Are your muscles between your shoulder and neck in knots from overworking? Does your head feel like it weighs a ton after a long day on your laptop or computer? Does your chin come forward as you sit for long periods of time? Or maybe your neck just feels fatigued. Perhaps you have a weak neck “core”. The neck has a group of core muscles that are important for keeping a healthy neck. There are specific exercises that have been targeted to develop these muscles.

At Cheetahfit Training Center we also teach our clients to maintain optimal neutral neck posture while performing upper extremity tasks. We look at shoulder blade stability which is crucial to the stability of the neck. We develop exercises to address muscle balance in this area. However it is also important to practice this optimal posture throughout your day. We see that neck core exercises are important for the pelvis and low back, as well as the neck. It is apparent that every region of the body impacts other regions that move your body part in space. For every inch the head travels forward it triples the weight on your neck muscles and the average forward head position is actually 3 inches!

It usually takes many years to develop neck pain, but better support for your spine is key in avoiding it. Weakness in muscles in other areas of the body, arthritis, degenerative disc disease can degrade the spine. Over time, the wear and tear takes a toll and we end up with a sore neck.

There are a few things you can do to prevent neck pain: avoid thrusting your head forward and don’t lead with your chin, elevate your work level by raising your book, laptop or cell phone to eye level, support your lower back, because the force exerted by the effective weight of the head is distributed all the way down along the spine and take frequent breaks. When you are engaged in a project it is easy to slip out of your best posture.

One of the long term strategy to prevent neck pain is to maintain your core strength. Your core strength depends on the strength of the muscles of your abdomen, back, neck and buttocks. If your core muscles aren’t strong, your shoulders and neck will be overworked. Once you strengthen your core, everything else will fall into line.