How to Use Your Denroll
Looking at your neck from the side, there should be a curve in it. That curve acts like a spring to support the weight of your head. Not all heads weigh the same (read into that as you may). When that curve straightens, the head carries forward. For every one inch that the head carries forward, the head increases in weight by 10 pounds.
This increase in weight abnormally strains the muscles of the neck, pulling the vertebrae out of position and ultimately irritating the closest nerve. This irritation gives rise to symptoms like headaches, head and face pain, shoulder pain, arm pain, hand pain, rotator cuff problems, as well as problems with your autonomic nervous system: anything from allergies to high blood pressure to heart arrhythmias.
Recreating the curve in your neck is possible; it only takes time. Start with weight-bearing X-rays of your neck for a baseline (anything taken within the last 6 months is sufficient) and schedule follow-up X-rays for 6 months later. Using the denroll, like so many other lifestyle aspects, is a habit: good habits, good results. Looking at the curve from the side, the C5 vertebra should be the furthest point forward.
Steps
- Lay on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
- With your index finger, locate the large bump on the back of your head.
- Let your finger slide downward until it touches the large bump at the base of your neck. That bump is your C7 vertebra or the vertebral prominence.
- With your finger still on C7, slide your middle and ring fingers under your neck as well.
- Where your ring finger is positioned on your neck is where the peak of your denroll should be placed.
- When removing the packaging from the denroll, be sure to keep the enclosed paper for future reference.
- There is a long and a short side to the denroll as seen in the picture. The short side of the slanted surface is where your head should lie and the longer side supports your neck.
- Your goal is to work up to lying on the block for 20 minutes per day until your new set of films are taken.
Start off the first week at 5 minutes at a time for at least 4 times a day.
The following week, lie on the roll for 10 minutes at a time at least twice a day.
Week 3, lie on the roll for 15 minutes at a time at least twice a day.
And week 4, for 20 minutes just once a day. - If you suffer with headaches, tuck your chin while lying on your denroll. Hold each tuck for 30 seconds. You should feel the muscles at the base of your skull stretch.
Make sure you follow up with the posture exercises (aka upper body dysfunction) the doctor has prescribed for you. Your neck curve straightens as a result of your shoulders rounding.
For additional help, consider a posture corrector. Where a posture brace may help you in the short term, your muscles will inevitably become dependent on the brace and weaken. A posture corrector will prompt you when your posture fails, reminding you to stand up again and helping to reinforce and strengthen the proper postural muscles.