Neck Tension

As a personal trainer with over 20 years experience most of my clients start working out with me and during the first session we discuss Medical History. It amazes me how many people are really hurting but do not consider it medical. One of the most common aches and pains stated is “I tend to store tension in my neck and shoulders” Now after a few cadaver labs, and literally thousands of hours of study of human anatomy and structure I have never seen this storage system. Are these the same storage structures the ones that hold Lactic Acid for long periods of time and can only be gotten to by massage therapists? Sorry folks but those theories of the past are folk lore. Lactic Acid leaves the body within two hours of an exercise exertion. Also sorry to say but there is no storage system for tension in your neck. Now don’t get me wrong your neck may still hurt but it is not stored tension…

Here is what I believe to be true when it comes to neck tension. Our ancestors did not sit in chairs staring at a computer screen all day, They didn’t drive cars that had seats shaped like a soup bowl, they did not have cell phones or even regular phones tucked under their chins. They did a lot of manual labor and this is what our body was designed to do. Move more and sit much much less. But the type of movement most experts miss…we have adapted to pulling, Our back has many more layers of muscle on it than our chests. We are designed to pull not sit forward and push. So pushing on keys and holding steering wheels, even eating bent over a table are things that we just are not supposed to do all day. Then we go to the weight room or yoga class and push the entire class away. Can anyone name me a yoga move where your arms are pulling yet you have 5 layers of back muscle just for that purpose. We go to the weight room and perform an even number of push and pull exercises. You should be pulling 3x the number of exercises you push. Here are a good group of pulling exercises. Lat pulldown (standing), Row (standing), Pullups (reduced weight if necessary), One arm rows(standing with no support).