in a plumb line, your gaze wants to fall on the horizon. Activate your personal ergonomics to support tensegral alignment and you will find a natural neutral-head tilt relative to the horizon. An off center spine and too high or too low gaze angle, will require your neck muscles to compensate.
Typing
When typing you should be able to see your hands via your lower peripheral vision. If this activity is an all day long affair, then you probably have memorized the QWERTY keyboard by now. If you have not bothered, give it a try. It’s a cool exercise in kinesi-mapping. Think how much more freedom of movement you will enjoy when you simply balance on your sit bones and rarely have to crane your neck or compress your posture in order to work.
Contributing factors
Although monitoring your kinesthetic channel may be the #1) self-help to prevent on-set of tension, there are other contributing factors that facilitate hyper-tonic muscle systems. Some of these can easily be self-helped. For example, electrolyte imbalance and stress. Magnesium Salycilate eases muscle spasms and is available from any pharmacy. Always check with your doctor for contraindications before supplementing with Mg. Bathing in Epsom Salts also relaxes muscles. Angled backs of bathtubs that crank your neck are not useful. When you bathe your neck, you need a stand to hold your head. I use a shallow plastic tub. Got a soup bowl? Avoid more than a few inch tall pillow if you are a back sleeper. If you are a side sleeper, you need one as thick as your shoulder span but no higher.
Here is my Top 10 list of self-help strategies:
1)Reset: keep the head level with the horizon. Look up. Look down. Do NOT move your head and neck. Just your eyes. Then relax completely.
2)Yawn a few times. And relax totally.
4)Focus your mind on the RCPM and visualize it gently releasing length. If you are driving, pull over to do this. As the song goes: “Keep your eyes on the road and your hands upon the wheel.”
5) Move: if you have been seated for over a half-hour: stand up, walk around.
6)Straighten the seat back of your chair so your spine is more perpendicular to the ground.
7)Drink a few cups of water. Proper hydration helps every system in your body work better.
Do not reach. Move your entire center of mass closer to the target object.
9)When you are in contact with an object or surface, do not hang on to it. I am thinking of steering wheels here. Hold the wheel gently and isometrically push and pull your mass away and toward it to adjust your muscle tension.
10)Draw your thorax forward instead of pulling your shoulders back. A fine-motor distinction that can only be experienced through live sensing.
11)Rest in the constructive rest position. This is the most decompressed posture you can find on dry land. Astronauts use it. It’s free. You might as well carpe diem too. Find a space on the floor, lay down, put your legs up on the couch or a chair. Rest the back of your head on a 1-2″ thick support. Repeat exercise 1)-3) from this postion. Take a break from gravity. And if it doesn’t help try it in conjunction with # 2) above. PS. a yoga mat is as vital to your day at the office as your iPhone or blackberry. Keep one handy.
If you are experiencing a tension headache, do not hesitate to call your local massage therapist, bodyworker, or movement educator. There are often other muscles, movement patterns, and ergonomic factors involved and mucle tension is something we are uniquely qualified to consult on.
