Neck Pain

I have recently taken up running, after completing my first 10k race, I have suffered from neck pain. Has anyone else experienced this? If so could you please advise me how to get round this problem.

Comments

  • Hi Denise

    Do you still have the problem? It is my understanding that most musculoskeletal pain is postural in origin. Therefore need to sort out your posture. Good posture is defined by having good alignment. An example is that your shoulder, elbow, hip, knee and ankle should should all be aligned in one vertical line from the ground up. There are other good alignments indicated by vertical and horizontal lines on the body.
    This means that if you are misaligned, you get pain in another part of your body. e.g. your left foot is pointing the wrong way and because your whole body is connected, you may be getting back pain. I am not saying this is the cause in your case.
    Four solutions I am aware of:
    1) Get the book Pain Free by Pete Egoscue. It explains the above a lot better and gives simple exercises for getting rid of pain from various parts of the body. The kind of thing that takes a few minutes a day.
    2) Look up the article 'Strike a Pose' on the Health Tab of this site. Advocates exercises by Paul Chek, which again is similar to Egoscue, but I believe based on strength exercises.
    3) Do yoga (or Pilates). By doing yoga, I have sorted out my posturally related knee problem and can run again. I do yoga once a week at a class and then Sun Salutations before each run. Can now run pain free for over 30 mins whereas before was in agony after 100 yards.
    4) See a physio, exercise therapise etc.

    Hope that helps.
  • Since posting this have only had the problem a few times, but will look into what you have advised, thanks for the advice.
  • It will be posture related and Egoscue will definately help, i know this from personal experience.
  • do you run with your head down when you get the neck pain or tired on a run?
    If so try running with head held up and looking into distance rather than the ground. People tend to drop the head when tired and this puts an tremendous amount of weight on the neck and shoulders
  • forgot to mention - relax as well.

    you should also feel more confident with the head held high
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