In this instructional video, physical therapist Brianna Dawson addresses chronic neck pain that persists despite regular stretching, attributing it to an over‑active nervous system. She introduces two breath‑focused exercises that can be performed immediately at home. The first uses a 4‑4‑4‑4 box‑breathing pattern while gently applying traction with the back of the head on a foam roller (or a rolled towel) and rolling side‑to‑side to release neck muscles. The second positions the mid‑back on a longer foam roller, lets the arms hang, and employs diaphragmatic breathing to open the chest and reduce pressure on the neck, recommending three to four breath cycles. Dawson explains that calming the nervous system through these techniques provides quick relief, after which viewers can progress to mobility work and later strengthening to stabilize the neck. The video ends with a call to like, comment, share, and follow Reset U Fitness.
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Hi, are you a person dealing with chronic neck pain? And despite like all the stretches that you do, it just still comes back? Well, that might mean your system or your nervous system might be a little bit too revved up to handle some of those stretches. So today we're going to go over ways that we can get you to relax and breathe through it to get you relief. Hi, I'm Brianna Dawson with Reset U Fitness. I'm a physical therapist, and today we're going to go over 2 moves breath-wise that you can do right now to help relieve your neck pain. Okay, the first release we're going to do, we're going to use box breathing techniques. So you're going to breathe in for 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, and then hold for 4 again. That will just help. Again, we're going to get your nervous system to calm down just to help you relax your body and get some pain relief. What I'm going to do is I'm going to put the back of my head right here onto this foam roller. Now, if you don't have a foam roller at home, if it's too firm, use something softer like a rolled up towel. That works great. Okay, so set up right there, right on the back of my neck. It'll just give you like a maybe little baby traction. And then I'm going to roll my head one side just to hit some of those muscles on the back of my head. And then I'm going to use my breath [EXHALES] For that box breathing. Again, I'm going to inhale, hold, exhale, and hold again. Make sure you do both sides to help release some of the neck muscles. The next one we're going to do is actually open up the chest to help relieve any pressure coming from the back of the neck. So what you're going to do, if you have a long foam roller, you can sit on it all the way. This isn't quite long enough for me. So my setup is I'm going to line up my mid-back like this, and then I'm going to lay back on it like this. And then I'm just going to let my arms hang out to the side. Oh, I already got myself a good pop there. And then all I'm going to do again, I'm going to use my breath through my diaphragm down here. To control it. Holding and letting it go. Do at least 3 or 4 breath cycles because that will just help get you to relax a little bit better. Okay, I hope these 2 exercises helped relax your system a little bit and maybe give you a little neck relief. Now, once you've made it past this stage, then you can use some mobility exercises to help open up the neck a little bit more, and then in the future doing strengthening to help stabilize it. Now, if this video brought you value, please like, comment, or share. Follow us at Reset U Fitness.
