Do these occipital neuralgia exercises if occipital neuralgia bothers the base of your skull and behind your eye.
Occipital Neuralgia exercises are the best natural solution to Occipital Headaches. Why is occipital neuralgia causing so much pain and frustration in my life? By the end of this video, you’ll have the essential stretch that no one is talking about and the number one occipital pain exercise to improve occipital neuralgia and the symptoms that it’s causing. I’ve helped hundreds of people over the past two decades suffering from occipital nerve pain, occipital migraines, and occipital headaches by teaching them the essential occipital neuralgia exercises. I look forward to helping you as well.
Occipital Neuralgia: What it is?
Occipital neuralgia is a diagnosis that one gets when their occipital nerve is compressed and causing pain or headaches. Compression of this nerve is typically beneath your skull and above your first cervical vertebra. There is seven cervical vertebrae with the first cervical just under the skull. And where that nerve comes out, it basically gets compressed. The nerve goes up and over your head to the back of your eye. So, you get pain and symptoms at the base of your skull that can go up and over to behind your eye. It is more common to be on one side but can affect both sides.
What causes Occipital Neuralgia?
Why is this compression of my occipital nerve taking place? More commonly than not, it’s a positional fault by your head being forward. Basically bad posture from looking down at your phone, slouching while driving, or whatever. By the head being forward, it’s causing compression on that nerve. And what that’s doing is its causing tightness… Or let me rephrase that, there’s tightness here in the front of the neck causing the head to come forward. So, let’s work on that.
What Occipital Neuralgia exercises should I do?
Platysma / Scalene Stretch
First, we’re going to do is two stretches for the front of the neck. Most people focus on the back of the neck, which is important but I like to focus on the front of the neck where the head is getting pulled forward.
So, there is a muscle here called the platysma. Ah, it’s a funny word, platysma. It’s from just below the collarbones up to the jaw and underneath it, the scalenes. The scalenes are attached from the ribs up to the vertebra and your cervical spine.
We’re going to use our hands. You’re going to put one right underneath your collarbone. As you put your hand underneath your collarbone, use the other hand on top of the first hand and give a little force into the body and then down towards the floor. As you do that move your neck in the opposite direction of your hands and look up and over your shoulder. You should feel the stretch all through the front of the chest and neck.
Take 4-5 deep breaths in this position allowing your gaze and head to go a little further with each exhale. Inhale and exhale.
Repeat on the opposite side, and put the hand right under the collarbone. Hold in and down with the other hand and look up and over that shoulder. My right one is a little tighter. Take four or five deep breaths into that position. So that’s the stretch for the front and side of the neck. The scalene and the platysma.
Chin Tuck Occipital Neuralgia Exercise
One of the best neck pain exercises available. The chin tuck will help bring your head back and tall to help avoid compressing that nerve.
Bring your chin back towards your throat.
Also, think about lengthening your spine. This length of the back of your neck helps relieve the pressure off that inflamed nerve.
Go back and up. Chin tuck. Back with the head going up.
I like to put my hand here on top of my head and think about pushing my hand towards the ceiling. Pushing my hand towards the ceiling with my chin tuck.
And that’s the chin tuck, to open that space where the occipital neuralgia is bothering you.
Do these Occipital Neuralgia exercises a couple of times a day for a few days to see if you get any relief.
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Download our Free Report
Click on my website and download the free report on headaches and neck pain. You can find that at: https://therapyandpilates.com/headaches.
Thank you for watching my video today and reading my blog today. I hope you got some value… And these occipital neuralgia exercises help improve your occipital neuralgia.
If you need more information and you like to reach out and schedule an appointment with us at CORE Therapy & Pilates, give us a call at 512-215-4227.