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MSK Health
Brighton & Hove and West Sussex
Brighton & Hove and West Sussex
It is important to use your neck as normally as you can, although you might find that it helps to adjust what you do. The neck is no different to other joints in that it reacts well to movement and exercise. Exercise does not need to mean going to the gym, but anything where neck movement is needed.
It might help the pain or stiffness to apply some gentle heat (such as a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel). Giving your neck adequate support whilst you are resting can also help. For example, adjusting your pillows to what feels most comfortable for you while you sleep. You can also try taking pain relief medication.
It is safe and very helpful for your neck to do exercises even when it is sore as it will help to regain movement and the strength your neck needs to help you to recover. This is true even if your neck makes noises when you try to move. It is best not to avoid things that are difficult. Instead do as much as you are able at the time, progressing gradually.
There are some examples of exercises to do below. You can use our symptom tracker to check if what you are doing is helping you to improve.
X-rays and scans can help for a small number of people and in certain situations. However, most of the time it shows us things that are normal for the age of your neck and are not related to your pain. These sorts of findings will not help the neck get better. This is why your GP or clinician may say that it is not needed.
Occasionally you may need some extra help to get your neck pain better.
If you feel you would like to talk to a healthcare professional to help you further with your back you can fill in a self referral form.
Exercise is often used to help you improve your symptoms by increasing your muscular strength. We all need to improve our muscle mass (the amount of muscle we have) before being able to increase our strength, power and endurance.
Strengthening is a process that requires us to challenge our bodies with activity to be able to drive a change. These changes are not immediate and strengthening will take at least 6-8 weeks before we notice big changes.
Below are some ideas of how to choose what repetitions you should be using. Remember that you need muscle mass and strength before you can improve your power and/or endurance:
This is the process where we build muscle mass.
Rep range tends to be greater.
3 sets x 12-15 repetitions.
Improve your strength with lifting heavier loads.
Improve your strength by lifting more repetitions.
3 sets x 3-5 repetitions with a heavier load.
3 sets x 8-12 repetitions slowly.
Hard work (80%)
When you are ‘strong’ you can increase the speed at which you move a load.
4 sets x 4-6 repetitions.
50% maximal effort.
Explosive.
The goal is to be able to improve the amount of time that you can keep going for.
3-4 sets x 15-25 repetitions.
Light resistance.
Do you find it too difficult?
Is your pain worsening
Do you lose good technique/movement patterning?
If Yes, Regress.
Reduce the load.
Reduce the repetitions.
Reduce the depth of the movement
Have you just recently progressed?
Do you feel that there is still a challenge but your pain does not worsen?
If Yes, Maintain.
You might need a bit longer doing what you’re doing.
Do you find it easy?
Can you complete your whole program without a challenge?
Do you not have any flare ups?
If Yes, Progress.
Increase the weight.
Increase the repetitions.