Military Neck (Cervical Kyphosis) Treatment
In the past few years, there have been many studies published about military neck. There are various theories regarding how to treat it. Some say that stretching exercises will not work because they do not stretch the muscles properly; others believe that massage or acupuncture may help but these methods are very expensive and require specialized training.
Other researchers suggest using drugs such as steroids to increase blood flow to the area and reduce pain. Finally, some researchers claim that spinal manipulation may help. However, no one has found any effective method yet.
The most common approach to treating military neck is with exercises. These exercises aim at increasing range of motion and flexibility in the neck muscles while reducing pressure on the nerves and surrounding structures in the back of your head. You may think that all these exercises are similar but they actually vary greatly depending on which part of your body you want to strengthen or loosen up.
For example, if you have neck problems in your shoulders then you would perform exercises to improve shoulder mobility. If you have neck problems in your arms, then you might focus on strengthening them. And so forth…
There are several types of exercises that can be done:
1. Neck extensions – These exercises involve holding a stretched out position for a set period of time.
They target the muscles around the base of the skull and their attachments at the top of your spine.
2. Neck side bends – These exercises involve slowly turning your head over to one side as far as you can go without pain and then holding that position for a set period of time.
They target the muscles along one side of your neck and their attachments at the top of your spine.
3. Neck circles – These exercises involve slowly turning your head in one direction and then the other repeatedly.
They include pain but it shouldn’t be enough to force you to stop. They target the muscles on one side of your neck and their attachments at the top of your spine.
4. Chin tucks – These exercises involve slowly bringing your chin down toward your chest as far as you can go without pain and then holding that position for a set period of time.
They target the muscles at the back of your neck and their attachments to your spine. 5.
Sources & references used in this article:
… anterior cervical discectomy and fusion with plate fixation for juvenile unilateral muscular atrophy of the distal upper extremity accompanied by cervical kyphosis by X Guo, M Lu, N Xie, Q Guo, B Ni – Clinical Spine Surgery, 2014 – journals.lww.com
Long-term outcomes of one-stage anterior debridement, bone grafting, and internal fixation for the treatment of lower cervical tuberculosis with kyphosis by N Mao, Z Shi, H Ni, Y Zhao, H Tang, D Liu… – British Journal of …, 2013 – Taylor & Francis
Cervical disk arthroplasty versus ACDF for preoperative reducible kyphosis by Y Chen, X Wang, X Lu, H Yang, D Chen – Orthopedics, 2013 – healio.com
Surgical management of congenital cervical kyphosis by Z He, Y Liu, F Xue, H Xiao, W Yuan, D Chen – Orthopedics, 2012 – healio.com
Study on the reationship between disc degeneration and cervical kyphosis [J] by Y ZHANG, L WANG, Z WANG – The Journal of Cervicodynia and …, 2007 – en.cnki.com.cn
