Neck and shoulders: easing stiffness and pain

Step by step

1. 1

   Step 1: Move them daily, gently and through their full range

   Shoulders lose range faster than almost any other joint, mostly because we stop reaching overhead. Slow shoulder rolls, reaching up and out, and turning the head unhurriedly from side to side. A few minutes daily beats a long session weekly.

   Learn more: Chair dance fitness: what it actually does for you
2. 2

   Step 2: Look at where you sit and what you look at

   A head held forward for hours, a phone in your lap, a chair with no support, a pillow too high or too flat. Bring the screen to eye level, support the lower back, and change position every half hour rather than holding one for the evening.

   Learn more: Sleep & recovery
3. 3

   Step 3: Treat tension as part of it

   Shoulders creep up towards the ears under stress and stay there without being noticed. A few slow breaths with a longer breath out, and a deliberate drop of the shoulders, several times a day. The neck often holds what the mind is carrying.

   Learn more: Worry: a four-step pause when your mind will not stop
4. 4

   Step 4: Know what should be looked at

   See a doctor for pain going down the arm with numbness, tingling or weakness, pain after a fall, a shoulder you genuinely cannot lift, neck pain with fever or unexplained weight loss, or any pain that keeps waking you.

   Learn more: Muscle strength and ageing

All topics in this guide

• Chair dance fitness: what it actually does for you
• Sleep & recovery
• Worry: a four-step pause when your mind will not stop
• Muscle strength and ageing

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