Whether you are staring at your screen all day or lugging a backpack up a mountain for hours your upper back and neck usually ends up taking a beating. If you're working from home, you know exactly what tech neck is and how your posture has slowly started to decline.
On top of that, it's starting to hurt as you do an upper body workout or as simple as turn your head to the side when you put your blinker on to turn. It's frustrating, but what can you do about it!? Trying to figure out what to do at home is hard, but that's why we came up with this solution!
Here at Ripple, we have an arsenal of self-care tricks and tips we use whenever we find ourselves needing a little pick-me-up. We have a three-step process for getting anybody part feeling better after a long day.
Step #1 Soft Tissue Work
Our massage therapists are masters at showing you have to give yourself an at home massage. Using a tennis ball is a great way to dig into your muscles and start to release any overuse tension you may have from work or training. They will target those tight spots on your upper back and give you a feel-good sensation. Spend 1 minute here and proceed to step #2
Step #2 Stretching
Knowing exactly what and where to stretch is an art form. Generally, our Physical Therapists will know exactly what is needed to stretch after an evaluation. Here, work on passive mobility drills to increase your muscle elasticity and decrease your perception of tightness. This trick is a great way to stretch the neck’s deep musculature opening up more space for step #3 These stretches should be around 1 minute
Step #3 Get moving!
The third and final step is to get the joints moving. Actively moving the joint through its full range of motion is the best way to increase and maintain your body’s capacity for movement. As we say here at Ripple, “you need active modalities for active results” meaning you eventually need to get moving in order to move easier. It’s not always about stretching and passive modalities.
These are intended to be done every day in order to keep the joints as lubricated as possible increasing your movement capacity and decreasing your overall tension.
Here is an example of this routine for you to reference if you ever need a quick pick-me-up before or after a long day!
Gave it a shot, but still have questions? I feel you! Book a FREE 15-minute phone call with me, and we can discuss the current pain points you're having with your upper body, what it's stopping you from doing, and how we can help fix that. Book a call today!