knackered neck..

[rudi redfox]

Hi,
Just a quick first post... I knackered my neck a few months ago, having hurt it in the past. I was doing control and restraint and my neck was jerked back and to the side. I had physio and have been using exercises from the book treat your own neck.

Ive stopped having physio now and am having acupuncture, but it seems to go into spasm really easily...its been a number of months now.. I would like to get back to a point where I can grapple full on, but at the moment its a long way off... is there a particular program that might be helpful?

thx

[Scott Sonnon]

What did your physio diagnose as the injury to your neck, and which exercises did s/he prescribe?

[rudi redfox]

Hi,
thanks for replying...

My physio thought I may have had a tear in the muscle, althougth my D.O. and acupuncturist think it may be more to do with a vertebrae moving.. he felt that my chest muscles are stronger than my back muscles and the movement in my thoracic region isnt great... I had a lvl 1 spondolythesis in my lumber region, but that causes no difficulties..

he had me doing retractions of the neck
retractions with turning
retractions moving my ear to my shoulder
retractions tilting the head back ( this hurts especiallly after a flare up)
retractions dipping my chin to my chest
putting a roll under my back and tilting my pelvis or crunching depending on where i moved the roll
pressing a light weight dumbell upwards
on a bench face down raising dumbell by lifting elbow up
stretching my shoulders in the corner of a room
putting arm across body and pulling on arm to stretch shoulder

when he discharged me after 2 months i was still having flare ups, he felt they'd get better and suggested i start full exercise again, which I did not feel comfortable with. Pain had subsided to about a 3 on a 10 scale.

I started some light silat training, and recently had a really bad flare up after i did a few squats, hindu push ups and tried some light bridging... the pain radiated from the same place as the initial injury,a vertebrae between my shoulder blades, and then the muscles tightened, and the pain increased...

the physio thought that my traps had become really tight though being in spasm and the muscles at the sides of my neck and i need to lengthen them...

I had an x-ray last week which showed nothing abnormal..

hope thats enough info..
many thanks

[rudi redfox]

warrior wellness lays the foundation... is there a natural progression after that that will help strengthen the neck for grappling?

thanks
8)

[rudi redfox]

From the info i got on 'the welcome mat', Warrior Wellness™ lays the foundation... is there a natural progression after that that will help strengthen the neck for grappling?

thanks

[Scott Sonnon]

'Strengthening' is often thought of in the bodybuilding or powerlifting context, so people ridiculously load the neck with weight. After 35-40, I would dare say all athletically active men suffer some degree of herniated disc in their neck. IME, adding training strain before that age, but especially after that age, will guarantee increased risk of herniation, severity and frequency.

Range of motion training for agility, responsiveness and pain free mobility is the fountain of youth and mastery.

Yes, Warrior Wellness or Intu-Flow... for the rest of your life.

It has given me the body of an 18 year old athlete at twice the age, given me another championship title in a new sport, and most importantly gives me pain free daily life.

[rudi redfox]

Thanks... the main thing then is range of motion. Do stronger or thicker muscles add protection against injury or do they make no difference, or increase risk?

many thanks

[Scott Sonnon]

Stronger does not necessarily equal thicker. Thicker can act as a detriment since lack of mobility becomes a fulcrum for translating force into the connective tissue of the neck and head.

Redefine strength as agility, response-ability and coordination.

[rudi redfox]

thanks coach,
thats an interesting way of thinking about it and makes a lot of sense... with that in mind, i think i'll read around the forum and cst mag before asking any more questions