Neck pain in striking based combat sports
– Keep your chin down!
Keep your chin down! You’ve heard this before. Whether you practice boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, or another striking style with head contact, it’s always a good habit to keep your chin protected. You do this typically by rounding your shoulders, dropping your chest, hands up to your face and neck bent low to present your opponent with the smallest, most protected target possible. This is good practice when you’re drilling, sparring or fighting, but what about after the round finishes? Many people who practice these sports or styles can experience neck pain, upper back, or shoulder pain as a result of hours of keeping their chin down and protected.
These people often report an ache or “tightness” which runs along the back of their neck, or in their upper back between the shoulder blade and spine. Soreness along the sides of the neck and along the tops of the shoulders is also common. These neck pain and aches can be frustrating as they linger throughout the day, despite massages or stretching, heat packs or heat creams. Sitting and performing desk work, or holding the neck in a sustained posture can aggravate symptoms. And when the symptoms get worse, it can ache even when lying down which causes trouble with sleeping.
If this sounds like you, an approach you can try is changing your posture when you’re away from training, and strengthening your neck and upper back/spine muscles. You can think of it as training your body into the opposite posture from your stance. So, bringing your shoulders back, chest tall and neck extended, instead of rounded, dropped, and low. Holding this posture for a few minutes intermittently throughout the day can reduce the ache and tightness.
Beyond posture changes, the best way to reduce recurrence of neck pain and other symptoms in the long-term is to strengthen the relevant muscles. A reason why you experience the achiness and tightness is because the muscles you use to maintain that chin down position become fatigued from holding that posture for prolonged periods of time. So generally speaking, exercises which target the neck and thoracic spine extensors and shoulder retractors will be most effective. Which muscles would benefit the most from strengthening will vary between people as everyone’s body works slightly differently. As the muscles get stronger and have more control and endurance, they will be able to tolerate prolonged positions without feeling as sore or tight.
If you’ve tried some of these tips already and your symptoms aren’t getting better, or if you’d just like to get a professional opinion and guidance on how to manage your symptoms, do not hesitate to book in with one of our physiotherapists.
Jordan Press
Physiotherapist