Nod head - occiput (back of head) stays in contact with wall. Drop shoulders, elbows together.
Maintain this position & raise arms as high as possible.
MOTOR CONTROL NECK ORIENTAL BOW
Slide your head up the back of the wall. This is to activate the Deep Neck Flexor Muscles.
Elbows together, raise your arms as high as you can.
Focus on dropping the shoulder girdle & keeping your back flat against the wall.
Sustain the end position.
Build up repetitions slowly to avoid headaches or flare in symptoms.
POSTURAL
These exercises are intended to improve postural awareness & deep muscle control around all the joints.
They will help you learn where the correct postural position is.
This will help you achieve muscle balance and better posture and control.
Keep your back flat against the wall. Slide the back of your head up the wall as you nod & look downwards with your eyes. Hold this position.You may feel a pull down your mid thoracic spine.
Back of head (occiput) stays in contact with wall throughout.
MOTOR CONTROL NECK NOD
Slide your head up the back of the wall, or floor whilst you look down with your eyes. This is to activate the Deep Neck Flexor Muscles to improve neck stability.
You can also Nod your head up the headrest of your car when waiting at traffic lights.
Build up repetitions slowly to avoid headaches or flare in symptoms.
ABC OF POSTURE IN SITTING
A
To correct to a neutral pelvic tilt position: The aim is to sit on the center of the Ischial tuberosities (sitting bones).
Use thumb pressure on your sacral dimples to guide you midway between ‘headlights up’; on the front (anterior) part of the sitting bones & ‘headlights down’; on the back (posterior) part of the sitting bones.
B
To correct scapular position: Visualise the scapulae as the African continents, with the lowest point being Cape Town or the ‘Tips of ‘Africa’.
As you take a breath in, draw the Tips of Africa down & AWAY from each other.
Aim your sternal bone (breastbone) upwards so that, as you breathe, in you aim the sternum obliquely to where the wall meets the ceiling in front of you.
Hold this position & breathe normally.
C
Lift the base of the occiput (base of skull) off C1 (1st neck vertebra), so that you are effecting a ‘nod’ of your head on your neck.
The nod corrects to the neutral head on neck position.
Look down with your eyes to assist.
A retraction movement is incorrect as this compresses the back of the C0/1 joint.
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