This is how you prepare your cervical spine for the training, as part of the mobilisation in the warm-up programme – before you go out onto the pitch!

Stand upright with your legs about hip-wide. Let your arms hang and close both hands to your fist.
Tense all muscles in the body to avoid compensatory and evasive movements, except for the neck and cervical muscles.
Lower your head forward and start the circular movement from the right side. Perform this movement (without pain) slowly and to the maximum.
Change direction after each round.

Make sure that your head moves in a circle as much as possible.

The joint fluid and the cartilage layer act as a shock absorber in every joint and reduce the frictional forces that arise. The more synovial fluid and the thicker the cartilage layer, the better the joint is protected against injuries and the longer it remains optimally efficient. In order to achieve this, it is important to regularly activate blood circulation and synovial fluid.

My recommendation: mobilize each joint at least once a day by circular movements.