What is Tech Neck?
Do you have bad posture? Are you working hunched up over a laptop all day long? Are you on your phone starting to develop a forward head or a "tech neck" position? Are you worried that if you don't fix this posture that you'll end up with hyper kyphosis, like a Quasimodo hunchback, in a couple of years? If so, this post is for you. Hey, my name is Lucas.
I'm a yoga teacher, a teacher trainer. For the past 20 years students come to me very often concerned about their posture. They're worried that they're having degradation of their spinal posture and most importantly, like I just mentioned, they're worried if they don't correct it they'll end up looking like their grandmother or their grandfather, who they can remember being hunched up later on in their life. Here's one of the challenges with
tech neck. Most of us are moving badly throughout the day and we're not doing exercises to balance it out. If you're like most of my students, you've gone online and you've found lots of great videos for stretches and strengthening poses, gym workouts, and different routines you can do, but you haven't followed through. If so, I can relate. There's only so many hours in the day and we need something that's simple and effective.
That's why I've made this video. Here's what we'll cover. Number one, the anatomy of tech neck. What exactly is going on. Number two, we'll talk about ways to remove the stress, primarily by fixing your workstation. Number three, we'll take a look at a six-minute routine of corrective exercises that you can do at home, you can do it at your desk, you don't need a gym membership or a personal trainer. As usual, if you'd like to skip forward to the poses there's a PDF guide right down below, you can grab that. Let's get started by looking at the anatomy of tech neck. Here's what happens. Your head.
Anatomy of Tech Neck:
(1) is like a bowling ball, let's say it weighs five kilograms, 11 to 12 pounds balancing on top of your shoulders. That's all fine, but when that bowling ball falls forward and you do that for a week, for a month, maybe you're carrying a child, maybe you're working with your hands, a month, a year, a year, five years, five years to a decade, your body adapts to the stress. The stress of that bowling ball falling forward. What does that mean to adapt to the stress? It means the muscles along the anterior side of your neck they shorten and tighten, and the muscles along the back side they loosen and lengthen. What we're talking about specifically are muscles like your platysma muscles, muscles like your anterior scalene muscles, muscles like your deep cervical flexor muscles. They get short and tight. So here I am with my bowling ball forward, the muscles on the
(2) back such as your suboccipital muscles, your skull to your cervical spine, muscles like your upper traps and your erector spinae muscles, they'll get long and loose. Long and loose, short and tight, here I go. Little by little my posture gets worse and worse and it becomes kind of a vicious cycle. What can you do? Well on a very simple level we need to lengthen the muscles here and strengthen the muscles back here.
(3) But none of that really matters if you don't fix the underlying stressors that cause the imbalance in the first place. Before we move into some practical solutions, please remember that this imbalance is almost always a functional imbalance not a structural imbalance. What that means is even if you're walking around like this all day long and you feel like your posture has gone to hell in a handbag, please remember that your bones are probably just fine. The imbalance is muscular and these tight and these loose muscles on the back they can be changed. They're highly malleable. Within a couple of weeks, a couple of months, you can very often correct a forward head posture. One of the most important things we need to take a look at is.
How to Fix Your Workstation:
(1) your workstation. You've probably seen all kinds of mechanical standing desks that go up and down in complicated devices that cost thousands of dollars. You don't need any of that, but there are some simple steps you can make to optimize your workstation that can make a big difference. Let's take a look. There are lots of options for standing desks, but this is a simple, cheap, and relatively good looking desk that I made myself. I went to the hardware store, I ordered a big board
(2) and I ordered a couple of sawhorses, and for about 120 dollars I've got a really great standing desk. In terms of the height, right about at navel level is what I found works best for me. Now if you're intimidated by a standing desk, don't be. Just because it's a standing desk doesn't mean you have to stand all day. What do I mean by that? Well you can get a high chair like this, which means throughout the day I can mix up my posture, I can stand, I can spend some time sitting in the chair,
(3) and very often I do a combination of both. I might stand with one leg, or one bum on the chair. As the saying goes, your best posture is usually your next posture. We're not meant to be in a forward head position all day, but we're also not meant to be like Tin Man or soldiers all day. We're meant to be moving dynamically. That's the way to promote optimal spinal health. So
(4) I've got my standing desk. I've got some sort of standing chair that I can use to alternate my posture. This is usually where people leave things and this is a problem because most people I know are working on a laptop. So if you take a standing desk, you put a laptop on the desk, immediately what happens is you go right back to that forward head, hunched back position straight away. So there's a couple of other additions that you need to make.
(5) They're also simple, they're not expensive. Let me show you what to do. The first thing you need is some type of full-size keyboard, because you want your hands to be relaxed, your shoulders to be down, as opposed to hunched up over your laptop. Again, not expensive, but can make a huge, huge difference. I actually like to elevate my keyboard on blocks. This allows me to work more freely with my wrists and, again, improves my position. Yoga blocks you can use for other things, just as a side note. The next thing, which almost nobody does, is to have a separate mouse. Why? Because if I'm doing mouse gestures like this, little by little, over days, weeks, months, my posture is going to get closed off on the anterior side of my chest and my body here.
- And with this mouse it, again, allows me, with a full-size keyboard, with my separate mouse, it allows me to work a lot more freely and a lot more naturally. When it comes to the laptop itself, let me show you what I've got here. I've got a very, very simple, slant stand. You can buy these online and this is going to allow me to use my laptop more like an external monitor, more like an old school monitor. Because once it's on the blocks.
- and on top of this stand, now you can see that my screen is right at eye level. So when I have my keyboard, my mouse, and my screen, now I can stand like a normal functional human, as opposed to being hunched over all day long. Now none of these things are free, of course, it takes a little bit of investment. But as you can see very quickly you can put together a highly ergonomic, functional workstation, and this might make the biggest difference in correcting your forward head position. But let's now take a look at some simple things you can do throughout your day, even if you're stuck at a standard seated desk, to reverse that forward head, tech neck position.
Corrective Exercises:
Let's take a look at some corrective exercises for forward head, tech neck position. These are designed to lengthen the muscles on the front side of your neck, strengthen the muscles on the back side of your neck, and most importantly, you don't need a gym membership, you don't need a personal trainer, but you do need a chair, a timer, you can just use your phone, and some type of exercise band. If you don't have an exercise band, I'd encourage you to order one
online, or order a pack of three or five. They're very inexpensive, they cost a couple of bucks. If you're new to resistance bands usually their strength is measured in pounds. Start off with a five pound resistance band, and again, if you get a pack they'll usually go up to 15 pounds. But here's the thing, stick that band in a drawer in your desk, or leave it on top of your desk like I have here, and don't move it. The purpose of these exercises is so that you can slip them into your day, six minutes every single day, no excuses. Let's get it done. The first pose we'll.
Arrow Pose:
- do is called arrow pose. Here's what you do. Sit on the edge of your chair, so away from the back. We'll do a two minute timer here, so let me start this. I'll interlace my hands behind my back, if possible straighten your arms. If it's comfortable, allow your head to drop back, close your eyes and breathe here. Now if your elbows are bent, that's fine. If your hands are a little bit apart, that's fine. If you need to move back towards the back of your chair or move away from the back of your chair, also fine. If you're feeling any pinching sensations in your neck, you could lengthen, lengthen, lengthen, to the place where you feel comfortable. But if you can,
- let's reverse that tech neck position by allowing your head to drop back, to notch back between your scapula, your shoulder blades. Why two minutes? Most stretching exercises that people teach are too short, 20-30 seconds, it's just not enough to move past your nervous system resistance, especially for hard opening poses like this. Your body's stretch reflex is really strong and so it takes a couple of minutes before you can actually start to affect change.
- This six-minute stretch and strength, routine, again, is designed to be slipped into your day. You can do the poses back-to-back like I'll show you here, or you could even break them up and do two minutes, three times throughout your day. Whatever you need to get it done. Head comes up first, release your arms and shake it out. Next pose we'll do is called a seated.
Seated Cliffhanger Pose:
cliffhanger pose. This is specifically working on our shoulder flexion, opening up our pecs, our lats, our teres major muscles. Very often we get closed up from working on a phone or a laptop. For this one I need you to scoot your chair backwards, step your feet really wide apart, so much, much wider than your chair. I'll start my timer again for two minutes. Spread your fingers, place them on the edge of a table, imagine you're hanging on the edge of a cliff here. Spread your fingers, drop your head so your ears and your arms are in one line, close your eyes, and breathe here. Again, we're working on stretching our lats, our teres major, and our pecs, to open up our shoulder joint, so that instead of being in this forward shoulder hunch position, we're able to flex our shoulders and have more of a relaxed neutral spine. In these
stretching poses we teach a specific breathing pattern called breathe to relax. You probably heard me do it a moment ago. This is where you inhale through your nose to the count of four. Then you open your mouth with a "ha" sound to the count of eight. Inhale to the count of four. Exhale with a "ha" sound for eight. You'll be tempted to do these stretches intuitively, meaning without a timer.
Don't do it. The two minute time is really crucial in order to actually affect change in your soft tissues. Remember that this tech neck forward head position is usually a functional problem, meaning it's soft tissues, it's your muscles, which means you can correct that. But it needs to happen through deliberate structured practice, like we're doing here. And slowly make your way all the way back up and you can shake out your arms. We did two stretches,
Banded Rows:
(1) we'll now do one strengthening pose. The way to pull our shoulders back, the way to help our head, our bowling ball, balance over our shoulders, we also need to develop some strength along the back side. You don't need to lift heavy, you don't need to put on a bunch of muscle mass, but you certainly need to do some rowing activities. And for that we'll use this five pound exercise band. I'll put the band around my feet. Now I'm barefooted, but you could certainly do this with shoes.
(2) Step your feet about as wide as your hips, grab onto either side of the band. Here's what I'll do now. I'll elevate my shoulders up and back, row, and now I'll lower down slowly, five, four, three, two, one. Good. Now this time your shoulders stay down. Squeeze your shoulder blades together, puff your chest and release, five, four, three, two, one. This time shoulder is elevated, so shoulders shrug up and we release, five, four, three, two,
(3) one. Now this time squeeze your shoulder blades, called retraction hold, and now release, five, four, three, two, one. That's four. We'll do ten in total. Shrug your shoulders up and release, five, four, three, two, one. Shoulders stay down, squeeze your shoulder blades back, five, four, three, two, one. Keep your elbows in, elevate, shrug your shoulders, and we'll lower down, five, four, three, two, one.
(4) This time shoulders down and back, squeeze, retract your shoulder blades, five, four, three, two, one. Good. Shrug your shoulders up, lower down slowly, five, four, three, two, one. Shoulders down, so they're depressed, and we squeeze, retract your shoulder blades, five, four, three, two, one. Good. Release that band and you are done. That's six minutes, no excuses, no equipment, no gym, no gym clothes.
- You can do this right at your desk, your standing desk, even if you're on the couch, just stop and get this done. These little changes compound over time. In the same way your posture got worse, your posture can get better in just a matter of weeks or months. I hope that you found this video helpful. Remember that tech neck, this forward head position, it's usually functional, not structural. It's usually something you can reverse, but commit to fixing your posture throughout the day with an improved workstation,
- commit to that simple six-minute routine and very quickly, hopefully, you can get some results. If you have any questions or suggestions please just drop a note in the comments down below. If you'd like more science-based yoga videos, please hit subscribe. And if you'd like to grab the PDF of the poses that we just covered, you'll find those down below in the description as well. Thanks so much for joining me.
Fix Tech Neck Exercises:
| Exercise Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Chin Tucks | Sit or stand tall, keeping your shoulders relaxed. Gently retract your chin, bringing it back without tilting your head up or down. Hold for a few seconds, then release. Repeat 10-15 times. This helps strengthen neck muscles and correct forward head posture. |
| Shoulder Blade Squeeze | Sit or stand with your arms at your sides. Squeeze your shoulder blades together as if you're trying to hold a pencil between them. Hold for 5-10 seconds, then relax. Repeat 10-15 times. This exercise helps strengthen upper back muscles, promoting better posture. |
| Neck Stretches | Sit or stand tall. Tilt your head to one side, bringing your ear towards your shoulder until you feel a gentle stretch on the opposite side of your neck. Hold for 20-30 seconds. Repeat on the other side. Additionally, gently nod your head forward and backward to stretch different neck muscles. Perform 2-3 repetitions. These stretches help release tension and improve flexibility in the neck muscles. |
FAQS:
Q1: What is forward head posture or "tech neck"?
A1: Forward head posture, also known as "tech neck," is a commonplace condition caused by extended intervals of leaning ahead, often because of prolonged use of electronic devices. It effects within the head sticking out ahead from the natural alignment of the backbone.
Q2: How does forward head posture affect the body?
A2: Forward head posture can cause diverse troubles consisting of neck and shoulder pain, headaches, decreased variety of motion, muscle imbalances, and stress on the backbone. Over time, it could contribute to spinal misalignment and continual pain.
Q3: What are 3 sporting events to assist opposite ahead head posture?
A3: Chin Tucks: Sit or stand with a immediately spine. Gently tuck your chin inwards, as though growing a double chin, hold for some seconds, then release. Repeat this movement several instances to strengthen the neck muscle groups.
Neck Retraction: While seated, align your head with your shoulders. Slowly retract your head straight lower back without tilting or looking up. Hold in short and go back to the starting position. Repeat this workout to enhance neck alignment.
Shoulder Blade Squeeze: Sit or stand upright. Squeeze your shoulder blades collectively at the same time as keeping your shoulders down. Hold for a few seconds and then launch. This workout enables to counteract the rounding of shoulders often associated with forward head posture.
Q4: How frequently should one carry out those sporting activities to alleviate ahead head posture?
A4: Aim to carry out these physical activities for ahead head posture at least 2-3 instances a day. Start with a few repetitions of every exercise and gradually boom as tolerated. Consistency is prime for seeing improvements.
- Take breaks: Regularly take breaks from extended periods of sitting and screen use. Stretching and shifting can assist relieve anxiety.
- Posture awareness: Be aware of your posture at some point of the day. Practice sitting and status with a immediately backbone, shoulders relaxed, and the top aligned with the frame.
- These sporting events, at the side of ergonomic modifications and postural attention, can make contributions significantly to enhancing ahead head posture and decreasing related pain. Always consult a healthcare professional earlier than starting any new workout recurring, specially if you have present health situations.