You can’t even look over your shoulder to check traffic before you change lanes. You grip the wheel a little tighter, tense your shoulders, and yank your head around. Ouch. Or, you just take a chance and change lanes anyway. Double ouch. You can’t move because you have limited neck motion. Or do you?
Try the following activity to see if your range of motion improves:
How can that be? Why has your neck movement gotten a bit better? After all, you’ve turned your head many times with the same lousy result. It pinches. It’s stiff. It sucks. So why is it suddenly better after just a simple exercise?
That simple exercise is actually quite complicated. That’s because it changes the way your brain interprets movement. 
When you move in a way that is associated with pain, the brain becomes aware of the pattern. Your brain works using prediction. That means it learns from past painful movements and if it’s been painful before, the brain activates those pain signals before you even start to move. It’s under the radar of conscious thought, which makes it tricky to change. But we have a way to rewrite your brain’s story.
What you just practiced was a Feldenkrais lesson that changes the movement pattern and sets the stage for moving with ease.
Feldenkrais sessions are not limited to improving neck movements – they can improve movement patterns throughout your body. With Feldenkrais, you are taught to notice where movement feels restricted or awkward and learn new strategies to make it easy and even elegant (yes, even you can move elegantly!).
In addition to being a certified Feldenkrais practitioner, Debbie is a licensed PTA. Following an evaluation with one of our physical therapists; you can be referred to her. Get ready to move with ease; schedule an appointment today.
