If you don't pay attention to your sleeping posture, or if the air conditioner is blown too loudly, you will feel that your shoulders are particularly heavy and your neck is not in place, and you will feel restricted.
After a series of examinations, plaster and physical therapy are one of the essential treatment methods. Symptoms sometimes improve, sometimes recur, and the roots can't be broken repeatedly.
What about this? This is the "shoulder and neck stiffness problem" that Xiao Kangkang shared with you this time. It may not be the degree of illness, but "no illness does not mean health." Stiff shoulders are actually a distress signal from your body, warning you that your body is out of balance. If we continue to ignore it, the subsequent development may be even worse. Such as hyperosteogeny and cervical spondylolisthesis. When the disease develops to the above situation, it is difficult to deal with it.
Prevention is greater than cure, and similar situations in the body must be taken seriously! Then at this time, if we actively intervene and recover, the body will be able to turn around quickly and the "cost" of recovery will be reduced. If we continue to ignore this situation, it will promote the further development of the problem. When the body loses its compensatory ability, the course of disease will change from "sub-health state" to "disease state". At this time, it will not only cost money, but also cost time and body.
1. Upper crossing syndrome
With the change of lifestyle and the application of electronic products, desk work has become a trend. Head weight accounts for 6%-8% of body weight. When we are in a bow posture for a long time, in order to maintain the head posture, the weight borne by the cervical spine will increase.
The data shows that when we bow our heads at 60, the cervical spine will bear 20 kilograms more force than the normal position. You can imagine that when you hang two watermelons around your neck, you can understand the influence of long-term bow on cervical spine.
Being in a bow posture for a long time will make your muscles unbalanced. The muscles in front of the neck and the muscles in the back of the waist will become slack and weak; The chest muscles and the muscles of the back neck and shoulders become tense and stiff. When this muscle tension and weakness cross, we call it "upper cross syndrome".
(1) humpback
This will cause the curvature of the cervical spine to become straight or curved, and it will also aggravate our hunchback and thoracic kyphosis.
(2) double chin
When the head is stretched forward, the influence of gravity on the mandible will also increase, and the original fat will move forward synchronously with the cervical vertebra. The weakness of flexors will make the neck fat and chin become a piece, and the fat will slowly relax, and finally form a "double chin."
(3) The occurrence of facial symptoms such as dizziness and headache.
In the posture of upper cross syndrome, the cervical vertebra near the skull will be overstretched backward, and the suboccipital muscles will always be shortened. Both the greater occipital nerve and vertebral artery pass through here. When they are squeezed, there will be head and facial symptoms such as headache and dizziness.
2. Wrong breathing pattern
Normal breathing is dominated by the diaphragm. If the way of breathing is not correct, people will increase the amount of inhalation in the chest by lifting their shoulders. At this time, we need our sternocleidomastoid muscle and scalene muscle to assist breathing, which will also cause shoulder stiffness over time.
(1) chest breathing:
Principle: Breathing is completely controlled by the chest. Breath is sucked into the lungs and squeezed out of the chest.
Disadvantages: the inspiratory capacity is not up to the maximum, the airflow is unstable, the breathing is not lasting, and the body is easily tired.
(2) Abdominal breathing:
Principle: when inhaling, make the diaphragm sink and expand the abdomen and waist as much as possible. The folk saying is called "Qi Shen Dan Tian"
Methods: When exhaling, Dantian should stretch his strength and blow out the air evenly bit by bit.
Advantages: it can effectively control the airflow and spit out the air evenly.
3. Keep shrugging for a long time
Wearing a shoulder bag for a long time, or sitting, the table is too high or the chair is too short, these habits will lead to the emergence of shrug posture. At this time, levator scapulae, upper trapezius muscle, rhomboid muscle and other muscles responsible for lifting the scapula will be in a state of constant tension, which is also one of the reasons for shoulder stiffness.
In the case of suprachiasmatic syndrome, in addition to the tension of trapezius and levator scapulae, Dr. David. Simons (myofascial pain trigger point expert) thinks that the most important reason for the posture of the upper cross syndrome is the excessive tension of the pectoralis major. If the tension of pectoralis major muscle is not corrected, the clinical treatment of this posture will never succeed. So you can pay attention to the stretching of trapezius, levator scapulae and pectoralis major.
Pectoralis major is divided into upper bundle, middle bundle and lower bundle. When stretching, by adjusting the abduction angle of the upper arm, the pectoralis major can be stretched within the abduction range of 60, 90 and120, so that the pectoralis major can be fully stretched.
activate
In the position of upper cross syndrome, besides the stiffness of shoulder joint, it is also accompanied by weakness of anterior cervical flexor and inferior trapezius muscle. Therefore, we can do a good job in the activation training of anterior cervical flexor and inferior trapezius.
Activation training of deep cervical flexor: Lie flat, relax shoulders, slightly close your mouth, press the tip of your tongue against the upper jaw, slowly tighten your chin, and gently press the bed surface with the back of your head, which can be done 15 times/group, 4 groups/stage.
Lower trapezius muscle activation training: Lie prone on the yoga mat, put your arms on both sides in a Zhang Kaicheng "T" shape, and lift the outstretched arms about 5 cm from the ground. This action can make the two shoulder blades close together, and keep this posture 15-30 seconds, usually 5-6 times.
3. Breathing training
Smell the flowers: imagine a potted flower in front of you, emitting a refreshing fragrance. At this time, deeply inhale the fragrance, and control it to spit it out slowly for a while.
Blow out the candle: simulate blowing out the candle, take a deep breath and spit it out evenly and slowly. The longer the time, the better, up to 25-30 seconds.