Ever feel that the front of your neck may need stretching? Are you looking up at the ceiling a lot? Do you ever lean back in your chair and bring your head back to look up at the ceiling? Why not add front neck stretch exercises to your daily routine? Doing neck flexor stretch exercises will help to relieve neck tension and keep your head flexible. 

Not sure if you have the time to do stretch exercises in your day? I’m pretty sure you do the motions of bringing your head back, now just add a bit of pressure as part of neck exercises. So simple to do and no one knows you are actually doing a stretch. These stretch exercises can’t get any easier than this.

The front neck muscles that are used in these stretch exercises are the sternocleidomastoid (SCM) and scalene. These two front neck muscles help to bring your chin towards your chest. The neck muscles that help bring the head back are longissimus capitis, semispinalis capitis and splenius capitis. These are small neck muscles in the back and side of your head. 

These neck flexors or front neck muscle stretch exercises can be done sitting or standing. Some may feel these stretch exercises more when sitting. The reason being is that when looking up, you are not worried about losing your balance and falling backwards. I’ll describe these neck flexor stretch exercises in sitting. Let’s begin!

Sitting Position:

• Feet flat on the floor
• Sit up in the chair
• Rest your hands by your side
• Relax your shoulders
• Be sure to bring your chin back towards your shoulders
• Your eyes should be looking straight ahead

Neck Flexor Stretch Exercises:

• Breathe in
• Interlock your fingers together
• Tilt your head back and have your chin point towards the ceiling
• Place the palms of your hands on to your forehead
• Press your hands gently down onto your head 
• Breathe out
• Hold for 10 seconds
• Bring your head back to the starting position
• Repeat 3 times

Be sure to avoid raising your shoulders with this neck exercise.  You also want to have you mouth closed for these stretch exercises. If your mouth is open, you will lose the effect of the stretch. There should be no pain with any stretch exercises. If you begin to feel dizzy, don’t tilt your head back as much. The standing position will be described at a later time. 

Ever get neck stiffness or soreness after playing video games for long periods of time? Do you notice yourself leaning forward towards the television and looking up at the screen? Ever notice your shoulders are rounded while gripping the controller? Has it crossed your mind to have good sitting posture or do neck exercises while playing games? I will assume that the answers to these questions would be “No.”

After I put my 1 year old son to bed, I may play console games to relieve the day’s stress or to get rid of a headache. When I play video games, I’m either using the game chair or on the bean bag. I have found that using the gaming chair has improved my posture and eliminates the forward head and rounded shoulders position. I also do quick and simple neck exercises while games are loading.

In order to make sure that you or your kids have good posture, be sure that you are sitting back and leaning forward. When the knees are crossed, the elbows are usually on top of them while the head will be looking up at the screen. After hours of this position, your neck and other areas of your body probably will be stiff or sore from lack of movements. Just know that gaming chairs can provide a health benefit of sitting correctly and reduce neck tension or strain. Even if you don’t have a gaming chair, sitting up properly will help reduce any neck strain.

When waiting for any game to load, try to do the following simple neck exercises: chin tucks, shoulder rolls, shoulder shrugs, shoulder blade pinches, head range of motions and upper trapezius stretches. Other neck exercises you can do are head clocks, rotations, side bends and neck extensor stretch. Just think you can do a neck workout and help your neck to a better neck posture while playing games.

These are quick neck exercises and most you can do within a minute or two. It’s even better if you can do the chin tuck while playing the game. By brining your chin back towards the chair or the wall behind you, you can strengthen the front and stretch the back of your neck muscles. Combining any of the neck exercises will help keep neck tension from building when playing.

One tip is to don’t clench your teeth or let your shoulders rise towards your ears when playing. These motions will make your head and neck tensed. Now there’s no excuse for not having any time to do neck exercises when I’ve just mentioned how you can do them when playing. Have fun playing games and don’t forget to do neck exercises!

Today I was felt tight in the chest and not as strong in the mid back as I was working on the computer. So, I decided on my break from typing that I was going to work on my rhomboids and pectoralis muscles. I always liked to put my hands on top of my head and squeeze my shoulder blades together. This is today’s neck exercises. 

Scapular retractions are another shoulder blade pinches neck exercises. Opening up the chest area will help to improve the posture and breathe easily. These neck exercises will also reduce neck tension, loosen up the front muscles and strengthen the mid back muscles. Overall, these neck exercises should reduce stress in the upper neck and shoulder areas.

Today’s neck exercises is great to do for a break while sitting in front of the computer, desk or even at a stop light. You can also perform these neck exercises standing, lying down or even on those big swiss balls. When these exercises for neck are combined with stretch exercises like the upper trapezius, they become a great neck workout for the day. Let’s begin while you are sitting in front of the computer. 

Sitting Position:

• Feet flat on the floor
• Sit up tall
• Have your arms by your side
• Relax your shoulders
• Bring your chin back towards your shoulders like a chin tuck
• Eyes looking straight ahead and above the computer screen

Hands on Head Scapular Retraction Neck Exercises:

• Start by clasping your hands together
• Raise your hands and place your palms behind the top of your head
• Your elbows will be pointing at the opposite wall
• Press your head against your hands
• Breathe in
• Bring your elbows backwards
• Squeeze your shoulder blades together
• Hold this position for 10 seconds
• Breathe out
• Repeat 10 times
• Repeat this 3-4 times a day

There should be no pain or discomfort with these neck exercises. You should feel a stretch when opening up your chest with your elbows. You should feel the mid back muscles working when squeezing your shoulder blades together. You should also feel your neck muscles working and strengthening with the chin tuck.

Be sure that you continue to breathe throughout these neck exercises. You want to make sure that your shoulders are relaxed and not raised up. Make sure that you are not clenching your teeth while doing these neck exercises. Avoid pressing too hard with your hands up against your head. The point is to match the resistance of your head not to overpower your neck muscles. There will be similar neck exercises described at a later time with this position.

Do you ever wake up feeling tension in your neck and pressure in your head? Do you have a tension headache? Do you feel your head pulsating at the top with your headache? Try these few simple head and neck exercises to get relief for your headache. I have a few massage techniques that will help relieve the headaches.

Tension headaches can be debilitating and can interrupt any work flow or concentration. Tension headaches can come from various stress factors, dehydration and tight head and neck muscles. Neck exercises in general are good to bring blood flow back to your head also loosen up the neck muscles.

When the top of your head hurts and pulsates, pull on your head on top. Grab some hair and squeeze your hand. This should pull your hair away from the scalp. Just hold on for a few seconds. Don’t pull so hard that your hair comes out. Repeat this 10-15 times. Do as many as you want through the time your head is hurting. This will mess up your hair.

Some neck exercises with your jaw to relieve tension are to open your mouth as wide as you can and then close gently. The purpose mainly is to take tension off the sides of your jaw and head. The mastoid muscles can get tight and refer to your head and cause a headache. Open and close 10 times and repeat once an hour.

Other neck exercises to do are the chin tucks. Bring your chin backwards, like closing a drawer. Be sure to avoid clenching your teeth. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat 10 times. This will strengthen the back of your neck and you may feel a stretch at the base of your neck. 

A massage technique to help with tension headaches is to place your index and middle fingers on your temples. These are on the sides of your head near your eyes and above your cheek bones.  Take your fingers press in and back towards your ears. Return back to the start and then press in and go towards the top of your head. Start again at the temples, then press in and then up and back towards of head. Do this 10 times. 

After these neck exercises and massage techniques will help reduce your tension headache. If you are at the computer, be sure that your eyes are not straining and look away from the screen every hour. Be sure to drink plenty of water or fluids throughout the day. You can also put ice on the back of your neck to help reduce the neck tension. Other neck exercises and tension relieving techniques will be described at a later time.