Cervical osteochondrosis is a pathological process in the tissues of the intervertebral discs. Normally, they are resilient and elastic, but under certain conditions they lose their qualities, are compressed, can compress nerve endings and small vessels. This provokes pain, edema of adjacent tissues, circulatory disorders. The disease does not pose a direct threat to life, but it greatly reduces its quality, and therefore requires appropriate treatment. Exercises for cervical osteochondrosis at home are mandatory, being an important element of complex therapy.

Indications for exercises with cervical osteochondrosis

Therapeutic exercises are indicated for people who are diagnosed with the following:

  • juvenile osteochondrosis of the 1 and 2 vertebrae of the neck;
  • juvenile cervical osteochondrosis;
  • juvenile osteochondrosis of the thoracic and neck;
  • neck osteochondrosis in adults;
  • chondrosis of the cervical and thoracic in adults;
  • osteochondrosis of unspecified localization in adults.

In addition, exercise therapy is recommended for all people belonging to risk groups: they move a little, work a lot at a computer, and have weak muscle corset.

Independent gymnastics classes are shown only in the initial stages of the disease. Gymnastics at the third and fourth stages is recommended only in the presence of an instructor in exercise therapy.

Training

Exercises for osteochondrosis of the cervical spine should be preceded by a small warm-up:

  • starting position - the body is straight, the feet are placed shoulder width apart. Take 3 breaths;
  • perform 3 shallow belt tilts alternately in all directions;
  • turn your head three times to each shoulder. The movements are smooth. It is necessary to try to turn as much as possible, but there should be no pain;
  • maximally reduce the shoulder blades. Then bring your shoulders, rounding your back. Run thrice.

In the process of warming up, keep your head straight, do not tilt. Hands are constantly freely lowered and relaxed. All movements are made slowly and smoothly, as if in water, without jerking.

A set of simple exercises for cervical osteochondrosis at home

It is better to do gymnastics daily, after having taken a warm shower. The cervical-collar area can be heated with a hot stream of water, and then easily rubbed with a towel.

The most effective exercises for osteochondrosis of the cervical spine

Effectiveness of an exercise does not always mean complexity. Many exercises that relieve unpleasant manifestations of the disease well do not require special physical preparation. Having completed the warm-up, you need to inhale and exhale deeply again three times, take the starting position and proceed to the main part.

  1. Gently, while breathing in, reach for arms up. Give up. Do 10 repetitions.
  2. Keeping your arms down, gently rotate the shoulder joints in a circle. Do 10 repetitions.
  3. At the same time, with two hands perform the “wheel” - circular rotation of the hands. The amplitude is controlled independently, preventing the occurrence of pain in the joints. Do 10 repetitions.
  4. With arms extended along the body, palms up, lay down on the floor with your stomach. Lean your head on the chin. Carefully turn it, trying to touch the floor with your right or left ear. If pain is felt in the neck, reduce the amplitude. Do 10 repetitions.
  5. Turn to the right side, arms outstretched along the body. Lay your head on the floor, then lift and hold on weight for 5 seconds. To lower the head. Do 5 repetitions on each side.
  6. Sit in a comfortable position, lower your hands, relax your shoulder girdle. Perform a smooth circular rotation of the head - counterclockwise, and then back. Make 10 rotations.
  7. Sitting, stretch your head back, while continuing to look straight. Make 7 repetitions.
  8. Continuing to sit, grab the back of the neck with both hands and snap your fingers together. Try to pull your elbows as close to each other as possible - so that you can put your chin on your lower forearms. Then slowly raise your forearms and fix the pose for 5 seconds. If everything is done correctly, a pleasant stretching of the muscles of the shoulder area and slight pressure in the neck area will be felt.

Finish gymnastics with a light self-massage and rubbing the neck. Such daily training will strengthen muscles, improve blood circulation and inhibit the pathological process.

Dr Bubnovsky exercises

In the treatment of neck pathologies, a set of exercises developed by Sergei Mikhailovich Bubnovsky, doctor of medical sciences, demonstrates high efficiency.

It is simple and consists of only seven steps:

Step One - "Spring"

Stand straight, relax your shoulders, lower your hands. Lower the chin to the chest as much as possible, sipping the neck muscles from behind. Hold the position for 5 seconds. Slowly raise your head, stretching the neck muscles in front, also for 5 seconds. Make 5-10 repetitions.

Step Two - Metronome

From the previous position, pull the lateral muscles, tilting the head alternately to one and the other shoulder. In each slope to linger, counting to five.

Step Three - Review

From the starting position, turn your head left and right, stopping at each turn for 5 seconds. Make 5-10 repetitions.

Fourth step - “Goose”

Rest your hands on your waist, stretch your chin forward, keeping it parallel to the floor.Keeping your head strictly in a given position, turn your body to the right, trying to touch your chin with your left shoulder. Fix a position for 20-30 seconds. Repeat the same with a left turn. Make 6 such turns.

Step Five - The Heron

Sit comfortably, straighten your head. Extend your arms, pull them as far as possible behind your back, while lifting your head up. Count to five. Make 5-10 repetitions.

Step Six - The Difficult Review

Continuing to sit, place the right palm on the left shoulder, while holding the elbow in a horizontal plane. At the same time, turn your head to the left. Do the same with the other hand, the other way.

Step Seven - Fakir

Also sitting, raise your hands above your head, slightly bending your elbows, and hold your hands to each other. Turn your head alternately to the left and right shoulder, each time fixing the position for 5 seconds. Make 5-10 repetitions.

The complex of Dr. Bubnovsky is patented, has all the necessary permits and is officially used in medical practice. However, to get the result, it is important to perform the exercises daily and correctly.

Butrimov complex

The complex proposed by a reflexologist and martial artist Vladimir Aleksandrovich Butrimov proved to be very good for osteochondrosis of the neck. A distinctive feature of the Butrimov complex is the complete immobility of the arms, shoulders and body. Initially, hands are placed on the waist, feet - shoulder width apart.

Only the neck and head will move:

  1. Looking straight, stretch your chin forward. Then return to the starting position and stretch the back of the head. Make 7-10 repetitions, fixing for 5 seconds.
  2. Keeping the line of the chin strictly parallel to the floor, turn your head alternately to one and the other shoulder. Do 7-10 repetitions.
  3. Make a head for 7-10 inclinations forward and backward. Leaning forward, try to reach your chest with your chin.
  4. Tilt the head down strongly and from this position turn it, as if looking alternately, now with one or the other eye up. Do 7-10 repetitions.
  5. In turn, bend your head toward one and the other shoulders with a slight extension.
  6. Stretch your head back and make circular movements of the head in the horizontal plane, then one way, then the other.
  7. Raise your head up and look at each shoulder 5 times in turn.
  8. Get your ear to the left shoulder, then - with your chin reach your neck and take your starting position. Repeat the same in the other direction. Then perform a full roll - right, down, left, to the starting position. Repeat this three exercises 5 times.

Sam V.A. Butrimov recommends doing this gymnastics daily for 4-5 months. With perseverance and the right approach, pathological changes in the vertebrae stop.

Therapeutic exercises for osteochondrosis of the cervical spine

In the later stages, when dystrophy is already pronounced in the tissues, the doctor may recommend classes with an exercise therapy instructor. Typically, the treatment complexes recommended for this disease include two blocks of exercises - dynamic and static.

Dynamic exercises make the muscles contract rhythmically and relax. The task of static - to stretch and maximize the necessary muscles. The peculiarity of these medical complexes is that classes can be accompanied by pain, and they are not considered a deviation from the norm. However, a specialist must be present nearby, monitoring the patient's condition and the correctness of the exercises.

To attend physical therapy classes you will need comfortable sportswear and shoes, a special rug and towel. A bottle of drinking water may come in handy. You can eat 2 hours before class.

Gentle exercise

The simplest, most gentle exercises for cervical osteochondrosis can be performed prophylactically.

And they can be done in any situation - even at the workplace:

  1. Stand with your back to the table and lean on it with your hands. Without taking your hands off the table, stand up “on tiptoe”, arching your back. Hold for a few seconds. From this position, slowly squat down, continuing to hold hands at the table. When squatting, tilt your head forward, stretching the muscles of the cervical-collar zone. Lock the position for 15-20 seconds.
  2. Sit straight, looking in front of you, and put your palm on your forehead. Start slow pressure with your palm, without changing the position of the head. The muscles of the neck should not be very stressed, so you need to press with your palm on your forehead, and not vice versa. Perform 10-15 seconds.
  3. The starting position is the same - the head is straight, the palm rests on the forehead. The second hand is placed on the neck. Perform the exercise similar to the previous one, but with the pressure of two hands at the same time. The lead time is 5-10 seconds.
  4. Continuing to sit upright, place the palm of the right hand on the head above the right ear. Slowly push, trying not to tilt your head. Lock position for 10 seconds. Then, also perform with the left hand.

Such light gymnastics, based on stretching the muscles of the desired area and on resistance, is very useful in situations where you need to quickly relieve tension, fatigue and neck pain. All exercises must be done slowly and carefully.

Why do exercises?

The main cause of osteochondrosis is hypodynamia. The muscles that fix the spine become weaker, which causes a drop in metabolic rate and a deterioration in blood supply to bone and cartilage. Exercise is needed specifically to restore muscle tone and eliminate the consequences of its decrease.

Regular classes according to any of the described methods give the following effects:

  • strengthening the muscular corset;
  • increased mobility of the cervical vertebrae;
  • improving blood supply to the cartilage and bone tissue of the spinal column;
  • edema in this area is removed, normal innervation is restored, pain syndrome is reduced.

After a long observance of the occupational regimen, patients notice an increase in the range of motion in the cervical spine, as well as the disappearance of headaches, which are also often caused by osteochondrosis of the neck.

Important recommendations of a specialist: contraindications and appointments

Exercises for the treatment of osteochondrosis are prescribed after consulting a therapist, neurologist, rheumatologist, arthrologist and vertebrologist.

Such a strict approach is necessary, since exercise therapy is contraindicated in the phase of exacerbation of the disease and in a number of other conditions:

  • arterial hypertension;
  • myocardial infarction;
  • aneurysm;
  • arrhythmia;
  • diabetes;
  • severe myopia;
  • exacerbation of chronic diseases;
  • ARVI;
  • threat of bleeding;
  • the presence of neoplasms.

In mild cases, exercises can be prescribed for home use. The attending physician will select the most suitable complex, taking into account the patient's condition. Complex forms of osteochondrosis require a combination of different types of therapy. LFK procedures, in this case, are carried out under strict medical supervision.

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