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  1. Look up torticollis; literally Latin for "wry neck". This extremely painful condition can be caused by a draught from a window while sleeping! And torticollis is 100% the domain of levator scapulae. This condition has been talked about for centuries. To future proof yourself against these sorts of things, we need to strengthen these muscles, and also make sure that we're not holding excessive tension in the neck area – what most people don't understand is the tension anywhere in the neck is going to cause the muscles which are the tightest – and in everyone that's levator scapulae – to either go into spasm or start signalling pain. This is how the body works in this universe. And don't worry about overdeveloping the neck muscles or anything like that – most people have never done any specific strengthening work for levator scapuale, and as a result they respond very quickly. But increasing the strength of these muscles will not make your neck look like Mike Tyson's or anything like that. As well, and at the same time (and after the strengthening work as a perfect time to do this), we do need to take the head and neck through that full range of movement I described above. In other words, as far forward as possible, and while holding the head forward, cautiously take it to the side as far as possible. That puts levator scapulae under direct stretch. General contractions can then be done (across and back to the starting position) – and don't forget the contractions themselves are strengthening.
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