To Rehabilitate You Must Target The Area That Was Injured                                                                                                                                                  

Whiplash can occur in automobiles, athletics, falling, etc.  I don’t think anyone will argue that you can hurt yourself in many many ways.  In contact sports whiplash is commonplace.

Once whiplash occurs the process in returning to activity is what counts.  Once a muscle atrophies due to injury and disuse we cannot assume it will heal and return to normal strength.

Recently a study looked at healthy individuals versus victims of various whiplash-associated disorders.  The criterion was that the previously injured person was at least 6 months post injury and still experienced discomfort.  The scientist used functional magnetic resonance imaging.  They studied the muscular activity patterns of various tasks in three distinct muscles.  Two of the deep flexor muscles of the head, the longus colli and longus capitis and they studied the powerful flexor of the cervical spine the sternocleidomastoid.

Progressively overloading the musculature that flexes the head has never been addressed in our fitness culture until recently.  This movement is called cranio-cervical flexion.  What researchers found was that the injured people in their study displayed less muscle activity in the deep flexor muscles of the cervical spine during different tasks. This was occurring more than a half year post trauma and subjects still experienced associated pains with their disorder.

To progressively overload the deep flexors, the Pendulum 4 or 5 Way neck machines through its innovative cam will target this area.  Once the cam is adjusted an individual simply begins training the head flexors.  Cranio-cervical flexion isolates the longus colli and longus capitis and rectus capitis anterior.

The sternocleidomastoid, a superficial cervical flexor muscle can be trained utilizing a basic 4 Way Neck Machine exercise.  But the sternocleidomastoid is not a prime mover of the cranio-cervical spine and is more suited for assisting in flexing the lower cervical spine.  It has been found that previously injured patients will use a strategy to use the sternocleidomastoid to move the neck post injury.

To return to normal strength and normal function in this head region, once cleared to exercise by a professional, train all the associated musculature as effectively as possible. The Pendulum Neck Machine Series are the only neck machines that target the muscles that move the head ,as well as, the cervical spine.  Train the head and train the neck muscles to Get Strong.