Improving Your Neck Placement: a New Technique
I’ve taught stretchlying on the side for decades. So it’s a (welcome) surprise to discover a way of arranging the neck that is both more effective in adding additional neck length and more relaxing for the neck muscles.
It takes good form to be able to get rest on a surface this hard.
In July, reindeer herders in Samiland corral their reindeer to mark the ears of the unbranded calves. This involves stretches of waiting, some of it done reclining on the side, as above.
To date, I’ve taught students to grasp a clump of hair at the base of the skull and pull backward and upward so as to elongate the neck and slide the head back along the pillow into a healthier configuration.
Grasping the hair to guide the back of the head up and back.
My head is supported by a pillow and my forearm acting as a second pillow.
A new technique for lengthening the neck in stretchlying on the side
When I sleep on my side, I usually sleep on just one pillow and place my forearm under the pillow to add a second layer of thickness. Recently I discovered that I could use that forearm to manipulate my head position and enhance the stretch of the back of my neck. By slightly extending my forearm, I was able to elongate my neck further. Using my arm beneath the pillow, I was easily able to manipulate the pillow to move my head where I wanted it to go — rotated forward and glided back. This without tensing a single muscle in my neck and getting a better result — more fine-tuned and with a stronger stretch if that’s what I want (I do). The head’s journey back was very smooth — the pillow provides a soft, cushioned interface, and almost creates the illusion someone is doing the maneuver to you.
A supportive family supported by J-spines!
Forearm and pillow supporting an elongated neck. Enjoying a happy moment on the day of the public television program shoot.
Have you discovered extra techniques that improve your neck’s posture journey? Please do share your discoveries so everyone can benefit!
I'll just start by saying
I'll just start by saying that I am a huge believer in the Gokhale method, and it has helped me tremendously. That said, I have owned a mattress store for 15 years, and I've spent tens of thousands of hours watching people on mattresses and correlating their pain with non-neutral sleeping positions. All of our customers are put on various pillows while they are selecting a mattress. In my experience, what you are recommending is what I term "a bad sleep habit". The job of the pillow is to pick up the 10-pound head and to keep that ten pounds from pushing the shoulder further into the mattress in a side sleeping position. Failure to pick up the head properly often results in a pressure point developing on the shoulder down in the mattress. I don't recommend any pillow which requires a body part (hand/arm) to be placed underneath the pillow to achieve a height that will actually support the head. There are several things that happen when a sleeper involves the arm or the hand in lifting the head by inserting it underneath the pillow. Firstly, the pressure of the 10-pound head on a hand/arm will create a circulation "pinch point", resulting in less robust circulation bodywide. Particularly as people age, muscle tone and connective tissue are not as robust as when young, so the nerves and vascular system are not as well-protected as they once were in locations like hips and shoulders ~ there is simply more pressure being exerted on nerves and vascular tissues. It becomes much easier to develop patches of tissue that are not well-oxygenated, causing ischemia as well as reducing the rate of circulation bodywide. Secondly, folding the arm under the head puts the shoulder joint in a torqued position (particularly in certain men who have a lot of upper body muscle), and often the elbow and wrist joints as well. As people age, it's important that these joints remain in as neutral a position as possible so that joint damage is not being caused or hastened by holding the joint in a torqued position for long periods of time. I have had hundreds of people call me or stop me on the street to thank me for the time I took with them to notice how they were lying on the mattresses, and for helping them solve their pain issues being caused by improper support of the head combined with joints held in non-neutral positions.
You make good points - this
You make good points - this technique does not generalize for everyone. That said, it's used successfully by people in many parts of the world, and works well for for some people in our culture (I'm one of them) - so use only if it makes sense and feels good.
Could you help me out with
Could you help me out with arm positioning when side sleeping ?
I struggle a lot with that.