As you can probably imagine, I have a lot of patients who struggle with neck and shoulder pain. Many people who work in offices and on computers complain of frequent neck pain and tightness.
Here’s a way to target the neck and shoulders: dumbbells.
Strength training using dumbbells not only reduces pain, but also improves the function of your neck and shoulder area. Here are 5 exercises that you can do with dumbbells to reduce pain and improve function in the neck and shoulders.
1. The one-arm row
2. Shoulder abduction
3. Shoulder shrug
4. Reverse fly
5. Upright row
Start with light hand weights and increase the weight of your dumbbells only after you are comfortable with the lighter weights. The starting weight should be 6 to 12 pounds.
Perform these exercises 3 times per week. Mix up your workouts. Do exercises 1, 2, and 5 one day, and then the next day do exercises 1, 3, and 4. Switch back and forth each time you exercise.
When starting out, do 2 sets of each exercise 8 to 12 times. As you get stronger, add a third set. Once you can do an exercise comfortably for 3 sets, then increase the weight slightly.
These exercises are a great compliment to your chiropractic adjustments. Try them out and see how it goes! If you have any questions about the exercises, email me at alff@sbcglobal.net. Dr. Steve Alff, D.C.