Question
Hello,

I am 23 years old and about 3 months ago i started to get pain in my neck and shoulders, after the MRI and x-ray it was found that i suffer with the straightening of the cervical spine and posterior bulge in C5 - C6.

At the moment the pain has reduced and i would like to start working out at the gym, the major dilemma i am facing is which exercises are safe for me and which are not( for example: i read this article which stated that with my condition running or jogging on the treadmill could be dangerous to the disc).

I have absolutely no idea what to do now, i want to know exactly what equipments i can use at the gym? Really confused!

Your help will be highly appreciated!

Thank You.

Answer
Hello Mo,

Interesting question.  That fact that you are no longer experiencing pain is great, since now you'll be able to judge whatever you do from there, as opposed to trying to figure it out while you are currently in pain.

I personally would not worry too much about running. Unless you have really bad form where you're jarring your neck with each step I would think running wouldn't be too big an issue. I have a lot of clients who cycle where the prolonged position on a bicycle can be an issue, but I can even show you how to fix that if you're an avid cyclist.

If you don't mind I'd like to empower you a little bit around how you deal with your neck issue, so even if you do something that causes chronic pain again you'll be able to fix yourself.  I explain all of what I say below in great detail on the homepage of my website here:
http://www.do-it-yourself-joint-pain-relief.com/
It really is just uncommon "common sense" once it's explained to you, but here's a little summary.
 
Once you understand that "bones only go where muscles pull or hold them," and that you can free tight muscle tissue that may be causing your discomfort, you can be a lot more empowered around what workouts you choose to do.

If you take a moment and think of all the muscles that attach to your neck vertebrae like the rigging (ropes) on a big old fashioned sailboat, you can see how if certain muscles get too tight they will pull your vertebrae out of position and often cause pain as the nerves are affected as well.

If you release that inappropriately tight rigging (muscles) and allow the bones and nerves to not be "yanked on" inappropriately, then not only can your pain go away, but your bulging disc may stop bulging when the muscles around the vertebrae aren't inappropriately squeezing the vertebrae together.

Bones are merely chunks of calcium that only go where muscles pull or hold them. Think about it, bones can't move on their own.  

So, I might stay away from lifting that is going to directly access your upper back and neck, since you may be more fragile there than the rest of your body, and lifting will tend to tighten those muscles.

BUT the good news is that you might just be able to do a bit a maintenance on yourself after you work out and mostly do whatever you want.  All the videos on my website are free, so I would recommend you visit my Neck Pain Relief page:   
http://www.do-it-yourself-joint-pain-relief.com/neck-pain-relief.html
and make sure all the tight tissue that could negatively affect your neck is free.  
Then I would visit my Upper Back Pain page:
http://www.do-it-yourself-joint-pain-relief.com/upper-back-pain-relief.html
and make sure any tight tissue there is free.
Those two pages should get you in a pretty good place to start working out again without much trouble.  Especially if all you want to do is run.

Also, you may want to click on the Site Map page and scroll down to the Neck Pain section where all my pages for neck pain are listed.
http://www.do-it-yourself-joint-pain-relief.com/joint-pain-relief-site-map.html

You can do it. Just follow along with the videos.  
And then you'll be one of but a few people who knows how fix themselves whenever they need too.

I do hope this helps.

Best,
Gary Crowley