https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zGL8G0ZRHM0
Seeing 3 consecutive similar injuries in one week reminded me to blog about this and record a short instructional video. (Thanks to Louis for joining the effort.)
Planking is a great strength, stability and endurance exercise for both the shoulder girdle and the core. However it's also a demanding exercise with little margin for error without running the risk of injury. It does require excellent form, and since it's working multiple body areas at the same time, is more subject to fatigue. This particular video discusses the impact on the neck and shoulder from our plank gone wrong. When the shoulder girdle and torso muscles start to fatigue, the load is shifted to the anterior cervical spine especially. Your trunk and shoulder muscles are engineered and designed to be able to hold your body weight under certain circumstances during activities that humans engage in on a routine basis, but cervical muscles are not. They are primarily designed to hold the weight of your neck and head.
The collapse of the torso into the shoulder is associated with anterior cervical injuries, often affecting the anterior clavicle, and the brachial plexus. They can result in not only local neck and upper back pain but also headaches, anterior pain referring to the head and arm pain and weakness.
If you have not been practicing planking for a while, I strongly recommend you gradually work your way up to it: you can consider doing a countertop plank, then a partial plank from the knees up and onto elbows, before slowly working your way up to a full plank on your arms.
