Neck and Shoulder Muscle Release for Mums
Transcript
Hello it is Emily from POGO Physio here. I had a client in today and she had her 6 week old bub and it was very very cute and very good to see her. A lot of the mums come in and talk to me about is that they are getting really tight through these muscles here. It is really not that surprising at all that you get tight through there because you are breast or bottle feeding your bub what feels like constantly, you are doing a lot of lifting, you are sleep deprived, and sometimes when you do sleep you are sitting up in a chair with your neck leaning sideways anyway. So getting tight through this area is really really common. I am going to show you a little technique that you guys can use to help relieve the tension there. The most effective way I find is to do it with a pocket physio or if you have one of those spikey balls or something at home that can be effective as well. Worst case scenario you can push with your hand or get someone to press their forearm to press down there as well. So what you do is grab your pocket physio or press with your hand and in that bulk of muscle that you can feel there, which physios call your upper traps, you are going to press into there and while you press it will be a little bit sore, you don’t want to push into pain but you do want to feel a little pressure and what you are going to do is turn your head away and then come back to the centre. As you do that you are really going to push to your limits and push as far as you can to the side and then come back to the middle. What we call this is a myofascial release so you might do that 10 or so times, you can do it on both sides and that can really help relieve through those muscles at the top there. Keep in mind that this is just treating the symptoms so the best thing that is going to help with that tightness up there is doing strength exercises to help support your shoulders better, or if you are just really tired and really need that release use your pocket physio or your hand and try that and it should give you a bit of symptom relief. If you have any questions or anything leave a comment below guys. Thank you.
Emily Georgopolous (APAM)
Physiotherapist
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