Reduce your Neck Pain and Eliminate Tech Neck with this 1 Simple Thing

Migraines • Neck Pain • Yoga Therapy
July 19, 2022

You’ve been sitting at your desk for 3 hours straight. Your neck starts to hurt so you tilt your head to one side, then the other. You give the muscles of your neck a squeeze only for a moment of relief, then BAM! That achy pain comes back.

Turns out muscle tightness is not the only reason why your neck might be sore. It might actually need to be strengthened, and these Chin Tucks are the perfect simple solution to solve the problem.

It’s my personal favorite way to strengthen the neck for better posture. Chin tucks are easy and effortless to do, and you’ve guessed it, they can reduce neck pain, headaches, and migraines.

The cool part is this exercise can be done sitting in your favorite chair or while lying down in bed. Follow along with the video below, then read the description. Don’t forget to check out the “why” it works and “how” to use this as a multifaceted approach to better posture, neck health, and headache/migraine reduction.

What to Do: Chin Tucks
Why it Works
How to use Chin Tucks for Pain/Headaches/Migraine Reduction

What to Do: Chin Tucks

Instructions

Start lying, seated, or standing with the back of your head against the floor, chair, or wall
Exhale – tuck (draw in) the chin slightly thinking about reaching the crown if the head away from the tailbone, lengthening the spine
Inhale – release back to your starting position
Repeat

Bonus

When “tucking” the chin think about pressing the back of the head into the ground

Things to Notice

The movement is slight and it should NOT feel like you’re tucking your chin to duck through a low-hanging door, it’s more of a slight drawing in.
When doing the bonus (pressing the head into the floor) this shouldn’t be extreme
There should be no pain when doing this exercise but you might feel a small stretch
Make sure you’re not arching your back
Keep your shoulders moving away from your ears making sure not to round your shoulders forward

I recommend doing at least one round of 10 at the beginning, or end of your day. If you have time, you can do a few rounds scattered throughout your day.

My Favorite Places to do Chin Tucks

Before I get out of bed – I move my pillow out of my way and do 10.
In my car – Driving down the road. Sitting at a red light. While being a passenger.
On my yoga mat – towards the end of my personal practice I do a few before moving into bridge pose or supine twists.
Before I fall asleep – I move that pillow out of the way, do 10, grab my pillow, and tuck in.

Why it Works

If you have the occasional (or the regular) tech neck/text neck/forward head, the muscles on both the front and back sides of your neck become longer (aka stretched out). This exercise helps to strengthen, and shorten, the muscles back to their optimal length. Since you did this exercise with something behind your head you were practicing moving your spine back into its ideal posture. You were also getting proprioceptive feedback (where you think you are in space) on what this alignment should feel like. As they say, “practice makes perfect.” Follow along with the video and give it another try.

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How to use it for Neck Pain or Headache/Migraine Relief

In many of my past blog posts centered around yoga therapy practices I’ve talked about how each practice is a piece of a multifaceted approach to neck health and headache/migraine prevention.

A Simple Solution for Reducing Neck Pain, Headaches, and Migraines

Stress Reduction – yoga nidra or mindful breathing
Neck Mobility – mindful neck stretching
Neck Strength – chin tucks

This simple solution above is just one approach. In this post about strengthening your back muscles, and this one (or this one) about stretching the chest muscles, I talk about how weak back muscles and tight chest muscles inhibit our ability to stand tall and move properly. These muscles in the chest and back can literally affect our ability to hold our heads up high. If you have the time, here’s another solution.

Complete Solution for Reducing Neck Pain, Headaches, and Migraines

Stress Reduction – yoga nidra or mindful breathing
Chest Stretches – wall clocks or door cactus
Back Strength – the Marlysa
Neck Mobility – mindful neck stretching
Neck Strength – chin tucks

I would recommend doing either of these solutions above in the order listed, but doing them in any order is better than not doing them at all. If you’re on a mission do all of these activities daily. If you’re tight on time, do one or two individual activities per day (make sure you cycle through all of them), or all of them in one sitting a few times per week.

So, how do you feel now? More confident? Taller? Or like the brothers from Night at the Roxbury? (Hopefully it’s not that last one 😆) If you want to move through these practices together and with guidance I’ve created a new playlist on youtube where you can flow through them all. There are still more practices to come. Subscribe to my YouTube channel and sign up for my newsletter, and you’ll be the first to know about the latest ways to live your best life.