The attacks may be inevitable, but the duration and intensity can be significantly reduced. Some attacks can be completely aborted by assuming a specific position or immediately carrying out a series of neck stretches. No one needs to accept the pain, and certainly no one should quietly endure the associated loss of function. We all have the ability to fight back.

Control can be simple, but it is seldom easy. Gaining the confidence you need to work through the pain takes a good deal of knowledge and more than a bit of faith. Separating useful physical treatments from those that waste your time and money requires a sophisticated consumer. Selecting the proper pain-control program means correctly identifying your neck pain and being willing to invest time and effort to get ahead of the pain.

Lifting involves not only the muscles of your legs and low back, but the muscles in your arms and across the top of your shoulders as well. Jutting your head forward provides more leverage for the shoulder and upper back muscles and adds a little strength. When you watch people trying to lift heavy objects, you will notice that one of the first things they do is stick out their chin. Arching the neck and pulling the chin up tightens the small muscles at the base of the skull. Maintaining that tension can give you neck pain and headache. If you watch well-trained weightlifters, you will see how they deliberately keep their heads balanced above their shoulders.

Probably nothing. Purely passive treatment rarely has enduring effect. Massage, adjustment, cold-pack application, or prescription medication can produce short-term benefit, but by themselves they offer little hope of lasting improvement. In this scenario, even if I offer help, the person’s approach of asking what I can do portends a poor result. Neck pain can be managed; I have already made the point. But they require the active participation of the owner. Waiting for someone else to solve the problem is not the answer. People travel great distances and spend considerable amounts of money seeking for solution only to find, like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, that the answer is right in their own backyard.

Not only stretching exercises are covered in the ebook, there are other types of strengthening exercises and mind-body techniques such as relaxation that will be covered too. These exercises will not only help in rapid pain control, it will also strengthen your muscles, enhance your concentration and improve endurance. You need to have a combination of various methods and techniques found in this ebook and put it on a regular basis before you can really see results.

Wherever I hear the question like that I despair. These are not my exercises, and they will never “cure” your neck. Exercise programs have evolved over time. The fashions may change, but the underlying principles remain the same. No one is in a position to lay claim to the concept of exercise.

The question “how long?” can be asked in two ways. How long will it take for exercise to demonstrate a positive effect? How long must I continue to exercise in order to keep my neck pain-free?

Exercise improves function in two ways. The training effect occurs early. It relates to the way you perform an exercise or use a piece of equipment. Your early gains may only reflect your improved physical skill.

Unfortunately, developing strength in the muscles of your neck is a slow process. The first three months of exercise should be considered an act of faith. You will see no change. Only after that will the effects start to become noticeable.

There is no time limit. As long as you want the benefit to continue, you have to keep on with your exercise. It is the same situation faced by people who want to lose weight. They attend special classes and go on special diets until they have shed enough pounds to reach their target. From then on, they are on their own. For some, as the enthusiasm fades, so does their self-restraint. They revert to their old habits and ways of eating. Their weight climbs right back to where it was. As long as you exercise, you will maintain your increased strength and muscle endurance. When you stop, it doesn’t take long for your muscles to return to their old ways.

You are right. It is a long-term commitment, and not one that everyone will sustain. To make it even tougher, the changes come gradually at the beginning.

And you will not have to exercise every day. To use a simplistic explanation, strength training works slightly damaging your muscles. Responding to that injury, they strengthen and enlarge. Recovery takes time, so you should not vigorously attack the same muscle group again for a couple of days. Performing the same exercise routine every other day is actually more effective than repeating it on a daily basis. There is also a psychological benefit from having that break. These exercises require real effort and time and facing them can be intimidating. A day off in between can do wonders for your attitude.

If you want to exercise every day, set up two or three different routines that exercise different muscles. You can have your daily gym time or at your home without interruption and still give your muscles a chance to recover.

Start slowly. If you have exercised in the past but have been away from it for a while, you will need to return gradually. You can’t expect to begin at your previous level, particularly if it has been several years. At fifty, none of us have the stamina and strength we had when we were twenty, as much as we might pretend we do. If you have never exercised before, even the simplest routines may seem strange and uncomfortable. There is no hurry. Your neck pain is quite willing to wait. Remember that old saying, “A thousand-mile journey begins with a single step.”

Once you are underway, you should progress gradually as well. Stay at the same level of activity for a couple of weeks before you move up. Pay attention to your technique. Five repetitions offer more benefit than twice that number done poorly. Don’t rush, and avoid ballistic movements where you use speed, momentum and weight of your body to achieve the result. Trying to touch your toes slowly is very different from rocking rapidly back and forth trying to hurl your head at your feet.

Everyone’s requirements are different. Some lucky person need very little. It depends partly on where you start.

If you are already in good physical shape, gaining additional strength and endurance may require some effort. But once you reach your target, which is in control of your neck symptom, you need go no further. Unless you are planning to enter a body-building contest, how you look is less important than how you feel. Defining your muscles and taking an inch or two off your waist may be desirable side effects, but they are not your principal goal. Once your exercise program balances with the needs of your neck that is enough.

Exercise can be addictive. Once you get started and have the habit, you just don’t feel right without it. Because repetition improves your performance, your routine grows easier, so there is always a temptation to intensify the program. If a little is good, more is better. But pushing beyond the level you need for pain control has significant drawbacks. You started to exercise because of neck pain. If you push yourself too much, then the benefits of the exercise may be completely nullified by the return of the pain. And more exercise takes more time. Most of us have schedules that can accommodate only so much. Setting aside thirty minutes or an hour is possible. Two hours just can’t be done, al least not on a regular basis. People continue to expand on their programs until the time and energy required exceed what they can afford. At this point people don’t cut down, they cut out. If your exercise program fits your lifestyle and is making you feel better, leave it alone.