The human neck is vulnerable to strains and injuries due to its anatomical structure. The head and neck can move both in the horizontal and vertical directions in a wide range; this range of movement can be the cause of problems when the stability of the neck is reduced or lost. Bad posture, muscle weakness, upper crossed syndrome and strain cause loss of stability and lead to injuries.
20-30 years ago neck pain and related symptoms were mainly caused by traffic accidents, falls and age-induced calcification, but nowadays the main problem is the upper crossed syndrome. The upper crossed syndrome began to appear in many people as they exercise less, sit for long hours and the use of computers and smart phones took over.
Lack of physical activity, long sedentary work and looking at screens has caused impaired posture, contraction and shortening in the neck, chest and back muscles as well as weakness in the deep back muscles.
In addition to our bad postures we have forgotten how to breathe properly. We are all are breathing shallowly because we have forgotten to breathe diaphragmatically. When the diaphragm is not fully active while breathing, the upper neck muscles (scalene and sternocleidomastoids) try to help to create space for breathing. Since this is not their main task, they fatigue and contract over the years.
Another cause of neck pain is myofascial pain and fibromyalgia. In addition to the above-mentioned problems, these patients have hardened muscle bands and painful muscle nodules, especially in the upper back muscles and neck muscles. These bands and painful spots become worse with impaired posture, long working hours and stress, leading to severe neck pain.
How does yoga, meditation and breathing exercises help for neck pain?
• Increasing flexibility
• Strengthening the neck muscles
• Opening the rib cage
• Stabilizing the neck muscles and shoulder blades
• Learning to breathe diaphragmatically
• Correcting bad posture
• Providing postural awareness
• Correcting balance
• Activating the parasympathetic nervous system (reducing sympathetic overdrive)
• Reducing anxiety and depression symptoms
Patients who do yoga report:
• Decrease in pain severity
• Decrease in pain-related restriction levels
• Decrease in the frequency and amount of pain medication use
• Reduced frequency of the recurrence of pain
• Increased tendency to feel pain
• Increase in quality of life
If you are a patient who has not done yoga before, talk to your doctor first and find out if yoga is appropriate for you. Do not change your medications; first consult your doctor. Learn and record the moves you can do as well as those deemed unsuitable for you. Start doing yoga with yoga therapy (Viniyoga) lessons. Although the instructor will ask beforehand, please inform him/her about your pain and /or symptoms. Never do any movements that are painful or increase your pain during the lessons. Strengthen your abdominal and back muscles, and do posture exercises alongside ongoing Viniyoga classes (with exercises recommended by your doctor and/or Pilates). When you stop having pain with the aforementioned movements, you can join yin yoga classes followed by Hatha yoga. Never force yourself during classes and do not do any postures that your doctor does not recommend.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
