It grinds, clicks, and aches. It gets stiff, unstable, and spasms. It takes on the weight of the world, or at least, the weight of your head, but some days, it truly feels like the whole world, doesn’t it?
The challenge isn’t just holding up the head. The scoliosis neck doesn’t have ideal alignment to balance that weight on top of it. It’s like trying to balance a grapefruit on a bendy straw. How is that supposed to work?
So how do we realign the scoliosis neck, our bendy straw, and turn it into a strong and stable structure that can hold the world on top? It’s one of the trickier puzzles within the already complex scoliosis spine, but we have some ideas that can help.
First, don’t consider this a neck issue.
Second, look at what the hips are doing down there.
Third, rebalance the connective tissue.
Fourth, give it a wedge.
And finally, move.
First, don’t consider this a neck issue.
Imagine your scoliosis neck as a flower stem, with the head as the flower, and the shoulder girdle and thoracic spine as the ground it grows from. The stem doesn’t grow straight up from the dirt, it almost always leans to one side.
It’s like a Bollywood dance move where the shoulders and torso stay still, but the neck and head are off doing their own thing. Fun to watch on the dance floor, not so fun when it’s your neck doing it all day long.
When the neck constantly shifts to one side, it’s forced to work overtime. The reason? The neck doesn’t sit squarely over the shoulders because the torso below isn’t symmetrical. The scoliosis spine naturally curves and rotates, so the neck must shift to compensate and bring the head back to center.
To relieve scoliosis neck discomfort, you have to reshape what the neck is attached to, the torso. When you bring the torso into better alignment, the neck can follow.
Second, what are those hips doing down there?
If you dropped a line from the middle of your head toward the ground, would it land in the middle of your pelvis? If not, that imbalance means your neck is working extra hard to keep your head over your body.
Bring the pelvis to center and strengthen that position. The neck will thank you.
Third, rebalance the connective tissue.
We have an exercise that can help you notice which parts of your neck are gripping harder than others, and how to help them let go. It’s gentle, simple, and surprisingly effective.
This short video was originally created to help relieve neck pain, and it may help you too. It’s all about helping the tissues experience something new so they can stop overworking.
Fourth, give it a wedge.
Ah, the good old Scolio Wedges. If you’ve worked with a Scolio Pilates Practitioner or joined Scolio Pilates On Demand, you know the “hot dog bun” wedge can ease neck tension beautifully.
If you’re new to this, you can learn how it works, and so much more, inside Scolio Pilates On Demand. The first two weeks are free, a perfect time to explore scoliosis specific neck care and movement support.