FULL PROGRAM
VIDEOS FOR THE NECK MODULE
PART 1
HIT PLAY WHEN YOU ARE READY
TheĀ Full Program Part 1 is designed to retain the areas of the neck affected by concussion- establishing a solid foundation on which to build. Use this video to see how to perform the exercises and refer to the workbook for guidance on sets, and progressions.
General Guidelines: Complete the exercises 2-3 times a week with at least one day off in between. Please modify as needed.Ā When you have progressed through Part 1, move to Part 2 below.Ā I am in the community for any questions!
*This is for educational purposes only. Consult your treating healthcare provider before changing your treatment plan.
Audio Guide
Expand for Transcript
Intro- Full Program Part 1
00;00;00;20 - 00;00;23;14
Molly
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the full program for your recovery at Home Tools. This is part one. So if you're joining me today, welcome. This is Mollie. I cannot wait to guide you through. Now, before we get started, remember, this is for educational purposes only. So please make sure or please before making any changes, ask your health care provider.
00;00;23;22 - 00;00;47;04
Molly
We all have different health histories, different things going on, and we always want to make sure you are safe. Now, in part one in this video, it's really going to walk you through the exercises that you need to retrain the areas of the neck affected by concussion and to establish a really strong foundation on which to build. Now, this pairs along with your workbook, so you'll see the exercises in there.
00;00;47;11 - 00;01;04;28
Molly
But this video just gives you more insight on how to do each one. Now you'll see it's broken into different sections on your workbook, and the video is going to follow along with just that. So without further ado, here is your exercise program.
00;01;08;12 - 00;01;31;26
Molly
Hey all, welcome to the soft tissue release portion of the full program. So this is great to do right at the start. So you can start with your soft tissue, move into your mobility and so on and so forth. Now, if this is something you don't want to do on your own, maybe you can replace this in physical therapy, or you can start thinking about like if you want a massage every so often to really help this piece for you.
00;01;32;07 - 00;01;49;02
Molly
But we can do some on our own at home. So I'm going to show you how to do that now. Now, you may have ordered the peanut, in which case it'll come like this. Or you may have done tennis balls so you can see I have a very old stretched out sock, and I have just two tennis balls inside.
00;01;49;02 - 00;02;17;21
Molly
So you can take any sock, pop them in there together, and then you're going to tie off the ends so that they don't wiggle around in there. They usually stay put. And this is going to be our peanut for soft tissue work. So just remember, keep in mind that a lot of your stability comes from your muscles. So sometimes it's those big muscles are doing a lot of work and our deep stabilizers really haven't been strengthened yet.
00;02;18;01 - 00;02;39;19
Molly
Doing some soft tissue release can make us feel a little more dizzy or a little more off. And if that's the case, we would go a little bit lighter or focusing on a little bit more strengthening first. This is also the case if you have a massage and you feel a little bit worse after sometimes ask why you could focus on a little bit of lighter work or doing more strengthening first before you come back to some soft tissue.
00;02;39;25 - 00;02;57;29
Molly
So now that we have that settled, we're going to start with releasing the muscles at the back of the school. Here are some blocks of the muscles. So to do that, you can lay on your back and then you're going to take your peanut and just place that right at the base of the school, all those little muscles.
00;02;58;28 - 00;03;16;19
Molly
Now I'm going to very gently, quickly, Chin, you don't want to be super up or super down, just a nice, gentle, giant tuck. And for most people, starting about a minute is good. You can work your way up to five, but I don't recommend starting with that right away because it could just be a little bit irritating for folks.
00;03;17;20 - 00;03;37;07
Molly
If you're here and this is a comfortable or a heart so good you can just focus on breathing into the muscles. If you have one side that's more painful or tight than another, you could gently turn your head to the right. And now the pressures on the right side. Or I could gently turn my head to the left.
00;03;37;18 - 00;04;04;05
Molly
And now there's more pressure on the left side. All of this should feel relatively comfortable or like below on a five or six out of ten that hurts so good. If it's so uncomfortable that you're clenching or cringing, you might want to do it a little shorter or a little lighter. Once you've done that, you can have your head on the floor and you may choose to release some of the muscles in the front of the neck.
00;04;04;18 - 00;04;36;11
Molly
So one of the muscles we're going to release is this big, thick one here. So I'm going to make it pop out. So this big, thick guy there, it's called your O, and it tends to be one that takes over and can cause some headaches. So to release it, you can just very gently in a pinch on either side, This is very soft and you can just go a little bit side to side up a little bit side to side as it feels good for you.
00;04;37;11 - 00;05;01;09
Molly
As you get into it, you might want to move it just a little bit more. I always kind of like to move minor around a little bit and you can all go all the way up to where it connects at the base of the skull here. You also might like to just rub down it as well. If the moving side to side is too much for you, you can do this on the left or on the right and then on the left too.
00;05;02;12 - 00;05;20;18
Molly
Okay, now we're going to go to your scallions. So to find them, they're just behind that big, thick muscle that you were just working on, just above the clavicle there. So the bone. And to make sure you're on them, you're going to do a little test so you're all your daddy was sniff. And once you sniff, you'll feel them contract under your muscles.
00;05;20;18 - 00;05;41;18
Molly
And that's how you know you're on the scales. So these tend to do a lot of extra work when our other muscles aren't working properly or breathing mechanics aren't working properly, and they can be contributing to headaches. So it can just feel really good to just pull your fingers from the top down to the bone there. So down to the clavicle.
00;05;42;06 - 00;06;08;27
Molly
And this is just a really nice, easy scaling release. It tends to feel good. This actually feels really good. Well, it so you'll do this side and then you'll come around and do the other side. A couple additional muscles that you may want to release is maybe you want to release your pecs. You can lay either here and just a little release like that, or maybe lay with your arm out to the side to really open them up.
00;06;09;21 - 00;06;28;08
Molly
Or if you need more of a stretch, you can also do it on a foam roll. Those are kind of the main muscles. But also if there's any one along here, maybe you want to do the muscle at the back of the neck. You can also release that as well. Doesn't tend to be as effective just giving them mechanics.
00;06;28;08 - 00;06;53;17
Molly
But if you want to, that's certainly an option. The main ones will too, is your sub simple muscles, the big SOCOM, and then you're scaling arms back. And what's called Elevate Gap are optional. So I hope that helps you get a little bit of a soft tissue release before you begin your neck exercises. So this is foam rolling.
00;06;53;17 - 00;07;15;16
Molly
We're going to be doing this to really work on the mobility of the upper back vertebrae. So not only do we want to address the mobility in your neck, being able to move well, but we also want to address the ability mobility in your upper back. So this is a fantastic one to do from home. You're going to grab your foam roll or if you're using a blanket, you can do that, too, and I'll show you the modification.
00;07;16;01 - 00;07;33;04
Molly
But a foam roll is just really great to have at home and they are in your workbook. So what you're going to do is sit in front of the roll, you're going to lean back. So that hits right up the bra line and then you're going to support your head in your hands, lift up your tush, and then you're going to roll.
00;07;34;01 - 00;07;54;29
Molly
So this one actually feels real good. If you're having any dizziness, you can roll just a little bit slower. If you're feeling good, you can extend over the back a little bit and you're just rolling from your mid back up to about the top of your shoulder blades. I don't want you rolling up on the neck, stopping at the shoulder blade level.
00;07;56;04 - 00;08;14;18
Molly
We'll start with a few seconds, but you can do this anywhere from a minute to 3 minutes once it feels good. Now, if you have the blanket with you, this is your bike. It's not going to roll. So what you can do instead is come down to the part of the back you want to work on and you'll just extend over it.
00;08;15;02 - 00;08;39;01
Molly
This is also great for you. If the up and down motion is too symptom provoking for you, you can do it this way. Then when you want to do the next level, you just scooch down just a little bit or you could move the blanket, whichever one, and then you can do the next area of the upper back that you want to work on, just gently extending over.
00;08;40;01 - 00;09;03;11
Molly
Now, if you have a hard time getting up and down off the floor, if you're struggling with your position, changes in general are very hard for you. You can also do this in sitting. So I'm going to show you a modification. You would just want a chair with a back and you want that back to go up about like a little above the bra line.
00;09;04;04 - 00;09;27;05
Molly
And then you can just do extensions over the back of your chair. If having your arms up bothers you, you can just cross them over your chest and then you might want to scooch down just a little bit and then do another upper level. I do these at work all the time because they feel so good, but that's another way that you can do some mobility for the upper back without the foam roll.
00;09;27;13 - 00;09;52;22
Molly
And in a sitting position, either one is work, either one works and you can incorporate them into your day. Hey, also in this video, you are going to learn how to test for joint position. So this is the test that really gives us an idea of does your neck know where it is in space? And if not, it's something we really need to retrain.
00;09;52;22 - 00;10;13;00
Molly
So we have the shape test, which stands for Joint Position Air now to get set up for both the test and if you need any treatment, we're going to be in this position. This is on page 41 of your workbook that walks you through step by step on how to get set up. But essentially you're going to be about 90 centimeters back from the target, which I am now.
00;10;13;11 - 00;10;32;07
Molly
You will have the target pasted on the wall and you will have the laser on your head. Now, what we're going to do here is test your neck in each direction. So we're going to go right. We're going to go left, we're going to go up and we're going to go down. So we'll do three for each one.
00;10;32;07 - 00;10;49;13
Molly
And basically what you need to know is if you're in the green, you're good to go. If you have a direction where you're in the yellow, the red, or just off on the wall, that's letting us know we need to retrain that direction because your neck isn't totally sure where it is in space when it comes to that direction.
00;10;49;13 - 00;11;05;19
Molly
So here's what I mean. Let's go ahead and get started. So I will turn on my laser. And from here what I'm going to do is just make sure my neck is in a good position. So I'm going to just suddenly lift the base of my skull about a millimeter off my spine, kind of like we do for the posture.
00;11;06;02 - 00;11;23;00
Molly
And you can see here, my laser is right about the center of the target, which is where you want it. If that's not the case for you, you can either move the target up or down or adjust the target or just the laser on your forehead. But once you're in this position, we're going to start our test. So we'll start with the right.
00;11;23;10 - 00;11;53;13
Molly
So I'm going to close my eyes, rotate my head to the right, keep my eyes closed, and then I'm going to come back to where I think center is. So, oop, I'm on the red. So I'm going to take a note of that. My first time was red. You'll come back to the center, close your eyes once again, rotate your head to the right, and then bring it back with your eyes close to where you think center is, where you feel.
00;11;53;13 - 00;12;15;19
Molly
And I'm on the green. So I've got one red, one green. And so then when you do that one more time, rotating out to the right, coming back to where I think center is, and now I'm on the wall. So this would say, okay, I didn't get three in the green. So that's letting me know I need to trade, I need to train this direction.
00;12;16;08 - 00;12;38;03
Molly
So you would do this exact same thing for the left and then we're going to do up and down. So we'll do Optic other. Just to give you idea of what a normal test would look like. So you're going to be again at center. Close your eyes, bring your head up. You move your head back down. And when you feel like you're out center, open your eyes.
00;12;38;03 - 00;13;10;07
Molly
So I'm on the green here. Reset. Close my eyes again. Bring my head up and back towards the center. Open my eyes. I at the green once more on that border going well, then let's do it one more time and back down. Open my eyes and I'm right smack in center so you can see for this direction. I had all three in the green, so that's not a direction I would need to train.
00;13;10;23 - 00;13;35;25
Molly
So the goal is for each of the directions. You want to just make note of which ones were out of that Green Zone. So in this case, I would be training my rotation to the right, but I wouldn't need to train my rotation up because I'm already good there. So once you've done all four directions and got an idea of which areas, directions you need to train and which ones are okay, then you can head on over to the treatment portion of this.
00;13;35;26 - 00;13;55;29
Molly
All right. So if you're with me now, you've had a few directions in our joint position air test that came up out of the green in the yellow, red or on the wall. So we're now going to start to train those positions. So remember, you only need to train the directions that you were out of the green in, and you don't need to train the ones that you were in the green.
00;13;55;29 - 00;14;15;04
Molly
So for this, there's a couple of ways to do it. You can start by practicing about two sets of ten in each direction. With that said, if you are just way, way off, you could do the first set of ten, maybe with your eyes open to give your body a better sense of where you are and then try again in your with your eyes closed.
00;14;15;19 - 00;14;44;19
Molly
Another caveat here is maybe this makes you particularly dizzy. Maybe this brings on some nausea. We're okay with having a little bit of symptoms because that's letting our brain know we need to adapt. Right? We like that. But if your symptoms are increasing more than 2 to 3 points on a ten point scale or you're just moving from that mild nausea to really feeling sick, that's the time that you would pause, maybe do some of your breathing regulation and see if it goes away.
00;14;44;19 - 00;15;04;03
Molly
If it goes away within about a minute to 2 minutes, then you can try again. If not, that's letting you know that's where your training level is for that day. And that is totally okay. No matter if you start with two reps or ten, it's all about meaning your body, where it is. Okay, so I'm going to get started here and go through.
00;15;04;03 - 00;15;24;00
Molly
So for me, let's say I have to train my neck to the right. So again, I'm going to get myself in the starting position. I can see the legs are here and so all I'm going to do is just start practicing. So I want to close my eyes, turn to the right and come back up. I'm like, really far.
00;15;24;01 - 00;15;46;07
Molly
Okay, maybe I modify this and I just turn a little bit less. So I'm going to turn my head just a little less. So arrange it and then bring it back to center. And I was in the green, so maybe that's a good place where I start. That's I'm getting green. So maybe let me turn my head a little bit further and then coming back to center.
00;15;46;24 - 00;16;11;09
Molly
So oops, I'm still on the wall. So maybe that's my training area is just turning my head to the point where it's challenging me, but it's not way, way out. And then as you progress, you're going to notice that I'm actually really good at that range. Let me turn my head a little bit further and then eventually we want to work ourselves up to being able to turn all the way to the right, all the way back center and hit within the green.
00;16;12;11 - 00;16;51;03
Molly
If we're doing it, do it back to that test about three times. So once you can get to full range back in the green, then you know you've trained that area. So let's say I also on my test had issues to the left. I could then go to the left after that and do the exact same thing. So you can do all the directions that you need to do, take the amount of breaks that you need to take and you can progress it by either shorting, shortening the range, doing a first set with your eyes open or a combination there of and all you're doing is working all the way up to full range, back
00;16;51;03 - 00;17;18;27
Molly
to center, hitting that green and that you'll know you're ready to progress that high. Hi, welcome to the next phase of your sensorimotor and proprioception training, and that is tracing the shape. So you've already done the Joint Position Air Task where you've gone and given your neck a better idea of where it is in space. Now we really want to coordinate that with your motor control as well, so you'll be in the same starting position as page 41 of your book.
00;17;19;14 - 00;17;47;13
Molly
And what we do is we're going to start with the laser here in the upper left corner. And the goal with this is accuracy over speed. So I'm going to start tracing the outside of this shape and then just following it through. So my goal is to stay within the black and I would rather have you accurate than going really fast and being all over the place right.
00;17;47;13 - 00;18;07;29
Molly
So you're going to stay nice and accurate and then maybe there's an area that you're like really struggling with or it's going out. This might be an area that you focus a little bit more on. Okay, So maybe it's the whole shape and you begin to practice the whole thing again. Or maybe it's like, gosh, whatever. I'm in this space, my head just doesn't know where I am.
00;18;07;29 - 00;18;29;04
Molly
So maybe I come through and I practice this a few times and I come again and I come slower until I get it. And then maybe I decide to continue on with the shape or I feel like, gosh, I just want to train that a little more. And I come back to it and I do that part again and I do the goal.
00;18;29;05 - 00;18;54;28
Molly
When you are complete, you will be able to trace the whole shape at about this speed. So kind of a comfortable pace and you'll be able to stay center. Once you have been able to do that, you're going to move to the next stage, which is the maze. Same rule goes for this. If you're starting to feel yucky, you can take a little break and if it calms down, you can come back to it.
00;18;54;28 - 00;19;21;07
Molly
If not, that's your training for the day. Maybe you start with half the shape. Maybe you start with three traces of it. Neither is right or wrong. It's just what is the right amount for your body? That's what's going to help you get there the fastest. Okay, So happy tracing. Hey, all. So we are going to dive into the next strengthening portion of your program.
00;19;21;13 - 00;19;44;18
Molly
So we're going to start with those neck flexors. Now, the neck flexors, those deep ones that we talked about in your course, the longest habitus, the longest core, really strengthening those after injury. So to start, we're going to start with something called isometrics. You can do them sitting or I'll show you lying down in a moment. But all you're going to do is like gentle pressure with maybe two or three fingers to the side of the head.
00;19;44;25 - 00;20;14;25
Molly
So this is a contraction where there's no movement. So if my hand wasn't here, my head might be doing this, but all I'm doing is applying gentle pressure and meeting that pressure with my head. And then I'm going to do the front. I'll do the other side, and then I'll do the back. Initially, we'll start with a holding for maybe 3 seconds and gradually you'll work your way up from anywhere from ten to about 30 seconds with each of these.
00;20;15;04 - 00;20;36;04
Molly
So what this would look like lying down of sitting up doesn't feel good for you is much the same. So same fingers. And you're going to again do the side. You can do forward the other side, and then your head's already there. So you can just gently press against the pillow. You'd like to use a little head pressure.
00;20;36;20 - 00;20;55;17
Molly
You certainly can, but the pillow is there as well. So that is neck isometrics. From here. We're going to go into your next progression, which is chin tucks. So chin tucks are going to be your head on the pillow. We want your head to be at neutral. So not up too high, not down too low right in the middle.
00;20;56;07 - 00;21;22;26
Molly
And all you're going to do to start is I want you to picture sliding the back of your skull up just a millimeter. This will gently tuck the chin and then you'll come back out and you're going to repeat like that. Hold for three and back out. We'll start with three second holds or whatever feels good for you, and then you'll gradually work your way up to ten second holds at least ten times around.
00;21;23;07 - 00;21;46;29
Molly
But that is Chin tucks. Now we're going to work on strengthening the back of the neck so that to your neck extensor issues which are right here and may help bring your head up against gravity and are really important for your day to day. So our first level is going to be on your stomach and we're just waiting the neck.
00;21;46;29 - 00;22;13;27
Molly
So it's going to look like this one hand on top of the other. Place your forehead onto your hands. You're going to gently, slowly the back of the skull, just like we did for the flexors, about a millimeter. And then you just going to picture taking the weight off your hands. So my forehead still touching, but the weight is off my hands here and a little lower back down.
00;22;13;27 - 00;22;35;11
Molly
So this is one where you can start with 1 to 3 seconds where you feel comfortable and then work your way up to about 10 seconds each. Once you get that, we're going to move on to the next exercise. So for the next exercise, we're going to actually do a lift. So you'll be here in that same position.
00;22;36;11 - 00;23;13;02
Molly
You'll do that little bit of a tuck by sliding the back of the head up off the spine by about a millimeter. And then you're going to lift hold for one, two, three, working up to 10 seconds in back down. It's really important when you start, you get that just a little bit of tuck so that we're really strengthening the back to the neck in a good position like so once you're able to complete that, your final exercise of the series is going to be up on your forearms.
00;23;13;02 - 00;23;47;26
Molly
You're going to again put your head in that little tuck position. And here we're just going to start working with full range of motion. So you're bringing the head down and then back up. So down is lengthening those neck muscles and coming back up is having them work a little bit harder. Now you can vary the range here, so eventually as you feel comfortable, you can go down a bit further and bring the head up that way in the beginning, you can work in a very small range, so it could just be here to here as you feel comfortable.
00;23;49;02 - 00;24;20;10
Molly
Eventually I want you to work up to be able to come out here and back up and then back down. So here you can vary your speed and you can vary your range until you work up in a way that feels comfortable for you. So this will be part one of our neck sensors. Once you've completed part one of the program, you can go over it, head into part two.
00;24;20;10 - 00;24;37;23
Molly
Welcome to your strength portion for the upper back and shoulder complex. It's really important as we're strengthening our neck, that we don't forget about what the neck sits on top of. So we're really going to want to make sure your shoulders and your upper back and between those shoulder blades are nice and strong for you. So to do that, you have a choice of two exercises.
00;24;37;23 - 00;24;53;11
Molly
So you'll see in part one, you get to pick between one of these two, and then in part two, you're going to see this exact same video and you're just going to add the one that you didn't do. So of these two for part one, I just want you to choose the one that feels like it would feel good for you.
00;24;53;11 - 00;25;27;00
Molly
You can also try them both and then decide which one feels best for your body right now, and then we'll add on the other one in part two. So your first one is just going to be external rotation of your shoulders so you can start in standing, you can be sitting and you can also be lying down and you're going to take your band and have it on top of your hands here, just like you're serving a platter, your elbows bent from here, you're just going to curl the hands over the band and then you're going to rotate out by about 45 degrees, gently squeezing the shoulder blades and then coming back in.
00;25;28;13 - 00;25;57;02
Molly
It should be enough resistance that it feels like work, but not too much where you feel like you're really struggling or using other muscles to compensate through the shoulder blades. Squeeze at the end is fairly gentle. So what it's not going to look like is one of these. It's going to be just a very small squeeze, almost as if you have like a pencil in the middle of your back and you're just squeezing the shoulder blades towards the pencil.
00;25;57;02 - 00;26;15;25
Molly
So that's what extra rotation is going to look like. We're going to work our way up. But again, you can start where you need. You can start with two reps if you need. And then we're going to work ourselves all the way up to to sets of ten. So that's exercise number one. You can choose this one for part one or you can choose rows, so you'll go to a door.
00;26;16;06 - 00;26;41;08
Molly
You can wrap it around the door here. Now, if you don't have a door knob like this, the other thing you can do, I can get it off is just make a little knot. You'll open the door and then you'll close it in the door. But you want it about this height is pretty good. You're going to have one band in each side and you're going to row backwards.
00;26;41;21 - 00;27;09;14
Molly
So you're going to bring the elbows towards the back of the room from this one to make sure we set our posture, which I forgot. So a little bit of a neutral pelvis squeezing the shoulder blades ever so gently, dropping the sternum, lifting the base of the head off the spine by about a millimeter. And then you're rowing from here again.
00;27;09;14 - 00;27;35;21
Molly
And if resistance that it feels challenging, but not too much where you feel like you're really struggling through it or compensating and you can see I'm just doing a very gentle shoulder blade squeeze at the end before coming out. If you want more resistance, you can step back. If you need less resistance, you can step forward. Again. This is another one that you can start with too, if that's what your body needs.
00;27;35;21 - 00;28;00;07
Molly
And then work yourself all the way up to two sets of ten. Once you get to part two of the program, you're going to see this exact same video and all you're going to do is add in the exercise is that you haven't been doing so by the part two. You'll be doing both of them and will be increasing the resistance of the bands and how many repetition repetitions you're doing so that you are at full strength for your daily life and for a strong and healthy neck.
00;28;00;07 - 00;28;26;21
Molly
So if you have any questions on this one, you can find me in the Welcome to the Balance portion of your Part one full program. So here I'm going to walk you through three different balance progressions that you're going to go through. What I will say is we want to make sure you're safe with all of these. So if you are having any balance issues, please make sure you're in an area where you're not going to bump into anything.
00;28;27;07 - 00;28;49;09
Molly
If you need to have someone by you for safety, please do. Or if you need to be maybe by a countertop or the back of a chair that you can reach on to that stable. Make sure something's not going to fall with you. You can do that as well. So our first balanced progression is going to be just feet about shoulder width apart, and then you're going to cross your arms over your chest and then you're just going to balance here.
00;28;50;05 - 00;29;12;18
Molly
You might notice your feet start to do one of these or your hips do one of these. That is okay. That's your body learning how to work in this in this position. And then what you'll do is you'll progress to about a minute with this. And then once you're able to do that, you're ready to progress to the next one, and that is going to be feet together.
00;29;12;27 - 00;29;37;20
Molly
So it's a little less stable. You can have your arms over your chest again and then same thing. You're going to start practicing balancing in this position. This might hold for 5 seconds. This might be 10 seconds, but you're going to want to work yourself up to about a minute in this position once you're able to do that for, I would say, about three sessions consistently, then you're going to work up into the next one.
00;29;37;20 - 00;29;55;05
Molly
And it's called a tandem stance. So you're going to have your left foot back and you're going to put your right foot forward. Now, full tandem is the heel touching the toe. It can also be a little further out if you need it to. In the beginning, you notice I have a wall here that I can just lean into if I fall.
00;29;55;05 - 00;30;17;15
Molly
That might be a great way to do it at home as well. But from this position again, you're just going to cross the arms so you can see my back. Clay is working a little bit. That's what we want. The brain saying, okay, there's a challenge here. Let me adapt. And again, you're going to bring this position all the way up, practice to where you can get it in the full heel to toe position.
00;30;18;29 - 00;30;50;20
Molly
And you want to be able to do this again for a minute in the same training session. You're also going to do both sides. So then you'll put the right heel or right foot back, front, foot forward and balancing here again, working yourself up to a minute. So progression one, you're going to have your feet out. Progression two feet in, progression three, both right or left foot back and right foot back within the same practice session.
00;30;51;01 - 00;30;58;24
Molly
Once you can do all of that, you'll be finished with the Part one full program and work into some more challenging ones into part two.
Ā
Ā
PART 2
HIT PLAY WHEN READY
TheĀ Full Program- Part 2 focuses on building the strength and endurance your neck needs to thrive as well as integrating the neck with your eyes and ears.Ā Use this video to see how to perform the exercises and refer to the workbook for guidance on sets, and progressions.
General Guidelines: Complete the exercises 2-3 times a week with at least one day off in between. Please modify as needed. Plan to spend at least 8 weeks on part 2 (continue for 2-4 weeks AFTER you feel better as symptoms will resolve before the neck has been fully retrained). I am in the community for any questions!
*This is for educational purposes only. Consult your treating healthcare provider before changing your treatment plan.
Audio Guide
Expand for Transcript
Intro- Full Program Part 2
00;00;00;01 - 00;00;21;18
Molly
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the full program for your recovery at home Tools in the next module. This is part two. So if you are with me now, it means you have completed part one. So congratulations. That is huge. I am so glad that you have committed to yourself and I really can't wait to help take you to the next level in part two.
00;00;22;09 - 00;00;55;00
Molly
Now, before we get started, remember, this is for educational purposes only. So before making any changes, please see your health care provider. We come in with different health histories, different things going on, and we always, always, always want to make sure that you are safe. Now, in part two, we are going to build on the foundations from part one, and we're going to focus on creating full strength and endurance in the neck that you need to thrive as well as make sure we're completely integrated with our other systems, specifically the eyes and the ears.
00;00;55;08 - 00;01;15;12
Molly
Now, just like in part one, you're going to follow along in your workbook to part two, and the videos are going to be laid out in similar fashion. Now, one thing I want to mention, we are not none of us are perfect. And I have made a little mistake here. So in your workbook, you're going to see a different order than in the videos.
00;01;16;08 - 00;01;34;14
Molly
Neither are right or wrong, but I think the the order that I have them presented in the video is going to be most effective. So I would follow the order in the video. It might mean you're flipping back and forth between a couple of pages, but you should be good to go if for whatever reason you do the order in the workbook.
00;01;34;14 - 00;02;05;24
Molly
Not to worry, it is still going to be effective. I just ordered it to be that much more potent in the videos. So without further ado, here is your part to exercises. Hey all, welcome to the soft tissue release portion of the full program, so this is great to do right at the start so you can start with your soft tissue, move into your mobility and so on and so forth.
00;02;06;02 - 00;02;21;02
Molly
Now, if this is something you don't want to do on your own, maybe you can replace this in physical therapy, or you can start thinking about like if you want a massage every so often to really help this piece for you. But we can do some on our own at home. So I'm going to show you how to do that now.
00;02;21;12 - 00;02;44;11
Molly
Now, you may have ordered the peanut, in which case it'll come like this or you may have done tennis balls so you can see I have a very old stretched out sock, and I have just two tennis balls inside. So you can take any sock, pop them in there together, and then you're going to tie off the ends so that they don't wiggle around in there.
00;02;45;14 - 00;03;07;05
Molly
They usually stay put. And this is going to be our peanut for soft tissue work. So just remember, keep in mind that a lot of your stability comes from your muscles. So sometimes if those big muscles are doing a lot of work and our deep stabilizers really haven't been strengthened yet, doing some soft tissue release can make us feel a little more dizzy or a little more off.
00;03;07;13 - 00;03;24;21
Molly
And if that's the case, we would go a little bit lighter or focusing on a little bit more strengthening. First is also the case if you have a massage and you feel a little bit worse after sometimes ask why you could focus on a little bit of lighter work or doing more strengthening first before you come back to some soft tissue.
00;03;24;27 - 00;03;49;24
Molly
So now that we have that settled, we're going to start with releasing the muscles on the back of the school. Here are some occipital muscles. So to do that, you can lay on your back and then you're going to take your peanut and just place it right at the base of the school on those little muscles. Now, I'm going to very gently, quickly, Chin, you don't want to be super up or super down, just a nice, gentle, giant tuck.
00;03;50;28 - 00;04;17;09
Molly
And for most people, starting about a minute is good. You can work your way up to five, but I don't recommend starting with that right away because it can just be a little bit irritating for folks if you're here and this is a comfortable or a heart so good, you can just focus on breathing into the muscles. If you have one side that's more painful or tight than another, you could gently turn your head to the right.
00;04;17;09 - 00;04;39;28
Molly
And now the pressures on the right side. Or I could gently turn my head to the left. And now there's more pressure on the left side. All of this should feel relatively comfortable or like below on a five or six out of ten that hurts so good. If it's so uncomfortable that you're clenching or cringing, you might want to do it a little shorter or a little lighter.
00;04;41;00 - 00;05;02;17
Molly
Once you've done that, you can have your head on the floor and you may choose to release some of the muscles in the front of the neck. So one of the muscles we're going to release is this big, thick one here. So to make it pop out. So this big, thick guy there, it's called your home, and it tends to be one that takes over and can cause some headaches.
00;05;02;17 - 00;05;32;15
Molly
So to release it, you can just very gently in a pinch on either side, This is very soft and you can just go a little bit side to side up a little bit side to side as it feels good for you. As you get into it, you might want to move it just a little bit more. I always kind of like to move mine around a little bit and you can all go all the way up to where it connects at the base of the skull here.
00;05;33;06 - 00;05;55;26
Molly
You also might like to just rub down it as well. If the moving side to side is too much for you, you can do this on the left or on the right and then on the left too. Okay, Now we're going to go into your scaling. So to find them there, just behind that big thick muscle that you were just working on, just above the clavicle there.
00;05;55;26 - 00;06;17;07
Molly
So the bone. And to make sure you're on them, you're going to do a little test so you're all your daddy was. And once you step, you'll feel them contract under your muscles, and that's how you know you're on the scales. So these tend to do a lot of extra work when our other muscles are working properly or breathing, mechanics aren't working properly, and they can be contributing to headaches.
00;06;17;15 - 00;06;41;05
Molly
So it can just feel really good to just pull your fingers from the top down to the bone here. So down to the clavicle. And this is just a really nice, easy scaling release. It tends to feel good. This actually feels really good. It so you'll do this side and then you'll come around and do the other side.
00;06;41;20 - 00;06;58;19
Molly
A couple additional muscles that you may want to release is maybe you want to release your pecs. You can lay either here and just a little release like that, or maybe lay with your arm out to the side to really open them up. Or if you need more of a stretch, you can also do it on a full roll.
00;06;59;06 - 00;07;26;21
Molly
Those are kind of the main muscles. But also if there's any one along here, maybe you want to do the muscle at the back of the neck. You can also release that as well. Doesn't tend to be as effective just giving them mechanics. But if you want to, that's certainly an option. The main ones will do is your sub accent, the muscles, the big assioma and then your scaling arms pec and what's called elevator gap are optional.
00;07;26;21 - 00;07;51;05
Molly
So I hope that helps you get a little bit of a soft tissue release before you begin your neck exercises. So this is foam rolling. We're going to be doing this to really work on the mobility of the upper back vertebrae. So not only do we want to address the mobility in your neck, being able to move well, but we also want to address the ability mobility in your upper back.
00;07;51;05 - 00;08;09;13
Molly
So this is a fantastic one to do from home. You're going to grab your foam roll or if you're using a blanket, you can do that, too, and I'll show you the modification. But a foam rolls just really great to have at home and they are in your workbook. So what you're going to do is sit in front of the roll, you're going to lean back.
00;08;09;13 - 00;08;34;23
Molly
So that hits right up the bra line and then you're going to support your head and your hands lift up your tush and then you're just going to roll. So this one actually feels real good if you're having any dizziness, you can roll just a little bit slower. If you're feeling good, you can extend over the back a little bit and you're just rolling from your mid back up to about the top of your shoulder blades.
00;08;35;01 - 00;08;59;18
Molly
I don't want you rolling up on the neck, stopping at the shoulder blade level. We'll start with a few seconds, but you can do this anywhere from a minute to 3 minutes once it feels good. Now, if you have the blanket with you, this is your bike. It's not going to roll. So what you can do instead is come down to the part of the back you want to work on and you'll just extend over it.
00;09;00;04 - 00;09;24;02
Molly
This is also great for you. If the up and down motion is too symptom provoking for you, you can do it this way. Then when you want to do the next level, you just scooch down just a little bit or you could move the blanket, whichever one, and then you can do the next area of the upper back that you want to work on, just gently extending over.
00;09;25;03 - 00;09;52;20
Molly
Now, if you have a hard time getting up and down off the floor, if you're struggling with your position, changes in general are very hard for you. You can also do this and sitting it's going to show you a modification. You would just want a chair with a back and you want that back to go up about like a little above the bra line and then you can just do extensions over the back of your chair.
00;09;53;21 - 00;10;12;05
Molly
If having your arms up bothers you, you can just cross them over your chest and then you might want to scooch down just a little bit and then do another upper level. I do these at work all the time because they feel so good, but that's another way that you can do some mobility for the upper back without the foam roll.
00;10;12;14 - 00;10;32;23
Molly
And in a sitting position, either one is work, either one works and you can incorporate them into your day. Welcome to your part to progression for your upper back mobility. So now that you've done a good job of getting the upper back moving with your foam rolling or over the chair, we want to start being able to help the body move actively into those positions.
00;10;32;23 - 00;10;48;14
Molly
So we're going to do this with an exercise that feels real good. It's called the bow and arrow. You can do this standing like I am. You can also do this sitting. But what you're going to do is you're going to put yourself into where you're going to extend the left arm and pull back the right. Almost literally.
00;10;48;20 - 00;11;22;16
Molly
Imagine pulling back an arrow. You'll keep your head facing forwards and then you're going to switch and you can see all the rotation is coming from your upper back. So this is a real juicy one to start to work on getting some of that mobility in your day to day that you've been working on with your foam rolling that one thing I'm already catching myself doing that you might want to catch yourself doing is if you're doing one of these, keep the shoulders nice and relaxed and then we're pulling that way.
00;11;22;16 - 00;11;48;12
Molly
This already feels very good and you can start with just a few sets if you need or a few repetitions if you need and you work yourself up to two sets of ten. Any time you're feeling stiff in your upper back, a nice formal followed by This is the way to go. Welcome to the last phase of your sensory motor training Here.
00;11;48;12 - 00;12;06;18
Molly
We've gone up from the shape and now we're using the maze. So for the maze, we can do this two ways. You're going to do your initial setup as you happen. You'll have your laser on. It should be roughly with out in the center. And then what you're going to do is go to the top of the maze and I want you to start to trace through it.
00;12;06;18 - 00;12;30;04
Molly
So now we're adding in a little bit of a cognitive component along with the tracing. And this time you're going to want to keep the laser in the white and then out the other side. If you're going and you're finding yourself going the wrong way and getting stuck, no problem. Just go back to where you were and try a new route.
00;12;30;24 - 00;12;47;27
Molly
Same thing goes for the shape. If you're going along and you're having a really hard time in a certain direction, keeping the laser in the white and you're just kind of all over the place, that might be letting you know this is an area that your brain needs a little bit of training and so you can focus a little bit more there.
00;12;47;27 - 00;13;08;23
Molly
So maybe I go in and out of it a few times until I'm feeling good. Maybe I slow it way down because remember, accuracy over speed. And then as I'm getting better at it, I can speed up. Now, let's say you've gotten to the point where you're able to go through this maze pretty well and you want another challenge.
00;13;09;03 - 00;13;40;17
Molly
What you can do is just simply turn it to the side. So now you can practice a little more on that side to side, and you can go into the maze this way. Again, super accuracy over speed trying in the white part and focusing a little bit more like. So maybe I just had a spot right here. Maybe I focus a little more attention on coming through certain spots that are challenging for me until they're feeling relatively easy.
00;13;41;28 - 00;14;01;03
Molly
And then once again, you can go up a little bit based on symptoms for this. So if you're going along and you're finding that you're starting to feel nauseous or feel dizzy or headache, you can pause, do some of your breathing or grounding. And then if it resolves within about a minute or so, then you can come back to it.
00;14;01;12 - 00;14;21;25
Molly
If not, is letting you know that's where it is for the day. With all of this. We're not going on how much or how fast we're going. What's the right training level for my brain? Remember, we're wanting it to adapt. So I so focus on that, I guess is my my words of wisdom there. If you have any questions, you can find me in the community.
00;14;21;25 - 00;14;49;11
Molly
But once you're done with this, your sensory motor system has been addressed and is hopefully functioning much, much, much, much better for you all. So we are going to dive into the next strengthening portion of your program. So we're going to start with those neck flexors. Now, the neck flexors, those deep ones that we talked about in your course, the longest happiness, the longest core, really strengthening those after injury.
00;14;49;11 - 00;15;09;29
Molly
We're going to go into the next progression. The next progression is going to be strengthening those deep neck flexors even more. It's going to start with one pillow stacked on top of the other. You're going to lay back on that and from here you're again going to do your chin tucks. So again, sliding the back of the skull up a millimeter.
00;15;09;29 - 00;15;32;28
Molly
And from here, we're going to do a little bit of a lift and just gently picture there, just being enough space to slide a piece of paper between you and the pillow and then back down. A couple of things to be aware of is we want to make sure it's the deep muscles working. So these big muscles in the front are starting to contract or feel firm under your fingers.
00;15;33;28 - 00;15;56;27
Molly
Then you can reset your head and do it again. We want these deep muscles. Once you feel like you're able to get two or ten times for 10 seconds each, you'll then be ready for the next progression, which is making it just a little bit harder for those neck muscles to work. So we're going to go down to one pillow and we'll repeat the same process.
00;15;57;13 - 00;16;23;07
Molly
So you're again going to slide the back of the skull up a millimeter, tilting the chin. You're going to do a lift just enough to slide a piece of paper in between the two hold, and then you'll come back down again. You can start low, maybe 1 to 3 seconds, and then you'll build up to 10 seconds, making sure that this big muscle up it is for me a little bit so slightly I might be where I need to work.
00;16;24;01 - 00;16;46;02
Molly
So making sure that that stays quiet, I can do it as you lift. So this is probably the level I'm at right now. But then once you're able to do that on your own, your final progression for our neck, deep neck flexors is going to be just straight from the ground. So this is going to challenge them the most.
00;16;46;02 - 00;17;10;08
Molly
Again, you'll slide the back of the head up a millimeter and then you're going to lift and you'll hold again for a count of 1 to 3 and then work your way up to a count of 10 seconds. Now, these big muscles should be off. They are on for me, which means that I am probably meant to work at the level before this one.
00;17;10;15 - 00;17;34;28
Molly
But that gives you a really good idea of what these would look like when they're kind of turning on too much. We don't want these big guys. We want the the deeper ones here. Beautiful. Okay, so that is your zip neck flexors strengthening series work all the way through and then please pop into the group with any questions.
00;17;39;13 - 00;17;57;14
Molly
Hi. Welcome. Part two of your neck Extensor strengthening program. Here is where we really build the strength and endurance you need for your day to day life so that you're not can feel strong, resilient and healthy. So we're going to start with your first exercise here. You'll need your target. You'll have your laser on the middle of your head.
00;17;57;14 - 00;18;18;23
Molly
Make sure it's kind of right in the center here rather than off to the side. And then what you're going to do is be on all fours over your target. You're going to turn on your laser and we want to make sure that it's in the center of the circle. So when we have our little gentle chin tuck position that we are in the center, there we are.
00;18;19;08 - 00;18;36;00
Molly
And so from here, all we're going to do is I want you to keep your eyes focused on that laser in the center, and I want you to keep it there as you walk forward a little bit. So this is just giving your body an idea and it's going to move up and down a little bit. And that's okay.
00;18;36;20 - 00;19;04;06
Molly
But it's just giving your body an idea of where you are in space so that you can help integrate your position in space with your neck sensors. And you can almost notice my head starting to shake a little bit. That's okay. That's my body getting a little bit challenged with its motor control and improving it there. So that's all we're going to do for this one.
00;19;04;06 - 00;19;27;10
Molly
And alternate here, if you like. This exercise would be you can also do head turns here, so you can turn your head to the side and then bring it right back to center. And a laser is going to tell you open back and center against that helps give you feedback. You can do the other side, you can do up and then you can do tile.
00;19;28;16 - 00;19;49;15
Molly
So that's a great alternative there. From here, your next progression is going to be challenging. The neck Extensor is just a little bit more while keeping the Target Center. So in the same starting position, all you're going to do is keep that laser center and then you're going to lift one arm. You can start just lifting up and down.
00;19;49;29 - 00;20;13;29
Molly
What I want you to do is work up two holes. So we're going to work up to about a ten second hold for each side and it's really going to challenge your neck to stay strong with your extremities moving. And I can see my wants, my head collar wants to go like this just a little bit. So that's really giving me that nice real time feedback.
00;20;13;29 - 00;20;34;28
Molly
Good. And then once you have worked yourself up to that one, our final exercise will be without the head laser so you can take off the head laser, move it aside, and your final progression is going to be place. So this might be one that you're all familiar with, but it's really going to challenge the extensor of the neck.
00;20;35;19 - 00;21;00;20
Molly
So you can start on your forearms, you'll have your toes tucked. I want you to picture lengthening your heels towards the back of the room and lengthening your head towards the front of the room so that your body's nice and long and you're just going to hold. So you can
start with maybe 3 seconds and we're going to work ourself all the way up to 60 seconds on this one like so.
00;21;01;13 - 00;21;29;14
Molly
And then, of course, stay breathing. But those are going to be at your neck progressions there. Expect to spend about eight weeks within this part of the strengthening program because that's about how long it's going to take to really build the strength and endurance you need here. And again, if you have any questions along the way, can in the community, welcome to your strength portion for the upper back and shoulder complex.
00;21;29;14 - 00;21;52;14
Molly
It's really important as we're strengthening our neck, that we don't forget about what the neck sits on top of. So we're really going to want to make sure your shoulders and your upper back and between those shoulder blades are nice and strong for you. So to do that, you have a choice of two exercises. So you'll see in part one, you get to pick between one of these two, and then in part two, you're going to see this exact same video and you're just going to add the one that you didn't do.
00;21;52;21 - 00;22;24;28
Molly
So of these two for part one, I just want you to choose the one that feels like it would feel good for you. You can also try them both and then decide which one feels best for your body right now, and then we'll add on the other one in part two. So your first one is just going to be external rotation of your shoulders so you can start in standing, you can be sitting and you can also be lying down and you're going to take your band and have it on top of your hands here, just like you're serving a platter, your elbows bent from here, you're just going to curl the hands over the
00;22;24;28 - 00;22;50;14
Molly
band and then you're going to rotate out by about 45 degrees, gently squeezing the shoulder blades and then coming back in. It should be enough resistance that it feels like work, but not too much where you feel like you're really struggling or using other muscles to compensate through the shoulder blades. Squeeze at the end is fairly gentle. So what it's not going to look like is one of these.
00;22;50;14 - 00;23;09;13
Molly
It's going to be just a very small squeeze, almost as if you have like a pencil in the middle of your back and you're just squeezing the shoulder blades towards the pencil. So that's what extra rotation is going to look like. We're going to work our way up. But again, you can start where you need. You can start with two reps if you need.
00;23;09;21 - 00;23;32;27
Molly
And then we're going to work ourselves all the way up to two sets of ten. So that's exercise number one. You can choose this one for part one or you can choose rows, so you'll go to a door. You can wrap it around the door here. Now, if you don't have a door knob like this, the other thing you can do, I can get it off is just make a little knot.
00;23;33;07 - 00;23;55;20
Molly
You'll open the door and then you'll close it in the door. But you want it about this height is pretty good. You're going to have one band in each side and you're going to row backwards. So you're going to bring the elbows towards the back of the room from this one to make sure we set our posture, which I forgot.
00;23;56;01 - 00;24;27;15
Molly
So a little bit of a neutral pelvis squeezing the shoulder blades ever so gently, dropping the sternum, lifting the base of the head off the spine by about a millimeter. And then you're rowing from here again. And if resistance that it feels challenging, but not too much where you feel like you're really struggling through it or compensating and you can see I'm just doing a very gentle shoulder blades squeeze at the end before coming out.
00;24;27;16 - 00;24;51;18
Molly
If you want more resistance, you can step back. If you need less resistance, you can step forward. Again. This is another one that you can start with too, if that's what your body needs. And then work yourself all the way up to two sets of ten. Once you get to part two of the program, you're going to see this exact same video and all you're going to do is add in the exercise that you haven't been doing.
00;24;51;18 - 00;25;15;21
Molly
So by the part two, you'll be doing both of them and will be increasing the resistance of the bands and how many repetition repetitions you're doing so that you are at full strength for your daily life and for a strong and healthy neck. So if you have any questions on this one, you can find me in the. Hi.
00;25;15;21 - 00;25;33;27
Molly
Welcome to part two of your full program where we're going to be working into your next balance progressions. So these are excellent progressions are really great because not only are they incorporating the stability that we know we need within that, they're also going to start to incorporate some movement and some head turn so we can get in the vestibular system and visual system a bit too.
00;25;34;07 - 00;25;55;12
Molly
So to start it's going to be the same position as before and same instructions with safety. So make sure that if you are having balance issues, especially the first time you're trying this exercise, that you have a stable support near you, that you are aware that if you fall, you're going to knock into anything and that you have someone with you to maybe hold on to you if you need.
00;25;55;23 - 00;26;18;25
Molly
Safety is always paramount here. So we're going to start in the same position as we did in part one with your feet about shoulder width apart, you could have your hands again crossed over your chest. And the progression here is we're gonna add in head turns, so we're going to start turning your head to the right. You'll be able to turn your head to the left up.
00;26;19;18 - 00;26;38;24
Molly
This might be the harder one and then back down. Now, a few ways to do this when you're first starting is if you have a direction that's particularly challenging. That's an area that we need to train but say it's too challenging and you're falling over. So maybe you just take a shorter range and you just turn just a little bit.
00;26;39;18 - 00;26;58;24
Molly
Or with the extension, you're maybe just even looking up with your eyes at first and then you're looking up a little bit with the neck and then you're gradually progressing to more and more range until you feel comfortable in every position. Now, this might bring on a little bit of nausea or dizziness. Again, a little bit is okay.
00;26;58;24 - 00;27;17;01
Molly
It's telling your brain, Hey, there's something here that I need to adapt to. But if it's over that 2 to 3 point scale, then we stop. We take a break. If it resolves within about a minute, then you can come back to it. If not, you've reached your exercise, Max, for the day, and you can come back to it when you do your program the next time.
00;27;17;01 - 00;27;46;00
Molly
So once you're able to do that, you're going to do the same thing with your feet together and repeat the same process. The second exercise, we're going to be doing is going to be walking with head turn. So I'm going to get my runway and all you're gonna be doing is picking maybe a hallway in your house or somewhere where you have a straight path again, where you're not
going to fall into anything and you're safe and all you're going to do is walk and you're going to turn the head straight.
00;27;46;00 - 00;28;04;16
Molly
I've got a very short runway, so years will be longer, but you'll do the same thing. You'll be able to turn your head to the left. You'll be able to walk, turn your head up, and so on and so forth. You should be able to walk doing every direction with head turns at a comfortable pace. So that's kind of the speed you want to go.
00;28;04;16 - 00;28;34;07
Molly
Just your average walking pace when you're starting, you might start a little bit slower or shorter motions with the head turns. As you progress, you're going to progress to just a comfortable walking speed, turning your head in each direction all the way. Once you've finished with that and you're able to do that feeling pretty good without any increase in symptoms, you have completed the balance portion of this program and some really nice integration has happened for you in your next so that you can live your full life as you in your daily life.
00;28;34;14 - 00;28;59;01
Molly
If you have any questions on this one. And I am in community. Hi. Welcome to part two of your Fall home program where we're going to be working on some integration. So this is often a missed piece, but a really important piece so that your neck, your eyes, your ears and everything is all delivering the same information to your brain and is coordinated together.
00;28;59;01 - 00;29;19;28
Molly
So to do this, I would prefer to do this in sitting if you need to, you can do this in the lying to start as well. You can also progress to standing if you're feeling up for it. So what you'll do is start just with a comfortable chair. You're going to get your nice posture and then you're going to have a pen or pencil or a stick or something that you can hold out in front of you.
00;29;20;29 - 00;29;44;02
Molly
So you will hold it out at about a comfortable arm's distance. And then I'm going to keep my eyes fixed to the top of the pen. So my eyes are looking right here. And what we're going to do first is we're going to keep our eyes fixed and our head still and the pen is going to move. I'm going to follow it with the eyes, each direction, keeping my head still.
00;29;44;28 - 00;30;09;03
Molly
Now, to start, we might be doing fairly slow and a fairly small range of motion. You're going to work yourself up to where you can come in a comfortable range. We don't want to go out of your
visual field and you're going to be moving at a comfortable speed, being able to keep the eyes fixed on the pen without the head moving.
00;30;09;03 - 00;30;33;12
Molly
So again, you can start with small ranges and slower motion and then you're going to gradually work yourself up to full speed if you're getting nauseous or any sort of symptoms here. That's again the brain being like, Oh, there's an area I need to work on here. That's okay, we want that. But if it starts to become more than about 2 to 3 points on a ten point scale, when you stop, take a break, pause for about a minute.
00;30;33;12 - 00;30;51;20
Molly
If the symptoms subside, you can start again. If they have it, then that's letting you know that's the appropriate level of training for you for the day. And you can come back to this exercise on the next day. So in the same session, if you are able, after you have had your eyes moving and your head still, we're going to do the opposite.
00;30;52;03 - 00;31;27;15
Molly
So you'll still stay in your chair, You'll have your arm out at a comfortable distance. You will have your eyes fixed to the top of the pen here and the pen and the eyes stay still. And for this exercise, it will move my head. So keeping the eyes fixed. My head is moving here. Now, you might start in a very small range and very slowly you're going to work yourself up to being able to go to about 45 degrees on each side, a comfortable pace, keeping the eyes fixed.
00;31;27;15 - 00;31;47;27
Molly
So you'll get it to about here. Once you've completed both of those and you're able to do them at the appropriate speed for the appropriate amount of time, which is in your book. Then you have finished integrating those areas and you've completed that part of the program. You have any questions you can find me in the community?
THE NECK MODULE
WORKBOOK
Ā
If you havenāt yet, download your workbook and findĀ The Full Program starting on page 31.
Your Neck Workbook is a goldmine! Recovery can feel overwhelming, so Iāve done any work I can for you. Follow your exercise program, use the printed targets, shapes, and mazes as needed, and access quick links to any equipment. We cover all of this in Lesson 5 - be sure to watch it before startingĀ The Full ProgramĀ video!