Today, I was reciting the alphabet to my one year old son
and he was moving his head to what I was saying. Usually he shakes his head “no”
or throws his head back but today he was moving his head in all directions. So,
his head movements to the alphabet made me think of doing these head movements
for neck exercises to do to release neck tension.

I usually give the alphabet exercise for people with ankle
or leg discomfort but only now I think of giving these as neck exercises. Just
like in the ankle, doing the alphabet neck exercises will maintain neck flexibility
and neck range of motion. These alphabet neck exercises will help loosen up any
neck stiffness and reduce neck muscle tightness.

The alphabet neck exercises can be done anywhere, any time
and in any position whether sitting, standing or lying down. These neck
exercises can be great for when you need a break from being at the computer too
long or even stuck in traffic. Or these can be great to get kids to work on
their neck flexibility as well with you. Let’s start!

Alphabet Neck Exercises:

• Using the tip of your nose as a pen – print capital letters
  of the alphabet
• Now repeat doing lower case
• Then draw the alphabet in cursive
• Repeat three times each

These alphabet neck exercises should be slow, smooth and
controlled motions. There should be no pain or discomfort in any neck
direction. Be sure to breathe throughout the whole time. Avoid clenching your
jaw with these head movements. Enjoy doing these alphabet neck exercises and
let me know how you feel after trying them out.

Technorati Tags: head movements, neck exercises, neck flexibility, neck muscle, neck range of motion, neck tension

Do you ever feel the sides of your head near your jaw tight?
Ever feel the head and face tension that may begin to feel as a headache? Do
you ever lose focus or concentration because you feel your pulse on the side of
your head? Try some simple jaw open facial neck exercise to help relieve head
and face tension.

This is a follow up from the open mouth jaw neck exercises,
instead of just opening your mouth up and down, this jaw open neck exercise
will be over your top lip. This will also help your chin muscles to tighten up.
The focus on this jaw open facial neck exercise is to also massage the side of
your face to relieve tension.

The facial muscles that are being used are the masseter,
temporalis and the platysma. The platysma is the big front neck muscles that
will be strengthen in this jaw open facial neck exercise. The masseter muscle
is responsible for chewing and movement of your jaw. The temporalis muscle on
the side of the face also helps with the jaw movement.

This jaw open facial neck exercise can be done sitting,
standing or even lying down. The main focus of this neck exercise is to relax
the jaw muscles on the side of your head to prevent or reduce jaw tension. You
may find that by the end of the day or while you are sleeping that your jaw is
clenched. This causes muscle tightness and can cause headaches.

Here while sitting let your bottom jaw open up and now close
your mouth. Don’t clank your teeth when you close your mouth. Now open your
mouth up again and take your first two fingers and run them up along the side
of your head. First start from the top of your jaw and end at the top of your
head. Do this jaw open facial neck exercise 10 times and repeat up to three
times.

There should be no neck, face or jaw pain with any neck
exercises. At the end of this jaw open facial neck exercise, you should feel
relief not only in the jaw but the side of your face as well. If you continue
to have pain, put some ice on the side and behind the head. Try this new jaw
open facial neck exercise and let me know how this does for you.

Technorati Tags: facial, jaw muscle, jaw tension, neck exercise, neck exercises, neck muscle, open jaw