No more pain in the neck
hen you have an aching back or are in agony with arthritis, it can be tempting to take it easy. But while rest was once the advice given by doctors, in recent years things have changed – and now gentle exercise is thought to help in most cases.
“When you stop moving it can make your muscles seize or stiffen up,” says personal trainer Joe Cave (www. joecavept.co.uk). “Working to build stronger muscles will, in turn, help prevent future pain.”
As for who should be moving through it – it’s most of us. “There has been lots of research which shows movement and exercises can be helpful to reduce the pain and improve function for people with musculoskeletal issues,” says personal trainer Shreepa Rajani, a programme manager at Nuffield Health (www. nuffieldhealth.com).
“Even if you have a medical condition such osteoarthritis – or any other pain – movement and exercise should form a key component of your recovery.”
There are essentially two ways to move – first, gentle motions to ease off pain and increase your blood flow
W(whether walking, swimming, yoga, housework or just a spot of stretching). To help reduce future soreness – and ideally under guidance from your GP or gym staff – it’s also worth aiming to do some strength work, building your muscles and helping keep your joints in good working order. This can take various forms including bodyweight movements, using weights, resistance exercise and most other activities to some degree. Once you know exercise can both soothe and strengthen, your sofa will look less appealing…
Soothe: “Anything to get the blood flowing will help,” says Joe. Loosen up a stiff neck and shoulders with some easy stretches. “Try a neck side bend,” says Shreepa. “Facing forward, slowly tilt your neck to the right. Hold for ten seconds and slowly repeat on the left. Now slowly tilt your face upwards, hold for ten seconds, and tilt downwards and hold. Repeat twice.” Shoulder rolls, and reaching your arm up, bending your body gently to the opposite side, can also help ease things up. Strengthen: As well as bringing relief to stiff shoulders, yoga helps prevent them seizing up in the future, as gentle, regular movement can help unknot day-to-day aches and tone muscles.