Manicure neck ain’t sexy either

by Dimitry Bizga in Posture February 5, 2016

I have a vested interest in keeping my aesthetician happy and healthy.  Heaven forbid she is not able to work due to a tension head ache or back spasms…what would become of my toes???To that end I have some thoughts on how to create the least amount of stress on her back and neck. Our heads weigh 10 pounds and for every inch they are forward they weigh another 10 so, with poor pedicure mechanics, it is possible that the neck and upper back muscles are being asked to hold up in excess of 50 pounds.   No wonder they get cranky!

1. When ever possible raise the foot up or lower your chair so the foot is more at eye level; less distance to bend down to.
2. Try to maintain a slight retraction of your chin, if it stays tucked in a bit, instead of jutted out, stronger neck muscles are engaged.
3. Obviously there is no avoiding some head flexion so why not get those neck muscles nice and strong. There are actually “core” exercises for your neck. These are called isometric exercises, they are easy, simple and super effective. The trick is consistency – they must be done daily. Here’s how: Stand in front of a mirror with excellent posture.  You will use your hand as a wall to prevent motion of your head. It goes against your forehead as you try to flex forward (no motion happens though, the muscles just fire up), against the back of your head as you tighten neck muscles as if you were going to look up to the ceiling, against your cheek bone to tighten muscles as if you were going to look over your shoulder (both ways), then against your temple to tighten as if you were going to tip your ear to your shoulder (both ways).  Hold each for about 20 seconds.
4. The more you can hinge forward at your hip and not round through your back, the less strain is on the neck and low back. A strong core helps to hold this position and planks are great for these core muscles.
5. Between feet and clients do a few extension stretches where you lace your hands behind your low back, open up your chest and look up to the ceiling. This stretches the muscles that shorten and tighten after forward flexed activities.
6. Schedule in some exercise to your week…they say that sitting is the new smoking so we definitely want to counter that with time on our feet, cardio and joint mobility.
7. Careful with your texting mechanics. If done poorly, it will reinforce the forward head position from work. Keep your elbows in and hold the phone up to eye level to text.

So there you go, my thoughts on how to protect your neck.  I would feel very guilty if it was because of my pretty toes that you have a head ache ; )