9 Months of Daily Neck PT
How 12 minutes of a daily PT habit improved my neck resilience
I've been training Brazilian jiu jitsu for 3 years now, and struggled with recurring neck issues. I would often tweak my neck during morning training sessions. Someone pulled a can opener on me in competition at the start of 2024, after which my neck was sore for over a month. Last May, I had a rough class where I got a few accidental knees to the head and could barely move my neck for about a week, and developing an annoying pain in my right rhomboid, after which I sought medical attention. After an MRI I discovered I have a herniated C5-C6 and bulging C6-C7. Based on historical imaging I had prior to my jiu jitsu journey, some bulging already existed years prior, and the incident that caused me to get medical attention was likely a red herring and just a whiplash injury.
I did some research and found this neck PT program by E3 Rehab. I've purchased and followed their Hip Resilience and Knee Resilience programs before with great results after training-related injuries. I've been doing the following 3x/day (roughly 4 minutes each) for the past 9 months:
1 min isometric flexion (leaning on wall with forehead)
1 min isometric extension (leaning on wall with back of head)
20x seated thoracic rotation
10x quadruped cat cow
I added this on top of my existing lifting routine, which includes a mix of upper body pressing and pulling motions. I tracked my daily pain levels in various areas and set up an experiment with Reflect to compare by baseline data (2 months of no neck PT) to my pain levels while following the program.
I found following this program significantly decreased my neck and back pain, and I feel a lot more resilient to neck and head trauma. Prior to starting this, I had a concussion after slamming my head on the mat while being taken down. Since I started the neck PT, I've had a few events where I was convinced that I would get a similar concussion based on the severity of the impact on my head, but ended up making it out OK.
Here’s a plot of my various pain areas over time over a longer time period, overlaid with my neck PT regime over time:
It's truly been a game changer for me.