Many people are bothered by continuous or intermittent pain with the shoulder, arm, back and even chest. Although there’re various reasons causing such pains, quite a few of them are linked to a stiff neck.
The cervical nerves – nerves on the neck, branch from the spinal cord and control motor and sensory abilities for different parts of the body. They’re named C1-C8.
C1, C2, and C3 control the head and neck, including movements forward, backward, and to the sides.
C4 helps control the shoulders.
C5 dermatome covers the shoulders and outer part of the arm down to close to the wrist.
C6 dermatome covers the top of the shoulders and runs down the side of the arm and into the thumb side of the hand.
C7 dermatome goes from the shoulder down the back of the arm and into the middle finger.
C8 dermatome covers the lower part of the shoulder and goes down the arm into the pinky side of the hand.
When any of the highly sensitive cervical nerves are irritated, neck pain and other symptoms may ensue.
In the past twenty years, adults with healthy cervical spines are getting rarer. More people are having pains from various parts of the body that can be attributed to cervical spine diseases.
Yoga practice is helpful in managing the pain caused by cervical spine diseases. In general, these poses are worth trying.
Cat/Cow
Bridge
Some of the poses are a bit challenging, you may get a detailed tutorial before your start these poses. If you practice once or twice a day for a consecutive week, usually you will feel much relieved with the pain.
