Learn Nerve Glide Exercises for Headaches and Neck Pain | Pain Science Physical Therapy

Physical therapist Dr. Orit Hickman demonstrates her favorite exercise for alleviating headaches and neck pain: “nerve glides.” This exercise is good for alleviating suboccipital headaches, causing by irritated suboccipital nerves at the base of the skull. To perform the exercise, find a comfortable place to lay down with your knees updrawn and gently tilt pelvis back while gently tilting head back, then relax both. Perform this 5 to 10 times a day. This movement should be very gentle. While people can temporarily feel good stretching their neck far out, this can irritate their neck muscles even more, which can cause headaches to become more frequent in the future. It is best to give your head and neck muscles just a little movement to get blood flowing through them. If this does not alleviate your pain or you need further help with pain, consider talking with one of our physical therapists at https://www.painsciencept.com