SE9 Supine Trap Stretch Alternative due to neck injury

Hi purchase TBC this week went through it yesterday. Awesome 

As I have cervical stenosis and have had discs bulging agravated by neck flexion I am reluctant to do the supine trap stretch. Is there a less severe alternative please

just to illustrate my point in HS1 I perform my head stands with my shoulders and hand on a stack of bumper plates so that my head does not touch the floor but I can still work on my line strength and balance.

any advice much appreciated 

I'll let someone like @Mark Collins(physical therapist) give you specific advice on exactly how to proceed, but I can give you some trap stretches that don't put direct pressure on the neck. 

1. Jefferson Curls. Tuck your chin and curl one vertebra at a time. There's plenty written on the forum and podcasts about it. 

2. Chair Trap Stretch. Sit on a chair, tuck your chin, and flex your spine. You can apply pressure with your hands to increase. You can also grab the side of the chair and tilt your head to the side and forward a bit for a great upper traps stretch.

Nick, would love to see s picture of your bumper plate HS. @Mark Collins is that a good idea for cervical stenosis, bulging discs or better or skip headstands all together.

You're wise to be careful with cervical stenosis. 

Since you're comfortable using the weight stack for headstand you could do the same for the trap stretch. First just placing feet on a wall or the floor and rolling a just a little back on your upper back. Nowadays you can also find specially made headstand benches which may be well worth a look.

Obviously with stenosis, it's much better to err on the side of caution, so proceed carefully.

You see this is why the gymnastic bodies forum is so awesome . Thanks to you all for you responses and advice. The trap stretches you suggest make sense and the hand stand bench looks cool. That's basicaly how I set up my headstand so there is no pressure on my head. I have been using it for some time

should I post my headstand video in the handstand forum?

 

thanks again

Yes, the headstand bench is just a purpose built piece of gear to do exactly what you very cleverly worked out on your own. For the trap stretch it would give you more contact area and control, but I recon you can use the pates as well. Good job on working that set up out!

Yes feel free to post your set up in the HS Form check forum, and from there we can move over to the TBridge forum for the trap stretch. I'd want to see your HS first though.

Hi just posted my headstand video in the H1 Forum