Massage of the Week - Self-Massage of the Neck
Grace Wilson - October 18, 2007
While experiencing a routine pain in the neck this past week, I caught myself doing this simple technique at my desk. Every once in a while, out of the blue, I happen upon something I’ve never done before, and this one is too good not to pass along.
It only takes a minute or two, and can either be done seated or lying down on your back.
1. Interlace your fingers (but not your thumbs) behind your head, as if you were going to do sit-ups or abdominal crunches. Let your thumbs point down the neck, toward the floor (or your feet, if you’re lying down).
2. Place the tips of your thumbs into the long muscles that run up and down each side of your neck. Your right thumb will be to the right side of the spinal column, and your left thumb will be to the left side.
3. Press your thumb tips firmly into any tight spots on the neck, and do deep, slow circles. Do 5 – 10 circles in any one spot, then move your thumb tips slightly up or down the neck to a new position and repeat the process. Feels so good!
4. Continue until you’ve massaged the entire length of the neck or until you get tired and feel like stopping.
The beauty of this technique is that you don’t have to work hard to get deep, comfortable pressure. Instead of pushing really hard and tiring out your thumbs too quickly, you can use gravity (if you’re seated) and the weight of your arms to leverage your thumbs down into those achy neck muscles.
Try it and let me know how it goes! Until next week…
Much love,
Grace
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Posted by Grace Wilson at October 18, 2007 11:46 PM
Comments
1. Posted by
Madelene
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on
October 19, 2007 12:05 AM
It feels so good and natural that I wonder if it isn't something we do without noticing it - so thank you for noticing what your body was doing! The only down side is that the thumbs aren't long enough to reach all the way to the shoulders :) I'll check your collection of blogs and see what I find for that. Thank you!
2. Posted by
Aurora C
on
October 19, 2007 12:38 AM
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Recent Comments
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Aurora C commented on Massage of the Week - Self-Massage of the Neck
It feels so good and natural that I wonder if i
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Madelene commented on Massage of the Week - Self-Massage of the Neck
Grace, you´re an angel! I´m often very tense
Grace, you´re an angel! I´m often very tense in this area and find it hard to do something about it. But this simple technique is really good, thank you!