Neck Controlled Articular Rotation
oec:neck-controlled-articular-rotation
A slow, deliberate mobility drill tracing the maximal active perimeter of the cervical spine through flexion, rotation, lateral flexion, and extension.
Generated by gemini-3.8-flash from the sources below. No person has checked this record. Don't rely on it for safety.
Also called: Neck CARs, Cervical CARs, Cervical Controlled Articular Rotation, Neck CAR
How to do it
Setup
- Stand or sit tall with feet flat on the floor and a neutral spine.
- Gently brace your core, pull your shoulders down and back, and clench your fists to create full-body irradiation and isolate the neck.
Movement
- Tuck your chin toward your chest into full cervical flexion.
- Rotate your chin along your collarbone toward one shoulder as far as comfortable.
- Tip your ear toward the same shoulder into lateral flexion.
- Extend your head back and around, rolling smoothly through extension to the opposite side without hyperextending or pinching.
- Drop your ear toward the opposite shoulder, then rotate your chin down along the opposite collarbone back to the chest to complete the circle.
- Pause briefly, then repeat for the prescribed repetitions before reversing direction.
Breathing
Breathe smoothly and continuously throughout the rotation without holding your breath.
Cues
- Draw the biggest circle you can with your chin.
- Move the neck only; keep your shoulders glued down.
- Smooth out any jerky corners.
Common faults
- Moving the shoulders or thoracic spine to create artificial range.
- Lock your torso in place, pin your shoulders down, and move strictly from the cervical spine.
- Rushing through the rotation.
- Perform each circle slowly under control, taking five to ten seconds per repetition.
- Pushing into sharp closing-angle pain or nerve pinching.
- Bypass any painful pinch by carving just inside the painful boundary of range.
Safety
- Avoid forcing through dizziness, sharp pain, or numbness; keep movements within a comfortable, pain-free active range.
Muscles
Joints
- Cervical spine: Flexion, Extension, Lateral flexion, Rotation, Circumduction
- Thoracic spine: Isometric stabilization
Details
- Movement
- Mobility drill, Neck isolation
- Modality
- Mobility, Rehabilitation, Flexibility
- Mechanics
- isolation
- Force
- not applicable
- Laterality
- bilateral
- Kinetic chain
- open
- Level
- beginner
- Equipment
- None
- Record
- Repetitions
- Load
- none
Related
- variation of Neck Roll
- substitute for Neck Roll
- progression of Neck Half Circle
Sources
- wger: Neck CARs (CC-BY-SA-4.0)
This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.