Self Mobilization for Adverse Neural Tension in the Cervical Spine

To treat the right side of the neck:

• The patient is lying on their back and places their left hand under the neck with their fingers wrapping around to the right side of the neck. The therapist instructs the patient as to the specific location for the patient to place their finger contact.
• Tell the patient to gently pull their neck to the left using their left hand and hold this position.
• The patient’s R arm is down at their side with the palm facing the ceiling.
• Have the patient slowly abduct their arm as far as they can without allowing the cervical spine to translate back to the R.
• The patient returns the R arm back down to the side and is instructed to take up any slack that they feel for additional R to L translation and repeat again.
• The patient repeats the movement 8-10 times holding their neck still and translated to the L as they try to abduct their R arm higher with each successive repetition.