Belayer’s Neck – Stop the Pain Now!

Belayer’s neck is something that every climber dreads. Rock climbing neck pain often is the result of long days of looking straight up at your climbing partner.

Many of you are sitting at home right now with a pack of ice on your neck and 3 doses of ibuprofen deep wondering if the pain will ever stop.

What if you could stop all the pain right now by just wearing a set of Belay Glasses?

Yup, it’s really that easy.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that looking straight up for 20-30 mins at a time isn’t natural, nor good for your skeletal system. Your body doesn’t constantly want to look in that direction.

Luckily for us, humans are really good at coming up with simple solutions to these problems. 

Belay glasses are designed to keep your neck and spine in a neutral position while never losing sight of your climbing partner. This is particularly useful on longer climbs and slight overhangs. 

Before we talk too much about belay glasses and our version, Crush Vision, let’s go over the symptoms that are involved with belayer’s neck pain.

Belayer’s Neck Symptoms

The pain from belayer’s neck is caused by an imbalance in the muscles of the neck. 

While belaying and constantly looking upwards the muscles in the back of the neck become stronger and stiffer, while the muscles in the front of your neck become longer and weaker.  This imbalance causes pain in the back of the neck.

Inflammation is also a leading cause of neck pain related to climbing. The constant straining of the neck to look up at your climbing partner causes your vertebrate to rub and jam against one another. Before too long this induces swelling which quickly leads to that dull, aching pain we all know too well.

Some common symptoms related to rock climbing neck pain and belayer’s neck are:

• Stiffness of the neck
• Pain and tenderness in the back of the neck
• Soreness when tilting the head upwards
• Difficulty turning the neck side to side

These symptoms are made worse by the muscle imbalances that climbing does to the body. Poor posture is something that climbers have struggled with since the beginning. Since you often only pull down while climbing, your shoulders tend to become hunched over after years of climbing. This makes your neck have to stretch even further when giving your partner a catch.

So what can we do to fix it?

How to Fix Belayer’s Neck Pain

First order of business once you feel the pain from belayer’s neck coming on is to RICE. This will help to reduce inflammation and make your recovery the quickest.

RICE Therapy Method:

• REST – Take a break from belaying and any other activity that causes pain to your neck
• ICE – Use an ice pack on your neck to help reduce swelling. Use a towel between your skin and the ice pack. Only apply for 20 minute intervals (every 4 hours).
• COMPRESSION – While you would typically compression wrap most body parts after injury, obviously tightly wrapping your neck would not be ideal. Instead just lay down on the ground or the couch with the ice pack on your neck. This should apply a decent amount of pressure.
• ELEVATE – While not as important for neck injuries as it would be for leg injuries, try to avoid laying in a declined position for long periods of time. 

Once the initial swelling and pain a subsided you will want to start with some basic strengthening and massaging techniques. 

1. Use an elastic band to exercise your neck muscles. Here is an article explaining the exercise in detail: neck exercise.
2. Get a therapeutic massager, such as the Theracane, and use it to massage the knots and spasms out of your neck.
   
3. Try rolling out your sore neck on some Lacrosse Balls. These are a good travel-friendly option for neck pain therapy.

Once your neck is back into good shape your number 1 concern should be keeping it that way.

It is too often that we always just fix problems and never try to prevent them before they happen

Crush Vision Belay Glasses

So this whole time we have been talking about the causes and recovery that is related to belayer’s neck. This injury can take weeks or even months to go away.

Why not just stop belayer’s neck in its tracks?

The Crush Vision belay glasses are the perfect solution to pain from belaying.

Think about it, you never have to look up!

Crush Vision directs your vision straight up at a 90 degree angle without having to crane your neck at all. 

The Crush Vision Belay Glasses are not some $19.99 disposable set of plastic junk. These glasses use the best materials and the highest quality control levels.

Crush Vision Glasses feature:

• Lightweight and durable metal frames
• Crystal clear and scratch resistant glass prisms
• Included lanyard and shock-resistant case prevents losing or damaging glasses
• Fixes neck pain for rock climbing and constant belaying (duhh!!)

Did we mention what Crush Vision is also great for just chilling around the crag and watching your buddies climb. Yes, you don’t need to be belaying to wear these glasses. 

Imagine being able to sit back and relax only a few feet from the wall and watch your friends clip the anchors. 

Sure, this is about the time to open a new tab and head over to Amazon to look for a cheap pair of belay glasses.

Good luck with that!

If they last you a whole 3 climbing trips then your one of the firsts. It’s ok though, you can just come back and get a pair of Crush Vision Belay Glasses in the mean time. 

For the wiser folks out there that order Crush Vision from the get go we promise they will work as described. If you ever have any issues please don’t hesitate to Contact Us. We will make things right.

Now what are you waiting for? Get out there and CRUSH!!!