Speaker A
Hello, I'm Emily Clark. I am a physiotherapist with Bath and Screen, and I've done some previous videos just showing some of the exercises I've been doing with them throughout lockdown. I'm now going to run through some neck
Guided neck and back exercises for axial spondyloarthritis to improve mobility and reduce discomfort, demonstrated by physiotherapist Emily Clark.
Key Takeaways
- Regular gentle neck and back stretches help maintain mobility in axial spondyloarthritis.
- Breathing deeply during exercises supports relaxation and rib cage expansion.
- Exercises should be pain-free and stopped if nausea or discomfort occurs.
- Seated exercises can be adapted for different chair types and are suitable for desk breaks.
- Incorporating these stretches can reduce muscle tension and improve overall spinal health.
Summary
- Physiotherapist Emily Clark demonstrates neck and trunk stretches suitable for axial spondyloarthritis, including ankylosing spondylitis.
- Exercises are designed to maintain neck and spine mobility, especially useful after prolonged desk sitting.
- Instructions emphasize gentle movements without pain, stopping if nausea or discomfort occurs.
- Neck exercises include side flexion, rotation, and retraction to stretch and mobilize neck muscles.
- Breathing techniques are integrated with movements to enhance relaxation and rib expansion.
- Shoulder rolls are recommended to ease neck muscle tension.
- Lower back exercises focus on side bending and spinal rotation while seated, maintaining pelvis stability.
- Modifications are suggested for chairs with or without arms to accommodate different users.
- The routine can be used as a short daily mobility break or relaxation exercise to reduce stress.
- The video encourages mindful, slow movements to avoid aggravating symptoms.
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
and trunk stretches, but I usually end my sessions with. They also could be really nice just to weave into your day or if you've been at a desk for quite a while, just to make sure your neck and the rest
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of your spine stays mobile. So first of all, you need a chair, ideally without arms, but if you do have arms to your chair, that's fine. Beginner, Dan, see the exercises to that. Please be aware throughout the exercises, especially the
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neck range of movement exercises, if you feel nausea or unwell, please just stop, okay? Say that's not usual to feel like that, and it will feel slightly out of your comfort range, but I don't want you to be battling through
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pain in these exercises, okay? So it certainly took the agony but should feel a little bit of a challenge, okay? So first of all, put them at the back of the chair and leave that left arm around the back of the chair and shoulders relaxed.
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That's true, you might naked show just a hair up way. So starting off with right here to right shoulder into side flexion to the right, stretching this left side of your neck, okay? Now take a slow deep breath in through your nose, expanding
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your ribs as you breathe in. Breathe out and try to lower your head down towards your right shoulder a little bit more, and slow deep breath in through your nose, out through your mouth. See the head a little bit lower to the side. Keep
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that left shoulder where it is. Don't let it creep up. One more slow deep breath into the face balloons, expand your ribs as you breathe in. Breathe out, headboard to the side, just holding for an extra five, four, three, two, one.
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Slowly take your head back to the same town and keep that shoulder where it is. I'm going to move straight into rotation to the right, so keep your nose and your chin in line and turn your head to the
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right-hand side, leading with your chin. Keep that left shoulder still, and the slow deep breath in through your nose, expand your ribs as you breathe in, shoulders relaxed. Really about in through your nose all the way to the
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base of your lungs. Read out through your mouth into the stretch, and again slowly in through your nose, out through your mouth, just holding for an extra five, four, three, two. Good leap that arm, so these can serve as a really nice relaxation
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exercise as a nice line down towards bed or just to get a little bit of head space throughout the day, just to reduce all of us up anxiety and stress and just have a little bit of a break for
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whatever you're doing. Next one, edge retraction, similarly coming through the top of your hair to lengthening through the back of your neck, so everything should stay still below your neck, just gliding the back of your head back towards the wall behind
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you, but don't let that chin rise. Do it squash down too much, so just gliding the head back. Keep that chin in as you go, looking straight ahead, and again slow deep breath in through your nose to the
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base of your lungs. Breathe out, glide that hip a bit further, growing tall through the top of your head, keeping that chin in as you go. Again, slowly in through your nose, out through your mouth, glide back a bit further into that
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stretch, and one more time slowly if who knows all the way to those lower ribs. Breathe out, back a little bit further, so you're inching further and further back into that stretch, just holding it for an extra five or three, two, one, and relax.
Speaker A
Great, let's do the other side. So right, I'm going to chair, keep that right shoulder still, and now left ear, the left shoulder far as you can go, just straight down to the side, feeling the stretch all on the right side of your neck. Now don't
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let that right arm creep up again. Deep breath in through your nose and out. Lower into the stretch as you breathe out. They're going slowly into your nose, the base of your lungs. Breathe out through your mouth into my ear down a
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little bit lower. Just wash that right shoulder doesn't creep up, and again slow deep breath in through your nose, out through your mouth. Take that ear down a bit lower, just holding a stretch for an extra five, four,
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three, two, one. Slowly relax, take that head back to the same time. One can see how quick that shall drop it if they're there. Hmm, just trying to keep those shoulders level if you can. Keep keeping that right
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arm round back of the chair. You're gonna go into rotation to the left side now. Notice in chin in line, lead with your chin as you turn your head round to the left. Keep that right oh it is okay. Slow deep breath in
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through your nose. It's nice and slow. Here's the air time to reach the base of your lungs. Out for your mouth again slowly in through nose and out creeping further into the stretch, and again so their deep breath
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in through your nose and out for your mouth, going further into that strips. Just check that right shoulders back, holding the stretch for an extra five or three, two. I'm slowly turning back around to the front. Great, so that's the neck
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range of movement. We've done a side flexion, rotation, retraction, and same again the other side. So that in itself could be a nice little routine, just five-minute routine to do throughout the day or as it when you can,
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just to keep that neck nice and mobile and just to roll those shoulders to ease off those neck muscles. So you want to roll up to your ears, back and down, ease off these shoulder muscles. Next, we're going
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to do the rest of your spine, so that major lower back. So for this one, certainly the bottom at the back of the chair and try and keep that pelvis still throughout. So you want to, I say the gap
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between your ribcage nourish your pelvis, so just watching what and lifting your bottom up from side to side throughout. Keep those sit bones sunk down into the chair. Then we're going to reach down to the right side. Start with so reaching
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without right arm down already, so you can go feeling the stretch through that left side. If you want to increase the stretch, you can go up and bring circle with that arm, but keep that bottom still on the chair. Good.
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Now slowly deep breath in. You can be challenging to move those ribs in this position, but we really try and push those ribs how does you breathe in. Breathe out, reach down and up. I know and again slow deep breath in through
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the nose and out through your mouth. Reach down and up and over a bit more and a while, and again slow deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Reach down and up over a little bit more, holding for an extra
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five, four, three, two, one. Then circle that arm down, lifting up through your spine back to the center. So that's five flexion to the right-hand side helicity rotation. So keep those knees together, and if you can do not have arms
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on your chair, take those knees around to the side. I quite like doing this without arms in the chair because you can really block that thigh against the back of the chair, and that keeps your cover still. If you have arms, a new chapter or
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you can still do it, so your arms are here. You just have to twist that upper body a little bit further round, so you're still doable. I just quite like doing this things like this for years, so
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knees together, block that thigh against the back of the chair, and then twist up through your spine, bringing that rib cage around, then chest, shoulders, head, and neck all that fierce fight, and then lift up through that chest a little bit
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more. I don't tend to do deep breaths with this one because it can be quite aggravating when you're really, so we're just doing the last normal gentle breathing and just trying it ease a little bit further round into the
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stretch as you go, and then holding for that extra five, four, three, two, one. Slowly coming back around to the front. Rino's knees around with you. Great. Next one, flexion. So we want to focus on this lower back now. Don't be tempted to just
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slam through those shoulders. Really, we want to.
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down your legs as far as you can go baby now just watch your head position try not to dangle that head okay that can make you feel quite unwell so looking straight down at the floor and then think of rounding that lower back that
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little bit more scoop in through those commercials then slow deep breath same again expanding those wheels at the back of your ribcage now slowly in I'm breathing out reaching down and sliding down that little bit further it's water
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pool and again slow deep breath in through that Motorcity ribs breathing out lower a bit further into that stretch keep your bottom on the chair and then last one slow deep breath in through your nose expand those ribs
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at the back of your ribcage breathe out and lower a little bit further I'm holding for an extra five four three two one and slowly slowly when you come back up you may feel a bit dizzy if you miss straight back up so
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stack up through that spine nice and slowly and then bring your head back up and just finish on a bit of a posture check those shoulders back down them together great tool to the top of your head right on the side nearly there keep
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that awesome still and reach down to the left-hand side now keep that's super bone on the chair if you want to increase this stretch just circle that on up and over and just watch you're not twisting or slumping forwards and
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lighting there's a sheet of glass in front of you sliding straight down to the side okay now slow deep breath into these ribs as you breathe in press those ribs out breathe out reach roll up and move a bit further so he
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breath in through your nose and out reach down reach up and over more and again slow breath in through your nose press those ribs out to sit breathe in breathe out reach down reach up over and holding for an extra five or two Guaymas
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for that arm down slowly back up through your spine back up into sitting centrally well done two more rotation next same again the other side so keep those knees together bring those knees around to the left hand side or if
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you've got arms in your chair that's fine just twisting around so blocking that by against the back of the chair keep those knees together pelvis still and twist up through spy we met with cage around on shoulders chest
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I do neck add a little lift up through your chest and then nice gentle even normal breathing in this position now he's a little bit further round again really low shoulders around and then who hold for an extra five four two one good
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don't you come back round to the front again and the last one that we do is upper body extension so I'm going to be side onto this so you can see what I'm doing this is my chair position different options so we really
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want to extend to that upper back mostly so you can reach down behind the back of the chair that's quite a nice one to do just watch you're not turning those shoulders in so keep those shoulders back as you meet behind the chair you
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can fold your arms and do it that way or this is what I usually do the bathroom and just circle my arms back and then interlacing my fingers push my head back into my hand so sink that head back into
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your hands and all the time keep that head heavy in your hands supporting that head and neck then you lift your chest up to the sky that's where you want to feel the stretch and feel the stretch on
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those ribs and tummy muscles and probably a bit to top your back ok then nice slow deep breath in and trying to expand your ribcage at the front breathe out step back further back open up those elbows sink that head back into these
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hands and again slow deep breath in through your nose expand those ribs rebound arch that back a little bit further chest up and then the last one slow deep breath in through your nose expand those ribs as you breathe in
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breathe out head back and chest up to the sky and hold for that extra five four three two one and that tummy in come back to the center well done so much face you so that really is mostly
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your full neck and trunk range of movement and so just try to add that on to somebody of it as sessions that I've been through with you or weave it into your day thanks very much thank you for
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watching
Topics:axial spondyloarthritisankylosing spondylitisneck exercisesback stretchesspine mobilityphysiotherapyseated exercisesneck pain reliefspinal healthstress reduction
