(Rebroadcast Post from September 2015: Since writing this post – edited and amended with 7 years of experience — taking care of the joints and muscles in my neck and waist has become even more important. These are places that can easily weaken in our modern lifestyles and as we age, leaving us not just uncomfortable but compromised in what we can do with our bodies. And they are easy to overlook until they really hurt.)
The Oscars have the Best Supporting Actor category, and with good reason. Where would the super-sparkly leads be without awesome wisdom-spouting side kicks? Two movies just popped into my head –When Harry Met Sally and High Fidelity. In them, the supporting actors – Bruno Kirby and Jack Black respectively - totally made those films for me. The stars don’t shine without support. (You totally have my permission to go YouTube some clips from both films! They are so great.)
Just like in the movies, some body parts steal the spotlight while others are doing a lot of heavy lifting without all the acclaim. Case in point: the neck and the waist. The three main body weights of the core understandably get a lot of attention. Each one – pelvis, chest and head – contains majorly important organs. The pelvis holds the reproductive and digestive systems, the cage of the chest protects the heart and lungs, and of course, the head holds our astonishing brain. The three body weights are the keepers of the crown jewels.
And in the spaces in-between, the waist and the neck play hugely important supporting roles.
The spine runs like a pearl thread down the trunk of your body to connect each of the bony body weights and their precious cargo. At the waist and neck, however, there is very little supporting bone. The body’s design of light-on-bone-heavy-on-muscle reveals that these spaces are designed to have lots of mobility. In our modern lives of driving and desk-sitting and the cultural message of don’t-wiggle-too-much-when-you-walk often leaves these areas stiff and more rigid than they were designed to be.
Your head weighs around 12 pounds -- more than two big bags of flour. But we don’t feel that weight because it is balanced delicately on the intricate bones of your cervical spine. Now imagine that you, like most of us, tend to carry that 12 pounds a little (or a lot) out of alignment. Imagine how much strain that puts on the ribbons of muscle that support the structure of your neck. It’s such a constant for me that I often don’t notice that those little muscles are sore all. the. time.
Similar to your neck, the lumbar spinal bones at your waist rely largely on the layers of overlapping muscles around your waist to create both movement and support for your hips and chest. Also similarly to the neck, the waist muscles can harbor chronic tender tension and soreness that we tend to ignore.
So let’s give some attention and care to these supporting structures by giving them strength, mobility and flexibility! Here are 8 easy ways to increase the health and happiness of your neck and waist that you can do almost anywhere and anytime!
Neck & Waist: 8 Ways to Release Tension & Increase Mobile Strength
1. Eye/Neck Mobilizer. After sitting at your computer (or working at your art desk or preparing food or whatever close work you do) for a while, open your eyes and look at each corner of the room, up, down and behind you. Bonus points for looking up at the actual sky.
2. Backstroke with Eye Movement. Make big, slow back-stroke movements with your hand and follow your hands with your eyes (actively use your eyes rather than following your hand with your shoulders and chest).
3. Wag Your Tail. Imagine you’ve got a heavy kangaroo tail and let your tailbone release and swing as you walk. Bonus points for doing this in the grocery store or (even better!) the bank.
4. Angled Neck Stretch. Gently stretch the back/side-of-the-neck levator scapulae muscle by placing your right hand behind your head and turning your head to the right at a 45-degree angle. Gently pull your head down toward your right armpit, feeling a stretch along the left side of your neck and hold for 2-3 breaths. Then, of course, do it on the other side, noticing if one side feels different than the other.
5. Neck isometrics. Place your hand on your forehead. Push your head into your hand without letting your hand move. Hold for 5 seconds. Then do the same with your hand at the back of your head and push, holding for 5 seconds. Then push on the right side of your head for 5 seconds and the left side for 5 seconds. Go “around your head” a couple of times
6. Hip Circles. If you’ve been in the car or at your desk for a while, stand up and use your waist muscles to circle your hips. Stabilize your legs in a wide (about shoulder width is a good place to start but you can play with different stances) and circle from your waist rather than your knees (small circles are great). If you’re not sure if the movement is coming from waist or knees, put your hands on your hips while you circle – if you’re moving from your waist, you’ll feel the muscles moving, if you’re moving from your knees, you won’t.)
7. Neck / Skull Muscle Massage. Lie on the floor or a bed on your back, cradle the back of your head with your fingers and run your thumbs gently and firmly along the ridge between the back of your skull and your neck. There are lots of little muscles here that rarely get enough attention or care.
8. Waist Massage. Wrap your hands around your waist with your thumbs in back and your fingers in front and massage first your low back, then around to the sides of your core, gently squeezing any places that are tense or tight.
The tricky thing about our necks and waists is that tension and stiffness can gather without us noticing. Keep circilng these movements into your days to support these essential supporting parts.