hi
the last time i was thinking about the importance of the neck in the body.
there are several guys who identified the neck as one of the major causes of health problemes, i think, especially in europe.
therapies like atlasprofilax (and thats only one of many, like atlas therapy after arlen, ... ) developed in europe which claim to adjust the atlas to the right position for the rest of your life. (i dont believe it, but who knows....)
hey there were also guys in usa who seem to be really familiar with chiropractic, but especially about this topic about the neck i found nothing as profound as kuklinski in germany.
kuklinski is a guy who claim that a lot of chronical diseases are caused by a traumatic event to the cervical spine. doesent matter what kind of accident somebody had (like falling from a horse, a batch to the head; every accident goes to the weakest part of the body, the neck) the effect is an instability of the neck, which leads to problemes you never would identifiy with the neck. (attention: i only tell you theories of kuklinski!)
the process he's explaining is really profound, i can't tell it all around (here are 2 german sources:
http://www.amazon.de/Schwachstelle-Genick-...4578&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.de/Das-HWS-Trauma-Ursach...578&sr=8-2)
the main theory is, that an instability of the neck, maybe caused by a simple accident, creates many symptomes you never assumed that they are realeted to the neck. his therapy suggestions are mainly strenghening of the neck, correction of the spine (like dorn therapy, osteopathy, and stuff like that) and vitamine therapy (mitochondrial medicine) (a main part of his therapy is, that he claims, that neck instability causes the production of NO (nitric oxide) (...which is treatable with a program of supplements, where he have a rigorously plan.)
one of his main discoveries is, that vitamin b12 stop the production of NO, which is mainly caused by neck instability as he claims).
the plan of him is that you start one week with vit. b12, then one week minerals (trace elements and electrolytes like k, mg, zn, se, fe), then vitamines (b group, e, c, d, k), then omega 3 acids, then coenzym q10..... (the important part he claims is, that you take the vitamins in that order, because some of the vitamines need others to absorb themselves.)
whatever, i think stabilisation of the neck can also play an important role in taoist meditation or meditation at all. approximately the neck is one of parts of the body taoists speaking about the 3 gates. (mco and that stuff)
if you take supplements or not (kuklinskis's theory is really profound), doesnt matter, but stabilitstation of the neck may make a difference in your meditation practise, especially when you stay long time before a computer.... (also when you don't meditate :-)
i tried it out and it felt like opening up the nervous system. it seemed to be the missing part of the energetic integrity (maybe i discovered my weakness....), but since i did the exercises i'll present (btw...also exercises like the contraction of the pelvic floor, which creates an upward flow of chi through the spine got more naturally and freely), it seemed to open up my energetic system fully. so the neck seem to be a part of the body lot of people seem to have problemes with, so its worthwhile to look at it.
a really good start point you can make, is, to start stabilising your neck (also when you're doing neck mobility exerises like scott sonnon's ---- neck mobility is only possible with neck stability and strenght!!! and by the way, i find scott sonnons exercises maybe a little bit stressy for the neck, but thats only my opinion : http://www.chiropraktik.ch/Deutsch/Gym/GefHalswUeb.cfm
this website shows exercises which are maybe contraproductive to your neck)
good exercises to stabilise the neck are the following:
http://www.kiessecker.org/index.php/Nacken%C3%BCbungen
http://www.dorn-method.com/index_files/Sel...lfeUebungen.htm
http://images.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http...ficial%26sa%3DN
but there are lots of isometric (and others) exercises to find in the www.....another really important one is retraction (thats the movement when you make a double chin and go to the back...hold it for 5-10 secounds and then release......)
when you do that kind of exercises (mind my words: the neck is maybe the most instabile part of the body!) you will annul the process of creating NO and other chemical by-products which are created by an instabile neck.
another problem lots of people have is a contraction of the short muscles of the neck like showed here:
http://www.chiropraktik.ch/Deutsch/Themen/TdM_Apr98.cfm
in american websites a probleme which is also really often mentioned is the loss of the cervical curve, really interesting indeed.
lots of products are on the us-marked to remove a loss of cervical curve like that:
http://chiropracticmassagesuperstore.com/t...tion_device.htm
or cheap chinese products, which also relax the deep short neck muscles like:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...:EOIBSA:US:1123
or products like that:
http://www.posturepump.com/
http://www.neckandheadacherelief.com/conte...ache-relief.asp
like i said, maybe the neck is my main problematic part....but i dont seem to be an exeption....
there are even more products out there to maintain the cervical curve or strech the neck, but the most important part, in my opinion is, to stabilise the neck with exercises! (attention: loss of neck curve may also come from other parts of the spine....so muscular stabilisation of the abs and the back also can be benefitual (maybe pilates or something like that....) and contribute to the stabilistation of the neck....
i did good experiences with it, maybe you want to contribute something to that topic....
feel free to....
cheers
lao