Many people come to me with similar issues.
Typically, their issues are in their backs, necks, and shoulders. Their muscles are either too stretched or too tight.
I’ve found myself giving a similar set of basic instructions to nearly all my clients.
Of course, depending on many factors, there will be other things they can do, but these form a great set of easy to do movements.
Five things I tell ALL my clients to do
1) 5 minutes each day: Lie on a ball, foam roller, or a rolled up blanket. This lets your back muscles relax while stretching your perpetually contracted pectorals in the front. For lying on the exercise ball, imagine a 3-legged table with the ball being one “leg” and your lower legs being the other two legs. You’ll want your shoulders, hips and knee caps to be in a straight line so keep the butt up. From the chest upwards, imagine you’re doing a back dive off a diving board. Keep your arms stretched out at 90 degrees to your body.
2) Pelvic tilts: Lying flat on back with knees up. Press down and hold for 5 seconds. This move flows naturally from the first one.
3) Cobra: Lie on your stomach with your palms flat on the floor under your shoulders. The idea is to lift your head, neck and upper body up with perhaps a bit of help from your hands. Don’t let your glutes tighten up! Hold for 5-10 seconds and then return to lying on the floor again. This flows easily from the second move. (You just have to roll over.)
4) Pull arms down while in warm shower tilting neck in opposite direction. 5-10 seconds. Showers are nice. But there are times you’re just standing there doing nothing, like while you’re waiting for the shampoo to rinse out of your hair. Put that time to use!
5) Epsom salts bath twice a week. 30 minutes.
No idea how the salts work. They do. A few handfuls of salts, fill the tub as warm as you can handle it. (Have a bottle of water to drink with you. You CAN sweat underwater!) Add liquid soap, some essential oil, baking soda…
Don’t rush out and start doing these immediately. Have a talk with your massage therapist or your doctor first. Then, give a thought to trying these out. See how you feel after a week of doing them.
This post originally appeared on my Google Blogger site at https://robhodgins.blogspot.com/2016/06/self-care-in-world-that-does-not.html.
In view of Google discontinuing its Google + service and my concerns about the future of Blogger, I have moved this post to my WordPress site.