functional exercise: press the back of the head against the wall

yogabook / functional exercise / Press the back of the head against the wall

Press the back of the head against the wall

Feedback: We’d love to hear what you think about this description, give us feedback at:
postmeister@yogabook.org
last update: 29.5.2021
Name: Press back of head against wall

Instructions

  1. Stand with your back to a wall and your heels no more than one foot away from the wall.
  2. Lean your back and head against the wall.
  3. Press the back of your head against the wall with increasing force. If there is no discomfort, the back can lift off the wall.
  4. If the exercise is too easy, lean your back against the wall again and increase the distance between your heels and the wall to press the back of your head against the wall again with increasing force.
  5. Once a distance has been found that seems appropriate for the load capacity of the neck, the intensity can be fine-tuned via the distance of the pelvis from the wall: a greater distance intensifies the requirement, a smaller distance softens it.

details

  1. This functional exercise is intended for cases in which it is not possible to perform the exercise in the supine position, such as pressing the head to the floor. Reasons why the exercise cannot be performed may include
    1. Tendency to dizziness in the supine position
    2. Tendency to reflux in the supine position
    3. Cases in which even a moderate „fullness of blood“ in the head as in the supine position should be avoided
  2. Depending on the nature of the wall and individual sensitivity to pressure, the back of the head can be placed on the wall using a softening agent. Several patches are well suited for this, a blanket is also suitable.
  3. The neck should not be hyperlordotic, which means in particular that the head should not be positioned too low on the wall or too far cranially. A convex position of the neck should also be avoided. In rather rare cases, a steep position of the cervical spine is already contraindicated; this could be the case with facet syndrome, spinal canal stenosis or spondylolisthesis.
  4. If possible, avoid a hollow back in the lumbar spine.
  5. The aim is to keep the body in an anatomically zero-compliant extension as far as possible. As the distance between the heels and the wall increases, the point of the back of the head resting on the wall will move cranially.
  6. Both the distance of the feet from the wall and the distance of the pelvis from the wall can be increased for greater intensity. While the distance of the pelvis can be increased gradually, but only to a very limited extent, given the position of the feet, the distance of the feet from the wall offers a much better opportunity to increase the intensity. However, in order to change the distance between the feet, the posture should always be returned to the starting position with the buttocks and back against the wall, i.e. without any significant load on the cervical spine. If the pelvis is moved further away from the wall to fine-tune the intensity, care should be taken to avoid an uncomfortable hollow back, i.e. the pelvis should be tilted backwards at the top with the hip extensors in line with the increase in distance.
  7. This exercise can be used to „revitalise“ a stiffened neck in a neutral angle range and therefore very well tolerated, i.e. to gradually build up strength and also to increase the range of movement after an appropriate warm-up. This exercise can also, and especially in the case of pathological changes in the cervical spine area, serve well as a low-risk way of improving neck sutiation.