Physiotherapist Top 6 Tips for Exercising with Cervical Spondylosis

Today we are talking about cervical spondylosis and specifically 6 tips for exercising with cervical spondylosis as seen in the video Physiotherapist Top 6 Tips for Exercising with Cervical Spondylosis.

Cervical spondylosis can create additional challenges when trying to exercise or stay active. It can be difficult to know what exercise to do and how. Having some tips and tricks up your sleeve when it comes to exercising with cervical spondylosis can help you better navigate this challenge.

Remember if you are experiencing injury or pain, make sure to see your Physiotherapist or healthcare professional prior to participating in exercise. This blog post is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for individual physiotherapy assessment and treatment. 

Tip 1: Start with Exercises for Pain Relief 

Often the first step of managing a condition like cervical spondylosis is pain management. Therefore, when thinking about exercise, focusing on exercises that help to relieve pain is typically a good place to start, particularly before progressing to strength and more functional exercises.

Some examples of exercises that can help to manage pain include shoulder rolls or gentle range of motion exercises to gently help relax and move the muscles and joints of the neck, which may be quite tense or tight, contributing to pain.

Because cervical spondylosis is a term that encompasses a wide range of degenerative changes affecting the spine, exercises that help to relieve pain may vary between different people. Having one or two go to exercises that work for you to can be very helpful for those times when experiencing pain.

It is important to note that these tips are tailored to more common symptoms of spondylosis like pain in the neck or pain that might radiate away from the neck. They may not be suitable for a person experiencing the less common symptoms of myelopathy like hand weakness, coordination difficulties, or reduced balance.

Tip 2: Keep Moving with Range of Motion Exercises

With spondylosis, the joints in the neck may not move as freely as they used to, and the muscles around the neck can tighten up to protect the area. This can create a cycle of stiffness and discomfort, where over time, movement can become more restricted. Stiffness may also increase when keeping still for too long, like working at a computer, reading, or watching screens.

Incorporating gentle, regular mobility exercises into an exercise routine can help to reduce this stiffness. Movement can help to lubricate the joints, improve blood flow, and maintain or improve range of motion over time.

Exercises might include flexion like gentle nods, extension or looking up to the sky, neck rotations or turning side to side, and lateral flexion or brining your ear toward your shoulder.

The aim isn’t to push into pain or to force a big stretch, but instead comfortable movement. Movement might feel tight but should not increase pain. Avoid movements that are causing sharp or sudden pain.

Tip 3: Focus on Postural Strength

Many of the tasks we complete in our modern day lives promote poor posture. For example, sitting at a computer, long commutes in the car, or replying to texts and emails on our phones. This can contribute or exacerbate the changes that occur in the neck with cervical spondylosis.

Postural strength exercises, like scapular retractions or chin tucks are one way to reduce the impact of these activities on posture. These exercises can help to build strength and endurance in the muscles surrounding the spine, to provide support and take pressure off the joints impacted by spondylitic changes.

Tip 4: Build Strength with Isometric Exercises

In addition to postural strength exercises, isometric exercises can help to strengthen the muscles supporting the spine. Isometric contraction occurs when the muscles tense but stay the same length.

To complete isometric exercises place your hand on your forehead.

Gently push your head forward into your hand

Hold 5–10 seconds

No movement should occur

Repeat the same with hand on the back of head and each side.

Isometric exercises can be helpful when movement is painful or limited to help strengthen the muscles without stressing the joints.

Tip 5: Build Gradually Using Principles of Progression, Periodisation & Individualisation

After understanding the types of exercises available that can help with managing cervical spondylosis, the next step is to identify how much exercise to do. This is where the principles of progression, periodisation, and individualisation are important.

Progression means to progress over time, starting with less and building gradually. In general, a good starting point might be 1 or 2 sets of 2 or 3 different exercises that feel comfortable and manageable. You should not be feeling dread about doing them or pushing through pain to complete them. Once the exercises become routine and start to feel too easy, it’s a good indicator to increase the challenge. That might mean more repetitions, another set, longer hold times, or slightly increasing range of motion.

Periodisation means different phases over time. Typically, the first phase of an injury rehabilitation program focuses on pain management, followed by range of motion, followed by strength. This means starting with pain management exercises, before adding in range of motion and strength. Thinking of an exercise program in this way helps to keeps progress steady and realistic, rather than overloading the muscles and joints by doing everything at once.

Individualisation means a program that is tailored to you. What works for someone else may not work for you. Your program should reflect your pain levels, mobility, lifestyle, and even your comfort level with exercise.

Building a gradual program helps to ensure the program is manageable and achievable over time, while avoiding aggravating symptoms where possible.

Tip 6: Habit Stack with Other Habits

One of the biggest challenges with managing a condition like cervical spondylosis is simply finding the time to complete exercises. Being able to associate the exercises you need to do with another activity you are already completing daily can help to build the habit and get the task done.

Some examples might be:

·       Starting with your rehabilitation exercises before your normal exercise routine, whether that be before going for a walk, going to the gym, or going to a class.  

·       After you brush your teeth, doing 10 gentle chin tucks.

·       During TV ad breaks, do some shoulder rolls or isometric holds.

This can help exercises to become automatic, part of the rhythm of the day, to help build long-term results. 

In summary, this article covered 6 tips for exercising with cervical spondylosis. I hope this information has been helpful. To hear me talk on these tips, the accompanying video can be found on the Age Fit with Tess Youtube channel.

To find out if you are on track with your exercise program, the Age Fit with Tess Self Assessment can be found here.

Tess Halbauer

Physiotherapist

References

Kuo, DT & Tadi, P 2023, ‘Cervical spondylosis’, in StatPearls [Internet], StatPearls Publishing.