H1 limiting headstand?

[Robert Siegel]

Using H1, is there any way to progress safely to handstand without headstand, or at least with much more brief headstand holds?  I am concerned about pressure from body weight on the cervical spine.

[Joshua Slocum]

Do you have a spinal injury or some other condition that make the position potentially dangerous?

[Marcos Mocine-McQueen]

Joshua's question is spot on. If you have some sort of underlying injury/pathology you're going to need to do some research and probably involve a physician, preferably an ortho who has experience with sports medicine. This is probably not something to trust to your family doc.

 

If, on the other hand, it's simply a matter of discomfort and not injury, you'll need to learn to welcome the discomfort. You'll just have to take it slowly until you build up the strength and comfort.

 

Please post the answer to Joshua's question and any specifics you're comfortable with and you'll get better answers.

[Adam Bodestyne]

Indeed; assuming you don't have some other condition, the time spent slowly and gradually building up the headstand would be worth it for the sake of conditioning yourself to handle these loads. Perhaps check with posting a video or something whether your form might be putting more pressure than is necessary on your neck.

[Robert Siegel]

Thanks for the replies.  No specific neck injuries, just age-related degenerative changes (I'm 58).  I would like to minimize headstand, just wondering how critical it is in the progression.

[Karri Kytömaa]

Neck musculature is very important for various things, I don't see why you'd neglect pretty much the only thing training it. If there is much discomfort, you may approach it gradually having your feet on some object. (Or just loading stuff over your head but that has more problems)

[Christian Nogueira]

Without going into too much detail, there's a prehab for headstand.

[Joshua Slocum]

The headstand exercises are important, both for building strength and for getting your body used to being upside-down. It's also important to have a strong cervical spine as a safety consideration: if you fall or collapse out of a handstand, and your neck is weak, you're in danger of hurting it. 

[Alessandro Mainente]

i shared my personal headstand development with a guy with a PM, if can be helpful for you i can search for it and post it...for some people attend headstand is more stressfull, some preparation before is needed. nothing extreme..i've learned it from my friend in the circus school in Italy...

[Piotr Ochocki]

Post it Alex, I would be interested. I have some neck problems as well in headstand and could really do with some good supplementary work and I'm pretty sure more people would be interested as well.

[Blairbob]

 I used to start headstand with the lil munchkins simply by this:

 

 Assume a downward dog position, bend arms and place head on ground.  Get used to this. You could even elevate where you are placing your head on the ground by using something and that might be a lighter load on your head/neck.

 

 Please keep in mind that those that are older generally have a harder time with balance while inverted as well. Cole knows about this.

[Alessandro Mainente]

that is the message.

the first following part constitute my general warm up before neck exercises.

 

-the mobility you can do are bending forward and bending backward (remember to open your chest during backward bending and depress the shoulders during forward bending)

-another exercises i do is the side bending trying to depress the opposite shoulder

-side rotation trying to move the head near the shoulder of your rotating direction then hold that position

 

the following exercises are more demanding so before warm up with the previous 3 (i'll include something more thatn the original message)

-of the first exercise you can use a soft loop bend and do 1-2 sets of higher repetition of 2 head lift variations:

1- from a standing position slow down your head until your chin is touching the chest, then without lift the head move the chin up (against resistance)until the neck is completely arched . from that position do the neck extension. the opposite version needs to roll the chin up so that the neck is bending and after move it down against resistance.

2-second exercise is very similar to the jefferson curl. the concept is the same. after a great compression over the head you can use it as a recovery pose. from a standing position move the chin to your chest. now instead of lift the head try to unfold the neck little by little. then reverse the movement.

i use these exercise in the warm up for 1 set. and 1-2 more sets at the end of the training. the head balance with no legs is a little bit different pose from the headstand of H1 so these exercises works well for head balance but i can't find reason to not do them..

 

the following exercises can be done as a progression from the easier to the most difficult as an introductory element of the head balance under the stress of the body weight..

 

-stay on the floor on your knee then put down your arm as you have to go in head stand hand stay on the floor with the front part of the head (yes the front not the medial)

from here extend your leg putting some weight on the head and now do a small movement bending forward, backward, sideward..and at the end try some little circle clockwise and counterclock wise (10 circles)

-progressively you can try to to increase the weight with 2 options, move the hips over the head and instead of put the palms down at 90°, extend your arms using only the dorso of the hands to balance the body

-after the warm up i did at the beginning some reverse leg lift without using the hands, these are forcing you to stay over the head part that i've suggested to use. depending on your weight the reverse motion can be partial. so first you can raise your ass over and behind the head, then try to lift the feet from the floor

-do the rll with one leg, then  in straddle, then in pike

-the next step is try to balance only on your head on different position:

for example if you stay with the legs straddled the center of gravity is over you so you have to stay straight, on the other side if the legs are pike in the front you are working over the back part of the neck. as a last, if you try to balance opening your chest you move the stress over the front part of the neck!

-the exercises i cited are useful if paired with both head position in headstand, my preference is stay on medial part. as the legs are lifted up the sensation of move the weight far from the hands support is very good. and your are doing it safely. if you lose the balance simply you can roll over your upper back.

 

at the end of training you can do the mobility exercises i cited at the beginning as a stretch exercises paired with PNF to increase flexibility a rom...

 

the head balance is a long process, in the breakdance world they say to you "spin on your head " then you fall you fall you fall, and you got injuries. fortunately i had the possibility to met a circus team coach who gives me a long time work to save my neck and my head...

 

i hope it helps!

[Piotr Ochocki]

Thanks Alex.

[Keilani Gutierrez]

In the case of someone who has never worked these type of loaded positions on the neck or ever worked on their neck per se, Kit Laughlin has an excellent book (aside from stretching and flexibility which he does go into neck movements) called Overcoming Neck and Back pain

[Cole Dano]

Blair's suggestion is a good one.

 

I know it's hard to believe, and it is quite rare, but there have been serious neck injuries in yoga classes when people are thrown into headstand with no preparation.

 

At 58, and assuming no prior neck work plus know degenerative changes, the OP is correct in expressing concern.

 

Learning to balance, weak neck and poor mobility can lead to a potential disaster.

 

Alex has some good suggestions, but I fear that some may not be accessible due to mobility issues.

 

A couple of possible pre-steps

 

1) Chair headstand - won't strengthen neck but allows one to work on balance and figure out the arm support.

 

 

2) Supported headstand on ottoman. 

 

Kneeling on an ottoman (or big pile of blankets, couch etc),  bring your hands to the floor and then place head on the floor. Use arms and knees to take as much of the weight as needed.

 

Make sure you have enough strength in reserve to press back out without needing to twist or roll the neck.

[FREDERIC DUPONT]

Thanks Cole for stepping in, there is certainly a difference brought about by aging that "kiddies" (under 45 ) cannot even start to comprehend - and this is normal, their understanding will come soon enough.

[Keilani Gutierrez]

Thanks Cole for stepping in, there is certainly a difference brought about by aging that "kiddies" (under 45 ) cannot even start to comprehend - and this is normal, their understanding will come soon enough.

do you spiritually fall under this category? because as far as im concerned you're very much young at heart (I want to be young at heart at your age, for sure.)

[FREDERIC DUPONT]

do you spiritually fall under this category? because as far as im concerned you're very much young at heart (I want to be young at heart at your age, for sure.)

 

Thank you

No matter how much we try to delude ourselves, & the fierce fights of our minds and spirits , the "use by date" of our physical envelopes inexorably closes on us... There is a time for everything.

[Keilani Gutierrez]

Thank you

No matter how much we try to delude ourselves, & the fierce fights of our minds and spirits , the "use by date" of our physical envelopes inexorably closes on us... There is a time for everything.

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