Your neck is made up of muscle, bone, nerves, blood vessels, and other components that ensure its proper functioning. The neck is one of the most indispensible areas of your body because of the obvious fact that it connects your body to your cephalic region or head. But this doesn’t make the neck a very strong structure to begin with.

The neck is an anatomical structure that supports the weight of your head and assists in the coordination and movement of your body. Usually, strain and stress affect the neck very much. Activities like computer jobs, heavy lifting, sitting, and standing for long hours give your neck a hard time. Even wrong positioning during sleep causes your neck to suffer as well. That cervical spine conditions develop. With this, neck strengthening exercises have to be performed to make sure that your neck does its job without any problem at all.

One should focus on neck strengthening to make sure that all other activities are done smoothly and without any pain. Neck pain or injury resulting from weak neck muscles can be a very serious issue to deal with. Read on and try the following neck strengthening exercises that can help you have a sturdier neck:

1. Basic exercises

Perform these basic neck strengthening exercises about three times in a day. When your neck is already improving, you can increase the duration and repetition but make sure that doing so does not give you pain in any way. There are two basic neck strengthening that you can do—chin tucks and the shoulder blade squeeze. With chin tucks, you sit or stand straight with your shoulders a bit back. Then tuck your chin for three seconds until you feel some stretch (mild to moderate) that is painless. Have ten repetitions. The shoulder  blade squeeze can also be done sitting or standing. Tuck your chin with your shoulders back. Compress your scapulas or shoulder blades together as hard as you can. There should be no pain when you do this for five seconds. Repeat this ten times.

2. Advanced routine

You can perform these neck strengthening exercises if you are ready for the next level. Same with the basic routines, as your neck improves, go on and increase the frequency and contraction strength. One advanced neck strengthening exercise is static extension. Start by sitting or standing up straight with shoulders back. Position your hand behind your neck and then push your head against your hand. Do this if you feel no pain. You should be looking straight ahead. Hold your position for three seconds. Repeat this routine ten times.

3. Resistance

Resistance neck strengthening exercises are easy to do. There are lateral, forward, backward, and rotational resistance exercises that you could perform. For lateral resistance, position your hand to the side of your head and push your head against your hand for five seconds. Do the same with the other side of your head. For forward resistance, place your hand on your forehead and push your head against your hand for five seconds. For the backwards resistance, place your hand at the back of your head and push against your hand for five seconds. For the rotational resistance, position your hand on the side of you head and try to push your head against your hand as you try your best to rotate it for five seconds. Do the same with the other side.

The given neck strengthening exercises should be performed with the supervision of your doctor or therapist. It is important for these exercises to be done properly to make sure that no additional damage to ligaments, tissues, nerves, and muscles will be inflicted. There can be times when the exercises will be combined with hot or cold therapy, which will help your neck heal faster if they are injured or in pain.

Strengthening you neck could also be aided by therapeutic pillows and proper posture in whatever you do. There are orthopedic mattresses and pillows that are available in the market these days that perfectly align the neck and head with the rest of your body as you sleep. This prevents strains and stress from wrong positioning in your slumber. There are also neck support cushions that will help your neck as you do your work in front of the computer. Proper posture is a big factor in neck strengthening because it helps your neck align perfectly with your body on its own. Be mindful of how you sit, stand, and walk so that the neck strengthening exercises could be performed without any pain problems.