Bryan Alexander
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Sep 28, 2003, 4:00 PM
Post #2 of 2
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I used to get cramps in my upper back and in related muscles in my neck. It was what some people call "getting a crick in my neck." I would have severe pain and stiffness, which would gradually subside over the course of a few days.
I think that the overall progression of postures taught by Iyengar teachers is what helped me. First you do a lot of standing postures, where your teacher helps you learn how to engage your legs and also your arms without tensing the neck and trapezius. And you learn shoulderstand (salamba sarvangasana), which works directly on the neck and upper back.
After learning the work of the legs and arms, and after gaining stamina for salamba sarvangasana over a period of time, then you learn headstand (sirsasana I), and that strengthens the neck and teaches another way of engaging the trapezius. Another big part of this whole big party is learning backbends. Backbends help elongate the front of the spine and teach you how to engage the spine in a new way, and this takes some of the upper back's labor away--the labor is more spread out along the entire spine. Thus, less localized stress.
The result for me has been that I now very rarely get those "cricks."
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