Neck pain and tension can be stubborn, but you don’t have to push through it or rely on pain meds. If you breath using your upper chest, slouch, over-train your upper body and suffer a lot of stress, your ribcage could be stuck. This could be the hidden cause of your neck pain.
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here it is…
The 3 Rib Cage Restrictions That Keep Neck Pain Coming Back
And Why You Should Take Note
Hi there. Are you stretching your neck every day, but the tightness just seems to keep coming back?. You might be missing some of the real culprits. There are three common rib cage restrictions that force your neck to pick up the slack, and if those aren’t addressed, the cycle just keeps repeating.
Hi, I’m Alexis Weidland, osteopath and co-founder of Blossoming Me in Healthy Learning Lounge. And today I wanted to share with you three specific ways that your rib cage might be limiting your neck’s movement and keeping you stuck in pain.
We’ve covered that the rib cage and the neck are deeply connected, but here’s where it gets pretty specific. Certain restrictions in your ribs can create predictable patterns of neck dysfunction, and most people have no idea they’re walking around with these movement faults every day.
Rib Restrictions
Restriction # 1 – Lack of Lateral Expansion.
Your ribs are supposed to move to the sides when you breathe, and if they don’t, you end up breathing with your neck… constantly. This creates chronic tension in your scalenes and your traps and your accessory breathing muscles.
To Identify it
What you can look for for this
- Your shoulders rise when you breathe.
- You feel stuck through the sides of your torso.
- Reduced movement and possibly even tension and pain,
- You get tired quickly from light cardio or long walking.
Restriction #2 – Locked Upper Ribs
The upper ribs, especially ribs one to four can get glued down from slouching, from stress, from essentially over-breathing through the chest. And if they’re locked, then your body will have to use the neck to create the movement that your chest would otherwise have. To lift your chest with every breath.
To Identify it
What to look for for this one would be
- Rounded shoulders
- Forward head posture
- Tension under the collarbone or
- Tension at the back and base of your neck.
Restriction#3 – Limited Thoracic Rotation
The upper spine and the ribs are designed to be able to rotate, especially when we’re walking, when we are turning, or reaching. And if they don’t, you’ll twist from essentially your neck instead. And that’s like asking your neck to do the job of a much larger area of the body and it’s not built for that.
To Identify it
What to look for for here?
- Tightness between the shoulder blades.
- Reduced ability to rotate when maybe checking your blind spot.
- More pain on one side of your neck than the other.
So what can you do?
In clinic…
- We assess and address these restrictions through hands-on treatment and targeted movement.
- We look at, and treat the whole body as one unit
- that functions together and
- where any one area can affect any or all other areas, and
- we have a ribcage Reset mini course that helps our clients
- to support and improve their own rib cage function from home,
- helping to reduce pain and
- speed up treatment and healing processes.
- It’s designed to help to restore proper rib cage function.
When your rib cage functions optimally, your neck is supported. And it can move more freely, allowing tention and restriction to finally calm down. Because once those restrictions are released, your neck doesn’t have to carry that load anymore.
Final Word
These rib restrictions show up in nearly every patient we see with chronic neck pain. So, if what you’ve been doing hasn’t been working, this might be why. Next week I’ll share more on rib cage dysfunction and how it forces your neck to overcompensate.
If you’re ready to get started now, book our whole Body Reset assessment at the clinic. Link in the comment section or comment reset. And I’ll send you , our ribcage toolkit.
Got Questions?
So that’s it for today. Did it raise any questions or aha moments? If so, I’d love to hear them. So please put those in the comment section. I love answering questions. I hope you found today useful. And if you know someone who could use this information, please share it. Remember to comment, like and subscribe.
Until next time and in health, bye for now.
Click the Button Below for my RibCage Reset min-course
Interested in further reading?
-
- Chronic Neck Pain and Respiratory Function
- Thoracic Mobility and Mechanical Neck Pain
- Influence of Thoracic Spine & Chest Mobility on Neck Pain
- Breathing Intervention Effects on Neck Pain & Posture
- Diaphragmatic Breathing for Mechanical Neck Pain & Pulmonary Function
- Breathing Exercises for Neck Pain Management
Book appointment here
(pick 1- Turramurra location; 2- osteopath; 3- select date you’re looking for, then click select clinician.
Then, choose initial, follow up or our special Foot and Posture Assessment for a whole body assessment and treatment plan to determine if treatment is right for you)
About Blossoming Me
BlossomingMe offers a fully integrated approach to your wellbeing. Located on Sydney’s Upper North Shore. Sarah is our Cranio-sacral and Remedial Massage Therapist and health and lifestyle coach. She can help relieve those problematic knots, tightness and other specific ailments to promote a healthy recovery. These complementary massage therapies can be combined to suit your needs, and include: craniosacral therapy, shiatsu, acupressure, reiki, remedial, swedish, and body-mind-massage.
Our qualified Osteopath, Alexis, offers a drug free, minimally invasive, “hands on” treatment focusing on the musculoskeletal system with its associated muscles, tendons, ligaments, membranes, bones and joints. Alexis takes a functional approach. This means that she focuses on the way a component (body part, tissue or group of tissues) performs its role, as well as the way the body works, performs and integrates as a whole. Our team can support you to improve your posture and therefore your overall health.