Two exercises that WILL give you neck pain
There are a few exercises that do your body more harm than good. Here are two of the worst exercises you could possibly do to wreck your backs, shoulders and neck. Do not do these ever!
1. Lat pull downs behind your head
Here is an exercise that you see people doing often in the gynasium and it’s very damaging to both the shoulders and the neck. When you do this exercise you end up haviong to pull the shoulders too far back which overstretches the ligaments and capsule. You definitely do not want this! Ligaments should be tight to keep the joints stable and once they are over stretched they don’t tend to shrink back. Ligament laxity can then easily lead to rotator cuff problems.
I am sure many of you know of someone who has dislocated his shoulder not once but 2 or 3 times and then eventually needed surgery; this is because the joint has become very unstable due to the ligament laxity. You want tight ligaments but flexible muscles and tendons.
The other problem with doing lat pull downs behind your head is that it puts your neck in a forward position which is exactly what you do not want. This creates great strain on the cervical discs and ligaments and can lead to neck pain, shoulder pain, rotator cuff tears, impingements etc. If ‘putting your head in a ‘forward head position is a new term then look at the major cause of neck pain.
The alternative to this is doing the lat pull downs in front of your head, bringing the bar to your chest. Remember though to keep your back in a neutral position. To do this you need to use your abdominal muscles which means you are now also activating you core. The majority of people do this exercise with their back over arched and that puts pressure on the lower back tissues and facet joints leading to lower back problems. I wrote about the core muscle in a previous blog and it’s especially important that you are using your core muscles when doing your workout.
Remember, for a healthy lower back its vital that you have a strong and stable lower back and flexible mid back and hips, not the other way around.
2. Sit-ups
First of all, if you are doing sit-ups to strengthen your core-STOP!
I will not go into great detail in this post about the correct way to strengthen your core but I have written about the best alternative to sit-ups in another post. Remember also that your core muscles are not just your stomach muscles. In order to strengthen your core to stabilize and protect your back there are two other extremely important muscle groups that also need to be addressed. If you are just strengthening your stomach muscles you are setting yourself up for imbalances in the area where it is imperative that you have balance, stability and muscle endurance.
The main reason you should not be doing sit-ups is because it damages your back! The posterior forces that are produced on your lower back discs are enormous! What this means is, do enough sit-ups and you will be on a short course to lower back pain and if enough damage is done you will more than likely get sciatica. Sciatica is where the nerve is being pressed or ‘impinged’.
You already know that you should bend forwards with a straight back so that you don’t cause damage however a sit-up is doing the same motion as what you try to avoid when standing and bending.
The National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety recommends that no more than 3400 newtons should be placed on the lower back because this or more than this amount of force is harmful to the lower back. Well guess what, a sit-up produces 3413 newtons of force. This means that every sit-up that you do is potentially damaging your back!
There are much better alternatives to doing sit-ups that will strengthen your stomach muscles without the harmful effects to your back.
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Why Does My Neck Hurt When I Do Sit-Ups?
In the clinic yesterday I was asked this question “why does my neck hurt when I do sit-ups?” My answer to my client astounded him.
I didn’t want to take the wind out of his sails, I felt it necessary to let him down gently, you know, to put him on the right track without disillusioning him so I said to him as delicately as I possibly could “you are screwing up your back, your neck and you haven’t got a hope in hell of getting a six pack eating the crap that you eat”.
In hindsight I may have been able to sugar coat my words a little more.
Before I could continue however, he told me that he ‘didn’t keep his hands behind his head because he knew that when his stomach muscles get tired he will then start using his hands on his head to pull rather than using his stomach muscles to initiate the movement which could hurt his neck, so that’s not it’.
He then told me before I could get a breath in that he ‘doesn’t push his head forward when doing the sit-ups thus keeping good alignment between his shoulders and neck, so that can’t be it’.
He then went on to tell me that he keeps his legs bent to protect his spine and lower back (which is absolutely false by the way) and that he was doing sit-ups to get a ‘ripped stomach’ and ‘six pack’ he said.( which also won’t work unless..)
Firstly, I said, the studies show that it doesn’t matter whether your legs are straight, bent or tucked neatly behind your ears you are doing damage to your back with each and every sit-up that you do. Also, there is an old saying that says that ‘a six pack is made in the kitchen not in the gym’. What this means is that you could do 300 sit-ups(but of course you are not going to because you now know that it damages your back and there are much better ways to strengthen your stomach and core) but unless you have a good diet to keep your fat to a minimum, you will perhaps have the best hidden six pack.
Now, whilst you got me talking about doing sit-ups and fat loss lets remove another myth when it comes to these. I see people doing sit-ups or crunches to get fat off their stomachs. This is a myth! You know all of those infomercials where you see those super fit models using ‘ab crunchers’ and other stomach fat removing exercise machines? Well, let me tell you, they aren’t getting those super fit, super cut bodies doing ‘just 5 minutes a day on their wonder machines’ and spending the other 23 hours 55 minutes tucking into the fridge watching cable TV all day and night. The commercials will want you to believe that of course.
Doing sit-ups does not take fat off your stomach! Just like doing bicep curls does not take fat off your biceps. Exercising like this builds muscle AND takes fat off your whole body-it is not area specific. In other words, doing a heap of sit-ups will remove fat off your waist, butt, legs arms ears and stomach. It is the burning of calories that removes the fat. The good news is that the more you increase your muscle, the higher your resting metabolic rate is and that means that faster you will burn fat just resting. Now that’s good news indeed.
So, those of you who want to strengthen your stomachs and get a six pack or would just like to have a stronger core-do crunches and things like the plank exercise but not sit-ups.
Keep a check on your diet, in other words don’t eat highly processed highly refined foods, cut out (or if you absolutely can’t help yourself – cut down) on junk foods, sodas and alcohol consumption. If you eat white rice-change to brown, cut out potatoes and pasta and stop drinking beer, do some regular cardio and just you watch the weight fall off.
For those die hards who still feel that they must do some sit-ups against all of the documented research against doing them and have neck pain when they do them, here is what you need to do.
Put your hand on your forehead and press your head against your hand without letting any movement take place. Hold for a few seconds and do 5 reps of these. The place your hand on the back of your head and do the same. Then put your hand on the sides of your head doing the same exercise. This isometric exercise will strengthen your intrinsic neck muscles and help strengthen your neck.
Another thing to do whether you are doing crunches (recommended) or sit-ups (not recommended for all of the above reasons) place your tongue to the roof of your mouth when you do them which also engage your intrinsic neck muscles.
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Read MoreStretching..here is one of the worst to do
Here is probably the stretch you least need to do because it worsens your problems.
As you sit reading this I would imagine the majority of you are slouched over your computer with very poor posture, so before we go any further, sit up straight please!
One problem with spending so much time slouching over computers and driving with our necks craned forwards etc is that we constantly tighten our muscles around our chest area. This forward shoulder posture is almost endemic in our society these days due to poor posture and having tight pectorals leaves the opposite muscles too long and weakened. These are the muscles at the back of the shoulders and shoulder blades. The more you slouch the further your shoulders move forward and rotate internally. Then your shoulder blades are pulled wider apart around your ribcage and before you know it you are suffering with shoulder pain, rotator cuff problems, impingements, pinched nerves etc and its all easily remedied and totally preventable.
An easy way to check if your shoulders are rotated inwards is to stand up and check your thumbs. Do they points inwards? They should be pointing forwards. The further inwards they point, the more your shoulder is rotated and hence pulled forwards. This is very damaging to the shoulder! You need to do stretches to both stretch your pectorals and strengthen several of the external rotator muscles and scapula stabilisers so that you do not suffer in the future.
Therefore, if you have a postural problem like this (most people do) you should not be doing the stretch where you grab your arm and take it horizontally across your body to stretch the back of your shoulders. This is worsening your problem! You have weak and elongated muscles and tendons already and if you stretch these by pulling your arm in front of your body you exacerbate your problem and worsen your muscular imbalances. This is just one example of stretching the overstretched muscles.
Neck pain-4 great ways to get it
Yes folks, here are some very easy ways to give yourself neck pain. I am sure many of you do these all day every day so let’s take a look at the first one.
All day you are Phone wedging:
This really is a fabulous way to get neck pain and is seen everywhere, especially now with the advent of cell phones. Everyone has a phone and it seems that we are using them practically all of the time. But also the office phone and the house phone are great contributors to neck pain as well. How many of you are guilty of talking on the phone whilst wedging the phone between your ear and shoulder. How often are you talking on the phone whilst leaving your two hands free to continue typing on the computer? This is a sure-fire way to continually contract those muscles and eventually give you neck pain. Then you will have muscle imbalances, perhaps trigger points in the muscles which cause pain and dysfunction and you will be well on your way to chronic neck pain.
All day you are chin jutting:
This is another super way to give you neck pain. It’s not only the most common but also the fastest way. I have written at great length in my other posts on neck pain and posture and exactly what the mechanisms are which produce this type of neck pain but it’s basically being in a head- forward posture. You should have your head slightly retracted not pushed forward. Think of your daily activities, at the computer, driving the car, eating and drinking. By far the most common of these is the dreaded computer. How many of you peering into the screen with your head protracted-here is a reminder. If you were to hang a string from your chin, it should fall onto your chest not straight down onto the floor. If it goes to the floor you’re probably with a head forward posture straining your ligaments and well on your way to neck pain(if you don’t already have it), shoulder impingement problems, pinched nerves radiating pain, numbness and/or tingling into the arms, a tense upper back and shoulders just to name a few.
All day you are slouching:
Number three on the list is slouching. I am not just talking about work at the computer which I am sure many of you do. Remember, if your lower back is not in good position; meaning that you are sitting upright with the small inward arch in your lower back, your neck has no chance whatsoever. How many of you finish a day of strenuous slouching only to go home and sit in your favourite chairs in the lounge room to continue slouching. If your back is in a big C shape you are doing a great job to not only give yourself neck pain but also get the daily double and have lower back pain as well. If you don’t sit with your lower back in good position you are well on your way to disc bulges, herniations, prolapses, buttock pain and sciatica. I have also written about these in much more depth in my previous posts.
At the end of a hard days slouching and wedging its time to read in bed:
And now its time to peel yourself out of the low sofa, grunt and groan, lie back in bed, take it easy, prop 3 pillows behind your head and do some reading. What a wonderful way to really hurt both your neck and back at the same time. Not only is your lower back without its inward arch straining the ligaments again, but also your head is pushed forward into the chin jutting position. A much better way to do this is put the pillows behind your lower back and sit upright with your head slightly retracted and interchange this position with lying on your stomach reading. In fact, when you watch TV, get down on the floor at intervals instead of spending hours slouching in your chair and spend some time lying on your stomach like you did when you were a child. Lay on your stomach propped on your forearms to give your back some well deserved extension-by god it needs it. And the more you get used to it, the better it will feel and you will want to do this regularly.
So, correct your posture at all times, stop wedging the phone between your head and shoulder-buy a headset if need be and stop reading in bed with your head pushed forward and lower back slouched. You will be pain free; will not need to see your chiropractor, physiotherapist, acupuncturist or masseur anywhere near as often and you will not need to be popping down ibuprofen like candy.
Sweet dreams.
Read MoreAbout Me
Mark Perren-Jones has worked throughout the world’s health spas and health clinics. He did the majority of his study (7 years) in Australia and has treated thousands of clients over the past 20 years with all sorts of neck and back problems. He has studied acupuncture, massage, joint manipulation and mobilization, kinesiology, reflexology, Thai massage, Bowen technique and many other modalities to understand which therapies gets the best therapeutic results and which don’t for particular neck and back problems.
With his 20 years of clinical experience, years of diligent study and research Mark has put together this site so that you can benefit directly from his work. You will be taught not only how to treat your own pain but as importantly what causes your pain in the first place. With the knowledge you gain to remove the causes of your neck and back pain, means you will not have to suffer anymore. 
I have my new DVD out now which will show you in my easy 3 step approach how to alleviate your own neck pain.
Neck pain and especially stiff necks are not difficult to treat once you know how ( ie.remove the major causes of your neck pain and stiffness.)
I will show you how simple it is to treat your neck pain & stiffness both quickly and easily.