Who has ever finished a brilliant night wearing your best frock and best hair, and ended up with neck pain and headaches? If you’re raising your hand right now you will know that the old saying of “beauty is pain” rings true…but it doesn’t have to! 

When it comes to glam, bigger is always better. This means bigger hair, bigger fascinators and bigger head dresses. However, for your neck, bigger things resting on top of it can lead to tired muscles, less than optimal postures, and headaches.

Your neck muscles respond to load in the same way that all of your other muscles respond. For instance, if you lift a heavy weight, you will be exercising your arm muscles. They are likely to feel sore if you are not used to this task, or if you have changed the way you lift them. Or if you lift the weight for too long, you may end up in pain as the muscles will not be adapted to this movement or load.

Think about this: normally your neck and shoulders can support the weight of your head for a day. However, if the weight sitting on top of your shoulders increases because you now have a wig, or a hat or headpiece (or both), your neck and shoulder muscles may not be strong enough to cope with this. If you then want to make a statement and wear an asymmetrical hairstyle, or a headpiece out of Priscilla that extends sideways past the width of your shoulders, then you’ll be increasing the load on this area even more! Girl, that’s exhausting!

Thankfully, there are some things you can do to help. 

Strengthening your neck and shoulders will mean that you will last longer looking astonishing. Stretching your upper back will help give you the best possible posture. Be aware of your posture when you are all dolled up – not only does this make you look even better and allow you to exude your confidence, but it will reduce the work on your neck, shoulders and upper back. 

If you are not sure how to do these things, see your physio as they will have plenty of recommendations for you.

Remember: Titties out, long neck, and look and feel fabulous!