EXERCISE: Using a Foam Roller to Relieve Neck Pain
A foam roller, also called a Styrofoam cylinder, may help you reduce pain, tender spots, and stiffness in your neck and upper back. Keep the following tips in mind when you use a foam roller to stretch your muscles or perform a self-massage. Foam rollers are an effective rehab and training tool, available in a variety of sizes, materials, and densities. Daily foam roller neck exercises facilitate postural alignment of the neck and provide pain relief by focusing on tight knots or bands within neck muscles.
Slowly roll the foam roller until you find a tender spot or trigger point. Then apply gentle, steady pressure to that spot until pain subsides, but no longer than 60 seconds. Very little actual rolling is involved with the neck; rather the roller is placed under a sensitive or knotted spot and the pressure on that spot is gradually increased, remaining there until it releases, but no longer than a minute. To move higher, lift your neck off the roller and place it back down just above the previous spot.
For the side of your neck, lay down on your side, and place the roller sideways under your neck. Again, slowly lift your hips until most of your weight is on the side of your neck. Stop if the area is too painful and only put as much weight on your neck as is comfortable. Make sure to do both sides of your neck to maintain balance.
The foam roller can be used both vertically and horizontally to roll out trigger points in upper and mid back's paraspinal muscles (erector spinae). When using it vertically, roll out each side of your spine separately. Crossing the arms on the chest helps to separate the shoulder blades to give better access to the paraspinal muscles. Using a foam roller—combined with stretching exercises, physical therapy, chiropractic manipulation, and/or medication—can be a simple, effective way to relieve neck pain. Foam rolling is a self-massage to the soft tissues. The foam roller compresses tissues and helps to release tight bands in soft tissue. Massage is an ‘irritant' to the soft tissues that brings blood flow, which then helps with fluid movement and promotes healing because blood carries nutrients and oxygen. So, getting this type of compressive massage therapy helps break up tightness or ‘knots' in the tissues. It also helps to promote fluid circulation, increases pliability of the soft tissues, reduces compressive forces on the joints (when the surrounding soft tissues are more flexible) and increases neuromuscular activity because the soft tissues will be more at an optimal resting length for function.
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