Headstands -Neck worries

Hi team,

I'm working my way through the early steps of Handstand, I'm just moving onto HS/PE2.  I'm worried about my neck in these headstand exercises -having my body's weight loaded on my neck (HS/PE1, HS/PE2). I don't have any neck injuries or specific worries, it's a general concern.

I trust in this system, but to me it doesn't seem natural to have my neck joints loaded with so much weight.  Isn't it dangerous to the spinal disks? Can you give me your thoughts on the matter?

Thanks all

Hi Chad,

I have never had an issue with myself or anyone I train. Maybe the medical professionals can chime in with more detail but my tips are:

-Make sure the surface your head rests on is pretty soft.

-Keep enough weight and pressure in the hands to keep the head and neck comfortable.

Alternative question which people won't like...  Is there an alternative exercise that could be done instead of HS/PE2 that doesn't involve weight on the neck?

If it feels uncomfortable, try going back to tripod and working on building comfortability there. These progressions really are important for beginners and since you said that you aren't experiencing any issues and don't have any limitations, I strongly recommend trying to get comfortable with these. I'm not familiar with any alternatives but maybe @Alessandro Mainente has advice for you. 

When I first started doing HS/PE2, I used to get a sore neck, now it is fine. If you are concerned I would cycle the first 4 weeks for a while just to get used to it or even cut the times in half just to be on the safe side.

it is difficult to adjust the variation to take off some stress. you can perform the PE2 with a leg support in a L position. basically reach the headstand but bend the hips up to 90° and put legs on something elevated. this should take off some weight. 

I may be wrong, but I believe a moderator (?Cole) once recommended a yoga headstand support to assist someone with a bad neck.  It looked like it was upwards of $100, but for those inclined to spare their neck, would there be any downside in GST terms in using such a support?

It depends, seriously, in the headstand there is some weight on the neck BUT during the handstand all the traps are holding the bodyweigth so basically you need to understand if it is a problem concerned with weak neck muscles. with the support you are working around the problem without solve it.

Ah...I think I may have resolved this, at least for myself, although it would be great to get confirmation.

I got to a point where I was doing 4 x 60s headstands, and was pretty pleased with myself. It was as if my legs 'floated' up, and I was working on getting them straighter, pointing my toes, etc.

I simply assumed that my core was improving from other exercises, and that the reason my legs were 'floating' up was because my stomach was improving.

However, I had a nagging doubt that something might be wrong because -- like a few others in this forum -- I was feeling a lot of pressure on my neck by the time I got halfway through the last of the 4 headstands. Although I thought that it was just a case of my neck needing to get stronger, I decided to check the forums anyway.

And of course, it was then -- after reading a few comments -- that I realised that I was making a big mistake by not taking more pressure on my arms. To be honest I had been a little bit surprised at how little I needed my arms; I was finding that if I got my legs vertical and in just the right position I barely needed my arms at all!

But that's obviously pointless. As one of the comments said, you're going to need your arms for the actual handstand. It seems obvious now, but anyway, I realised then that I had to change my whole setup.

So I moved my legs slightly back from vertical, so that there was less weight on my head and neck, and immediately that put more strain on my arms, such that I've had to go back a level; I'm back to 48s headstands and shaky arms, to boot, but I don't care...better to build that strength.

One last thing, I took another look at the demonstration video, and it does actually look like the gymnast in that is not quite vertical. Given that he is perfectly vertical in all of the later handstand videos I'm now assuming that this slight angle is intentional.

Would that be correct? Am I on the right track?

Thanks for any input.

Hi Mark,

Taking a step back and fixing your form is the right thing to do. You are right in distributing the weight and putting majority in your arms, forearms and wrist. In the video, you can see that the body line is straight. It looks like its not because of the position of the head.

I tried a modified version of a headstand today, with supports under the shoulders.  This felt about the same in terms of difficulty, balancing muscles, and load on the arms/shoulders.

Do you see a major problem with doing a headstand in this way? If so, can you explain why? I'd like to hear your thoughts. 

I realize that my forearms aren't angled correctly but this can be adjusted using this same method.

@Cole Dano@Alessandro Mainente@Everett Carroll Do you guys have a perspective you could offer on this?

@Chad Moffitt

Your set up looks fine, except for this it's better to do near a wall just in case you loose balance and fall backwards.

But, please keep in mind that unless you have a neck issue like stenosis there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing headstands. It just needs to be approached through a process of gradual exposure, like any other form of strength training. 

That's actually one of the important roles of HS/PE1. To put some load on your neck, but not too much. If you feel the step from PE1 to PE2 is too much, then you can do a partially loaded, stabilised version of PE2 by putting your feet on some boxes and do a pike PE2. 

In yoga the order of PE2 and PE3 is generally reversed as well, the logic being that you can support more of you weight from your shoulders in PE2, but the cons of that are that the balance is harder, and shoulder mobility required is more. Also, from a technical standpoint PE2 is much easier to learn than PE3. Sill if you're really concerned you might consider that approach as an alternative.

Thanks For your thoughts Cole.  I will gingerly continue on with normal progressions :-)