Neck pain: Three ways you can ease it

About 70 per cent of us will experience neck pain at some point in our lives. This is what you can do to avoid it.

According to Nice (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence), up to 70 per cent of us will experience neck pain at some time in our lives, with prevalence peaking during middle age

1. Massage the back of your neck

Poor posture – while looking at your phone or laptop, for example – and anxiety are often underlying causes of neck tension and gentle daily stretches can help. “Make sure you perform any neck stretches slowly and smoothly,” says the osteopath James Davies, author of Body. “If they cause pain or make the muscle tension worse, you need to stop immediately and seek medical advice.”

Neck pain is a common problem.

Davies suggests using a tennis ball to massage your neck muscles. Place the ball between the back of your neck and the wall. “Position the ball so that it is pressing against the muscles,” Davies says. “Use your neck to roll the ball gently over these muscles.”

2. Stretch your back and legs to release neck tension

Roger Frampton, movement coach and author of Stretch, says that neck and back tension are often a result of referred pain. “Some neck stretches are useful, but won’t necessarily ‘fix’ neck pain when performed in isolation,” he says. “Only by stretching the full body regularly, including the neck, back and legs, will you start to see a reduction in neck tension.” One of the daily neck stretches he does recommend as part of this approach is to sit tall and upright in a chair while moving your right ear towards your right shoulder.

Doing this stretch can help.

“You can try this with your mouth closed and again with your mouth open, which helps to relieve tension in the jaw muscles. Keep your shoulder blades pulled down as you stretch and then repeat on the other side.”

3 Do the double chin move at your desk

If you suspect being desk-bound is primarily to blame for neck tension, then the posture coach and pilates expert Jo Tuffrey suggests performing what she calls the “double chin manoeuvre” a few times a day. “Sit up straight at your desk and pull your shoulders down and back,” Tuffrey says.

“Then pull your chin back but not down towards the chest to give yourself a double chin.” Hold for 3-5 seconds and repeat 20-30 times during the day. “This exercise targets the hard-to-reach base of your skull,” she says. “It’s great for relieving neck tension and correcting posture.”

This article originally appeared on The Times.

Originally published as Neck pain: Three ways you can ease it