Save Your Neck

Practiced with careful alignment, yoga poses can help alleviate past neck problems and prevent future ones.

By Julie Gudmestad

Judging from the complaints of my physical therapy clients, chronic neck tension is a modern American epidemic. Even the more benign consequences—the painful crick in your neck, the dull headache radiating from the back of your skull—can be mighty annoying. The more serious ones, like pinched nerves, arthritis, and damaged discs, can be debilitating. Fortunately, yoga can do wonders for neck problems while simultaneously teaching safer, healthier posture habits. But some of the poses that can help you, like Sirsasana (Headstand) and Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand), can also do harm if performed incorrectly. It's important to approach them with knowledge of proper alignment.

Let's take a look at the muscles of the back of the neck. Why do they cause so much trouble, and how can we use yoga to help them function better? The primary muscles of the back of the neck are the levator scapulae, which extend from the cervical (neck) vertebrae to each inner upper scapula (shoulder blade). Lying on top of the levators and also inserting on the shoulder blades are the upper trapezius muscles, which originate on the base of the skull and the neck vertebrae. Together, these muscles lift the scapula and backbend the neck. The levators and trapezius muscles also help to turn the head and sidebend the neck.

The stress of a busy lifestyle with deadlines, difficult people, and lack of sleep certainly tightens neck and jaw muscles. A forward head posture is also a factor for many people. An average head weighs 12 to 15 pounds; when that weight sits forward of the central line of the spine, the muscles on the back of the neck have to work very hard to hold the head up against the pull of gravity. Whether due to stress or poor head-neck alignment, chronic tightness in the levator scapulae and the upper trapezius can lead to significant neck pain. As the muscles pull down on the base of the skull and upper neck, they also pull up on the scapula. All this adds up to compression on the cervical vertebra. Such tightness and compression can lead to arthritis, cause nerve pressure that makes pain radiate down the arm, and increase the likelihood of neck muscle injuries.

Do No Harm

Just as in medicine, a key rule in hatha yoga is "First, do no harm." It's crucial to avoid common yoga mistakes that can result in neck injury. If you come to yoga after years of neck tension, the muscles at the back of your neck will probably be quite short and tight, limiting your ability to bring your head toward your chest. Since you need a great deal of this neck flexion to do Shoulderstand, forcing a tight neck into the pose can strain the muscles and ligaments. Even worse, forced flexion can cause cervical vertebrae discs to bulge or herniate, serious injuries that may take many months to heal.

Many people habitually tighten their neck and shoulder muscles when they concentrate, and it's easy to carry that habit over into yoga. This can be especially true in backbends. Students tend to overcontract the neck, sticking the chin out and up and compressing the back of the neck. This action can result in an unpleasant headache after backbends such as Bhujangasana (Cobra), Salabhasana (Locust), and Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward-Facing Bow). Fortunately, one backbend actually lengthens the back of the neck. Doing Bridge Pose supported on bolsters for a few minutes three or four times a week can help prepare you for Shoulderstand.

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