If you’re here looking for relief from the tech neck, or forward head position associated with using personal devices, we have good and bad news. The good news is that you have come to the right place; The bad news is that you’re probably contributing to it now.
Technical neck results from routinely tilting your head in front of your body’s center of gravity. The price we pay for using smartphones, tablets and laptops is often one that leaves us chronically staring downward, which can cause pain and restricted mobility over time.
Instinct requires giving your neck a gentle, soothing stretch for comfort. And according to Patrick SuarezOCS, SCS, a physical therapist based in Albany, New York, the instinct would be wrong. This is because stretching in this case only exacerbates the problem.
When you bend your body to text a friend or hail an Uber, “what’s actually happening is you’re stretching the muscles in the back of your neck that connect to your shoulder and upper back,” Suarez says. “So, what we need to do is actually tighten it back up.”
This means you need to strengthen rather than stretch. Suarez has identified four “neck-stretching exercises” in particular that will help promote strength and proper alignment.
Tech Neck: It’s not just about smartphones
Forward head position is not limited to personal device use. If you drive a car regularly, you may experience the same slouch, sag and immobility as a result of the car’s ergonomics.
“One of my biggest cues for people is that when you’re in the car, get your butt fully into the seat, your shoulders back, and the back of your head on the headrest, and then move the mirrors to that position,” he says. “Instead of adjusting your mirrors backwards, adjust your position backwards.”
You are not expected to be able to sit this way indefinitely, but mindfulness and mindfulness combined with exercises to counter the daily forces arrayed against our best posture can help train healthy alignment.
“It’s unrealistic for me to ask you, who may have bad posture, to stand upright and keep your head back all day, right? You’ll get tired in about 30 seconds,” Suarez says. “That’s good. We just need to work on it. Small increments. We work on it, we work on it, we get better.”
4 neck stretching exercises and stretches for smartphone users
The more you give into the default smartphone position, the more you stretch your neck muscles, making them longer. The longer it grows, the weaker it becomes. And if you don’t work on them regularly to hold your head in the right position, you’ll start to feel pain around the base of your neck and shoulders.
The solution is a series of upper back exercises that focus on making sure your ears are positioned directly over your shoulders, and strengthening the muscles between your shoulder blades and the levator scapulae, which connect your shoulder blades to your neck. Also attracting attention is your trapezius muscle, which also connects your neck and shoulder.
1. Wall Angels
This exercise can be more difficult than it sounds, which helps with better posture and movement through the chest and shoulders to combat neck pain.
- Stand tall with your back against a wall. Your lower back, shoulders and the back of your head should be in contact.
- Keeping your core engaged and your back flat against the wall, extend your arms out to your sides so that your elbows are level with your shoulders and bent at a 90-degree angle, and your forearms are against the wall.
- Maintaining the form shown above, slowly move your hands above your head as far as they can go comfortably.
- Slowly move your hands back to the starting position.
2. Rotation of the thoracic spine wall
Another upper back mobility exercise, this involves the kind of rotational movement that most of us lack in our daily lives.
- Assume a half-kneeling position next to a wall, with your right thigh touching, your right knee bent 90 degrees in front of you and your left leg on the floor behind you.
- Place your fingertips behind your ears, keeping your right hip against the wall, and rotate your torso to your left until your elbows touch the wall (or as close as you can comfortably reach).
- Pause, then reverse the movement, rotating your torso to the right until your elbows touch the wall.
- Relax slowly to return to the starting position. Switch sides, performing an equal number of movements on both.
3. Grade differences
Pull-ups help improve scapula posture, which in turn improves shoulder posture. By strengthening the muscles in the upper back, you help pull yourself into a better position.
One-arm row
- Hold the exercise bar at a fixed point about chest height.
- Stand facing the anchor point with your feet overlapping, your right foot in front, and your knees slightly bent. Then hold the bar in your left hand with your left arm extended, and step back until you feel tension on the bar.
- Keeping your chest high and core engaged, pull the bar straight back, squeezing your back and lats (not your traps!) at the end of the movement.
- Hold for 1 to 2 seconds and then slowly return to the starting position. Perform an equal number of repetitions on both sides, changing the direction of your feet.
High to low row
- Hold the exercise bar at a fixed point above your head.
- Face the anchor point from a half-kneeling position 2 to 3 feet away. Your right knee should be bent in front of you at 90 degrees, with your left leg on the floor behind you.
- Hold the bar in your left hand with your left arm extended above your shoulders. There should be light tension on the band.
- Keeping your chest high and core engaged, pull the bar down toward your ribs, squeezing your back muscles while keeping your shoulders down.
- Hold for 1 to 2 seconds and then slowly return to the starting position. Perform an equal number of repetitions on both sides, changing the direction of your legs.
See the row from highest to lowest
4. Vulnerable to I, T and Y
These exercises target the muscles between, above and below the shoulder blade to help improve upper back extension and promote better overall head posture.
- Lie faceup with your stomach on a stability ball, your legs extended behind you, and your toes on the floor. Let your arms hang straight. Option: Grab a light weight in each hand.
- Engage your core and squeeze your glutes to create a straight line from your head to your heels, then raise your arms diagonally from your shoulders — forming a “Y” with your body — squeezing your shoulder blades together at the top of the movement.
- Slowly lower your arms to the floor, then raise them again, this time lifting them out to the sides, again pressing your shoulder blades together at the top of the movement.
- With control, lower your arms to the floor, then extend them behind you, again pressing into your shoulder blades rather than your lats or other back muscles.
- Slowly lower your arms to the floor to return to the starting position.
You can perform these movements separately or combined as a group.
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