Everyone knows that the swan is the incarnation of beauty, so we often call the perfect shoulder and neck line “swan neck”. If you have an upright posture, a stretched and confident posture, plus a beautiful shoulder curve, you will feel like an elegant and noble “little princess”. Everyone wants to cultivate a beautiful shoulder and neckline. Did you know that the shoulder and neckline is not only about beauty, but also about people’s health.
Do you have shoulder and neck pain and heavy feeling
The shoulders and necks are like the crossroads of the human body, and they play a vital role in the structure of the human body. The movement of the head and the movement of the pectoralis major of the upper limbs are dependent on the shoulder and neck. You can do a small experiment. When you have a chest, take a deep breath. How much can your chest open? Then we opened the body and returned to our posture with our heads up and chest up again, and took a deep breath again. Does it feel different?
Did you find it? When you are in the correct posture, your breathing will become deeper and stronger. This is because when we hold the chest, the lungs are squeezed and do not expand well, resulting in poor breathing. If things go on like this, the thorax will be deformed, the volume of the thoracic cavity will be reduced, and the range of normal breathing will be restricted, which will eventually affect the vital capacity and the ventilation volume of respiration, leading to dyspnea and wheezing.
The shoulders and necks are also the “master switch” of the brain. The blood injected on the head and face must pass through the shoulders and necks. If the location of the Dazhui point in the depression under the spinous process of the seventh cervical vertebra is blocked, the “rich and noble” that we all know will appear. package”. “Wealth package” does not mean wealth, it can cause dizziness, headache, insomnia and dreams. In severe cases, it can easily cause stroke and cerebral infarction.
To save the “head bower”, let’s first understand the trapezius muscle
For shoulders and necks to be beautiful and healthy, one has to talk about one of the largest muscles in the back-the trapezius muscle. It extends from our neck all the way down to the middle back, just like a beautiful shawl. According to the direction of its muscle fibers, it is divided into upper, middle and lower three bundles. Its function is to help us twist the shoulder blades, shrug, retract shoulders, and stand up in our daily activities.
Young people have many unhealthy lifestyles, such as sitting for a long time in the office, playing with mobile phones, playing mahjong and playing cards all night… When the “head bowers” bow their heads, their upper trapezius muscles bear the weight of the entire head and are forced to keep pulling for a long time. In addition, if you are not strong in the first place, it is as if a thin person weighs tens of kilograms a day without getting a rest. After a long time, it will easily cause muscle stiffness and imbalance between related muscles, and finally cause shoulder and neck strain. pain.
If the chest is included, the shoulder blades press down on the chest cavity, and the muscles such as the inferior trapezius muscles of the back have not “participated in work” for a long time. Over time, the back muscles will become weaker and round shoulders and hunchback will be formed.
3 actions to “mobilize” the trapezius muscle
In fact, through a few small daily movements, you can effectively “mobilize” the trapezius muscle.
Action 1
Relaxed. It should be noted that when doing this action, you do not need to pull with your hands, you only need to use your own strength to fight slowly and in a controlled manner. This is the safest way and your neck will not be injured.
First, sink one side of the shoulder, stretch the head in the opposite direction, look straight ahead, and hold for a few seconds.
Then the neck turns, eyes look diagonally upward, stretch while turning, and hold for a few seconds.
Retract the lower forehead, look diagonally downward, and hold for a few seconds.
Regardless of this small movement, it can stretch and relax the upper, middle, and lower parts of the trapezius muscle.
Action 2
Elbow around shoulder style. When doing this, you can sit cross-legged.
If you don’t sit upright, you can put a few books or hard objects under your sitting bones to help yourself stand upright. This is because when you relax the shoulders and necks, all positions below the shoulders and necks must be upright so that the shoulders and necks can be properly exercised. Just like building a building, if the bottom is crooked, the more you build it, the more crooked the building will be.
We first let the sitting bones sit firmly and place the fingers on the shoulders, flat.
Stroke your elbows forward and touch your elbows.
Draw a circle upward with your elbows, and breathe in your nose when you are up. The ribs are always taut. Don’t protrude forward. The backs of your hands meet behind your head.
With elbows down, exhale with the word “drink” and relax.
When doing this movement, the neck is always up and the shoulder strength is always down, so that the neck can be extended to the greatest extent.
Action 3
Surrender. Raise your hands flat, bend your elbows, and spread your fingers.
Exhale downward, sink your shoulder blades, push downwards, and repeat several times.