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This is Brent of the Brookbush
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Institute, and in this video we're going over
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a very clever deep neck flexor
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activation exercise that I picked up in
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a text called 'Manipulative Therapy' by
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Lewit. I'm going to have my friend Melissa
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come out she's going to help me
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demonstrate. Now we do need a prop for
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this exercise, we need to pretend that
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Melissa is sitting at her desk in the
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middle of the gym, on turf. I'm just
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kidding, we're going to pretend that
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Melissa is your common office, desk bound,
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computer working individual. The big
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problem we have with these individuals
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is unlike our athletes where we can go,
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okay I need you to not run for two weeks
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while we kind of get this problem
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figured out. Or I need you to stop
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playing basketball, or stop playing
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footbal,l just give me a couple weeks get
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this straight. I can't go hey you just
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stop working for two weeks ok. I know
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paychecks are important and all but you
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don't need it, but that doesn't work for
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this group of people. They're
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actually very hard to treat. If they have
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cervical dysfunction and they have to be
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staring at a computer, we have to find
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ways to help them manage that problem.
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And then I read about this exercise
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which i've been using which is fantastic,
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no equipment required except for a desk
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chair, which they happen to already be
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sitting in. So what this exercise
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involves is if Melissa leans her head
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back so that it matches her body right,
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so you guys can see she's leaned back, a
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little back this way. If her head and
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neck match that angle, she now has a
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little bit of a force vector opposing
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what her deep neck flexors would do,
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which is chin tuck. So if she chin tucks
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from this position, a little more
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forward, hold for 2 to 4 seconds, and then
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relax; she can help to reactivate those
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deep neck flexors that might become a
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little inactive when we sit in front of
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our computers like this. Start
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stabilizing that cervical spine a little
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bit, and hopefully manage some of the
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cervical pain and dysfunction she's been
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having. Now if I want to take this up one
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more step, I could even show Melissa how
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to use her hand to palpate her SCM. All
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right so palpate sternocleidomastoid,
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kind of get her used to feeling okay
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what is a inactive sternocleidomastoid
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feel like. It's going to be slightly
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active since we're upright, but now only
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lean back as far as you need to before
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those guys all of a sudden turn on. All
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right, you feel that? So if she goes ahead
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and falls way back here, like you
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might even be able to see how her
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sternocleidomastoid just geared up, and
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you can see that big line down here.
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Alright so lean back only as far as you can
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without those guys getting active, now do
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your chin tuck, hold for four seconds,
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four seconds times 10 to 20 reps, so
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we're looking at about a minute. I don't
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know anybody with a good excuse to not
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take a minute out of even every hour if
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they had to, to start being able to
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manage their own cervical pain this is
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an important one. Although i don't like
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this exercise as much as like some of
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that isolated activation exercises we
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did in previous videos, where we also get
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some of the lower cervical extensors, and
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we're also mobilizing some of that CT
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junction. This exercise just for ease is
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so clever I think it'll definitely help
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your carryover from session to session.
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So there you guys have it, Lewit deep neck
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flexor activation in a desk chair.
