Is neck exercises good for neck arthritis?

Question:
Anyone know of any exercises to strengthen the neck muscles?

Answer:
One of my migraine-related problems is my neck. It hurts all the time; but when I'm pre-migrainous, it hurts even more. In fact, that's one of my surefire symptoms that a migraine is coming on, along with irritability, clumsiness, trouble waking up in the morning, sensitivity to light/noise/scent even more than usual.... I've been getting massages on my neck lately, and they feel great while they're happening, but they don't seem to make any difference for the other 23.5 hours in the day. Anyone know of any exercises to strengthen the neck muscles? I wonder if this would help. I had neck-related pain for many years. Always worse upon wakening, woke me up in the middle of the night. I went to chiropractor, massage therapist and did exercises. Finally, I was in so much pain (with referred pain in the shoulder) I went to an orthopedic doctor who ordered an mri. I had a herniated disc in my neck and it was pressing on the nerve root and the spinal cord. The chiropractor had done xrays and told me that I had degenerate disc disease (arthritis) in my neck. The best way to see the discs is an MRI. I had surgery in Feb and I have been more pain free than I have ever been in my life. I no longer wake up in pain (I have some shoulder pain that I believe is from the muscles being so weak after tolerating that injury for so long) I don't have daily headaches like I did for longer then I can remember. I'm not saying that everyone that has neck pain has a herniated disk but I do wish that I had had it properly diagnosed and taken care of years ago. If I had known that I could be this pain-free! So if you haven't had an MRI, you might want to. I've got neck pain and a herniated disk. I just don't know where they put it after they sucked it out of my neck. hmmm...maybe I should cross-post this to the Sometimes I feel like Dracula thread :-) Massage is great for the moment and if given at the correct time, I find that I can stop a migraine developing from a muscle tension headache. However, the best thing you can do is go to a trainer for a few sessions or a physical therapist and get strenthening exercises for your upper back. You may feel pain in your neck but it could actually be originating around your shoulder blades with muscle spasm. the spasm squeezes the nerves and tugs on the smaller muscles in your scalp -- bingo, headache and eventually migrainne--at least for me. Once you get these exercises, do them religiously. they make a difference.