Habitual Tightness on the Back of my Neck

I am thankful for this forum!  

I have been doing foundation one for about three months and loving it!  My mid and lower back feel better than they ever have in the last twenty year!  I am the classic desk warrior.  

In the last month though I have started to experience a low grade habitual tightness on the back of my neck.  It seems to just be that location.  I have working hard to do the once a week thoracic bridge series.  Thoughts?

Zach

Hey Zach. Glad you are enjoying the courses so much! I recommend you go see a physio. Maybe @Mark Collins and @Wesley Tan have some other input but it is hard to give advice for issues like this over the forum.

What else are you doing besudes F1 and where are you currently with the programme?

Working hard to to TB series once a week? What does that mean excatly? The whole series once a week? 

Do you feel pain or dicomfort in your neck during any of the exercises and is there any history of related issues?

As a traps stretch and entirely provided there is no pathology in which case focus on Wes' answers, I have resolved tight upper traps by slowing the top of  Jefferson curls down to a crawl, and minimizing the movement to roll from the top while keeping my upper back as straight as possible. There's a particular angle that gets right in there and worked magic.

6 hours ago, Wesley Tan said:

What else are you doing besudes F1 and where are you currently with the programme?

Working hard to to TB series once a week? What does that mean excatly? The whole series once a week? 

Do you feel pain or dicomfort in your neck during any of the exercises and is there any history of related issues?

We have been doing F1 for about three months.  The uploaded image show exactly where I am right now after three month.  I am not quite able to do the whole TB series yet.  I am too stiff!  But I do the best I can with about 3/4th of it each week.  Making progress!  

I don't feel pain during any exercises, just habitual tightness (not pain) quite a bit when I am not working out.  It's not painful, just annoying.  

I used to lift weight a lot and when I hit 30 I found that my traps and neck would be habitually super tight when I was lifting so I just stop ed lifting because it became too annoying and almost painful.  GB seems to have helps a ton with this with the traps.  I don't have chronic pain between my shoulder blades anymore.  But the tightness in the neck after workouts seems to still be a challenge.  

Thanks for asking great questions!

Zach

5 hours ago, Jon Douglas said:

As a traps stretch and entirely provided there is no pathology in which case focus on Wes' answers, I have resolved tight upper traps by slowing the top of  Jefferson curls down to a crawl, and minimizing the movement to roll from the top while keeping my upper back as straight as possible. There's a particular angle that gets right in there and worked magic.

Jon, thanks for the reply.  I am not sure I understand what this means "and minimizing the movement to roll from the top while keeping my upper back as straight as possible"

Thanks!

Being pain free is a good thing!

If you have a history of tightness in the neck and upper back then it is not going to change quickly. These things take time to unwind and the nervous system has to make changes on a deep level as long as a continous stimulation towards increased length and relaxtion is put into those areas.

I would recommend getting a seties of hands on treatments from an Osteopath if possible. Lots of soft tissue/massage, rhytymic movements can be excellent for switching of tight musculature from someone with good hands! 

As you have had the issue for years there is most likely some changes within the neck also. Signs of disc compression etc. It wil take time to unwind and lengthen but give it time and make sure you focus on mobity throughout the entire shoulder girdle. Tables, shoulder extension, lat stretches, dislocates, xiaopengs as well as loosening the back generally and with pike folds.