@windyshores My Pt is doing hands on manual therapy and feeling if the spinal processes are aligned as well as feeling the muscles themselves as well as looking at head position and alignment . She will do myofascial release and manual stretches on the muscles that are shorter. She also assesses full body alignment looking for placement of shoulder blades and if shoulders and hips are not level. The fascia pulls through the entire body and when she sees the patterns of tightness, she applies a shearing tension with her hands and holds it waiting for the tissue to release. I have one side of my neck that is tighter because of thoracic outlet syndrome and there have been times that my jaw is off or my head isn't sitting right on top of the spine. There is a lot that feeds into that with tightness across the front of the chest. She will also check my head rotation range and there are times it is locked up on one side, and with stretching the muscles with her hands, she gets it moving better.

I have also been able to figure out how to lock my shoulder blade and turn may head away from that side to stretch the muscles that connect the cervical vertebrae with the shoulder blade. Using a heat wrap on my neck helps too. My issues were much worse before my spine surgery. I've learned enough to sense when a spasm starts to shift my neck and stretch before it goes too far. I also have some things I can lay on to cradle my head and be a massage point on the back of my head. I also use a wooden body back roller to lay on that will mobilize the thoracic spine with a deep massage of muscles next to the spine. That always feels good when my back moves better.

FYI, the issues with having your head back at the beauty parlor can cause a stroke because of the alteration in blood supply with the neck craned backward. If there are also any instability issues in the vertebrae, that can make it worse. It's good you shared your doctor's advice.

Vertigo is awful. there were a few times, I crawled up the stairs when standing and walking was difficult. If I could lay down and close my eyes, it was better. When this happened, it was usually C1 & C2 that were independently rotated, but I've also had the levels down to C4 & C5 get rotated. Straightening it all out stopped the symptoms.

Jennifer