Belay Neck

Prior to living in the western slope of Colorado, I thought rock climbing was a myth created by advertisers to make me feel like I was not adventurous enough.  Turns out it’s no myth.  The rock climbers are real!  Turns out they’re in western North Carolina too!  What an amazing physical and mental challenge rock climbing affords to its participants. There are so many benefits to this activity: being outdoors, working together with others, activity and exercise.  If you’re belaying, the activity can take a toll on your neck though.  Any postural position held for long periods of time, particularly at end range, can cause pain,

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discomfort, even degeneration.  Belay neck is the opposite of “text neck”.  Looking at our phones keeps our neck flexed, while belaying can place the neck in extreme extension.  Why is this a problem? It can cause increased compression forces on the discs and joints in the neck as well as decreasing blood flow to local tissues including nerves.  This is what can lead to pain and degeneration.  Fortunately, there are some pretty nifty glasses designed to allow the belayer to see what’s above them while looking forward.  If I were a regular climber, I would think seriously about investing in these.
There are some other things that belayers and quite frankly all of us can do to help keep our necks healthy.  Even if you’re not frequently looking up to the sky as a climber ascends, almost all of us sit at a computer during the day and end up slumped in our thoracic spine and extended in our cervical spine.  One important goal is gaining and maintaining thoracic spine mobility, particularly in the mid and upper region of the back.  In an efficient state, spinal motion is translated throughout the spine.  When you look up, not only should your neck bend back, but your trunk should as well.  This allows for the movement to be shared among vertebrae and decrease load and compression at any one joint.  Unfortunately for most of us, our lifestyles have created a posture of somewhat rigid trunks.  Climbing techniques including compression climbing may contribute to this stiffness in the trunk as well.  Exercises designed to stretch the chest and extend the trunk, as well as neck exercises to strengthen the short neck flexors of the neck may assist in decreasing the load in the belayer’s neck when looking up.  A bit of prevention and maintenance can go a long way toward preventing neck pain!

For more info: click Here or on Glasses