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Limited Cervical Range of Motion Excercises

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Now that’s a pain in the neck!

How much of a role does your neck play in your swing? You probably have never pondered this thought unless you’ve had a sore neck during a round.
Keep reading, the answer may surprise you.
Your neck or cervical spine does play a significant role in helping to maintain head alignment and posture while your shoulders and trunk rotate during your backswing. In addition, limited range of motion in your cervical spine can make it difficult to maintain your posture on the down swing and limit the ability to fully rotate your shoulders through impact.
You may not have pain or even know that you have a range of motion or mobility limitation. Loss of motion can be a slow and progressive problem stemming from poor postural patterns on or off the course. Two of the biggest causes of loss of mobility are degenerative joint disease (DJD), also known as osteoarthritis and degenerative disc disease, each of which can be a result of prior trauma, overuse, poor posture or a combination.

Cervical Rotation Self-Test
Stand up tall with a mirror 90 degrees to your right side. Keeping your shoulders steady, look over your right shoulder directly at the mirror. If you are able to turn far enough to see both of your ears without rotating your shoulders, you have excellent neck range of motion. Repeat to the left side.

Poor Posture
When in poor posture neck range of motion will often be limited. Neck pain can often result from this type of “forward head” posture while playing golf. Ideally, a golfer should be able to rotate their head about 90° both left and right. Good range of motion is directly related to good posture and most importantly the motion should be pain free.

Problem: Limited cervical range of motion

cervicalrotationselftest Cervical Rotation Self-Test
Stand up tall with a mirror 90 degrees to your right side. Keeping your shoulders steady, look over your right shoulder directly at the mirror. If you are able to turn far enough to see both of your ears without rotating your shoulders, you have excellent neck range of motion. Repeat to the left side.

Exercise: Supine Foam Roll extension
Lie over a foam roll as pictured below, raise your arms to shoulder height with your elbows bent to 90 degrees allow chest to stretch while letting your arms fall towards the floor relax in this position for 3-5 minutes. Breathe slowly and deeply to help your muscles to relax.

Supine Foam Roll extension

Exercise: Chin tucks

chintucks Stand up tall as pictured at left, with your arms by your side, gently squeeze your shoulders together while tucking your chin as indicated by the arrow. Keep your eyes looking ahead while holding for 10 seconds, relax and repeat. Perform 5 repetitions.

Exercise: Cervical rotation
Sit or stand in good posture. Stretch your neck by looking to one side and hold 10 seconds. Repeat tothe other side. Perform 5 repetitions.

cervicalrotationexcercise

If you experience pain while performing any of these exercises, do not continue exercising. Contact a doctor or a physical therapist for further testing and recommendations.

The exercises above are intended for golf performance improvement and are recommended based on the assumption that you are in reasonably good health and are not intended for injury rehabilitation. The following exercises are no substitute for individualized medical advice. You should consult your doctor before you begin this or any exercise program. Contact the professionals at iGOLFfit for an individualized golf fitness training or rehabilitation program.

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