Re: how to strenghthen my neck

gantenbein wrote:

gantenbein wrote:

Hi!

As my five ball runs slowly become more stable (and hence longer) I notice
that my neck seems to get stiff after a while. Feels like the muscles get
tired from looking up too long.

Do you have any advice what to do to strenghthen my neck?

Thanks in advance!

Steffen


Thanks guys,

sounds like I just need to relax more. I'll focus on that and see how it
goes.

Steffen


I'm impressed. An "aches and pains" post went up and no-one's put a "have
you warmed up properly?" response up yet. Well done.

My question would be "Strengthen? Are you sure that's what you want?"
Strength is different from control which is different from movement. All
3 can give problems if there's some deficit. Without seeing it we're sort
of guessing (although the guesses so far I'd say were pretty good).

I'll get less specific to your problem now but this stuff might be useful
to you (and others).
The main problem I've found with jugglers' necks is poor control/posture.
I see loads of jugglers with protracted postures (head poking forwards in
front of the neck - Olga Galchenko was a good example of this); combine
that with looking up for an extended period and you'll have problems.
Potentially the problems will be not just with the neck but down into the
arms.

To correct this work on "retraction". I'll explain by starting with the
reverse of this. Stick your head as far forwards as you can. This is
protraction. NB I don't mean look down or look up; keep looking forwards
it's just your head poking forwards as far as it can go.
Retraction is the reverse of this so pull your head backwards but NOT up
or down so again you are still looking forwards. So your head should now
be on top of your neck rather than "hanging off the front of it". You
might have a little stretch to the back of the neck as well. You should
NOT be looking up NOR bending your neck forwards or backwards it simply is
your head moving backwards; your face remains in the same plane.

I hope that makes sense.
Once there hold it there gently (you shouldn't be struggling with too much
effort) for 30s or so and remember to breathe normally whilst you're doing
it.

I'll try and get something about this written up on my site soonish
(hopefully with photos) and I'll probably do a workshop on this sort of
stuff at the BJC next month if anyone's interested.

If any of you have any problems then either email me or get yourself to
the BJC or Bungay where I'll be available for advice and treatment should
you wish. I'll also be at the EJC if you can find me.

Have fun.
Alan (aka PhysioMonkey)

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