The Answer
Increase the strength and endurance of your longus capitis and longus colli muscles. These are your deep cervical flexion muscles.
The Exercise
Lay on your back with your head on the floor. Tuck your chin forward into the front of your neck. While holding your chin in that position, push your head backwards down into the floor.
The Burn
You should feel the muscles on the front sides of your neck working hard. You may also feel a stretch in the back & centre of your upper neck.
The Duration
Hold for 3 seconds.
The Repetitions
Repeat 12 times.
Do 3 sets of this exercise, with 1 minute of rest in between each set.
But… Why?
This exercise is especially important for people who stare at a screen (laptop, TV, phone or tablet) for long periods of time or who drive long distances regularly.
The Area
Doing this simple exercise everyday will improve the posture of your head by strengthening your deep neck muscles.
The Relief
This exercise will relieve pain in your neck and upper back, and may also help relieve headaches.
The Injuries
The injuries which would be helped by this stretch include:
The Relaxation
All of the exercises in this program are designed to facilitate stress relief, relaxation and meditation if desired. Take this you-time to allow yourself to unwind while taking long, slow deep breaths throughout the exercise.
The Program
This exercise is part of my daily thirty minute Flexibility & Posture program. Its a balanced, light program which I have designed on the back of successfully prescribing exercises for thousands of patients so far.
You will be able to access the full program here on November 25th 2019.
Sean Flynn Physiotherapy 