Top 3 Best Exercises for Relieving Neck Pain

I know how frustrating it can be to feel like you’ve done all the stretches for your neck and nothing has helped. Or to feel like yoga or a massage helps in the moment, but the pain returns after and sometimes it’s worse than it was before. It’s easy to get discouraged and feel down on yourself when your neck keeps going out, feeling tight, and limiting you from living comfortably in your body.

Here’s my question. Do you know where the pain is coming from?

Is it coming from: 

• repetitive stress movements

• a recent injury

• a long lasting injury that wasn’t rehabbed or didn’t heal properly

• caring for a new baby or multiple children

• sleeping wrong

• working a labor intensive job

• poor posture

• forward head syndrome

• a pulled muscle

• a bulging or herniated disc

• a pinched nerve (which may cause numbness, tingling or weakness in the arms)

• everyday stress

• a combination of some or all of the above

If you have had a recent injury or you are experiencing numbness, tingling, weakness in your arms, or more severe symptoms it is important to find a physical therapist or trusted chiropractor who can diagnose what’s happening in your neck. A lot of the exercises that I will share in this post are given to patients in physical therapy and under chiropractic care as treatment to relieve neck pain, but I am not here to diagnose what’s happening in your neck. Be weary of personal trainers, yoga instructors, and massage therapists who diagnose your pain without proper testing and medical assistance. I am here to offer suggestions and to give you tools to strengthen, stretch, mobilize, and relax your neck muscles. 

Let’s get into it. 

Did you know that functional strength training can reduce neck and low back pain? It’s no surprise that modern technology and sitting for long periods of time leads to neck and low back tension. Or that one wrong move can create neck or back pain that stops you from being able to do basic movements. This is because certain muscles are weak, tight, and being overworked. The common go to when you feel pain is to try and stretch it out, get a massage, or a Chiropractic adjustment. All of these modalities are helpful, but without strength training the issue won’t be resolved. 

This is easy to say and harder to put into practice. I know how difficult it can be to practice a simple neck strengthening exercises and have your neck flare up with pain. It’s discouraging. That’s why I am giving you my top 3 best exercises for relieving neck pain. 

Exercise #1: Press your head down into the floor, up against a wall, or into the head rest when you’re in your car and stopped at a red light.

At first press your head back for just a couple of seconds and then release it. Do this 5 times. After a couple of days, if your neck feels okay, add a five second hold. Keep your tongue and jaw relaxed. This exercise will help strengthen and stabilize the small muscles in your neck, the ones that hold your head up. It will also help if you are suffering from forward head posture, which is when your head juts forward. I see people suffering from this more and more due to poor posture and from having to be in front of computer screens or looking down at smart phones or new babies. 

Exercise #2: Lay flat on your stomach and bring your arms down to your sides. Use your inhale to lift your head, shoulders, and arms into back extension. 

You can practice this with your palms turned in toward the body or with the palms turned down. Either way work on opening across the chest and lengthening all sides of the neck, especially the back of the neck. The best way to practice this at first is to lift on your inhale and lower on your exhale. This pose will strengthen the muscles along the back of the neck and the back. It will help you sit up taller and keep your head centered over your spine. If you get pain in the lower back, I suggest trying it with a large exercise ball under your belly. Be careful to find your balance before lifting into back extension. 

Exercise #3: Roll up a long towel and rest with it under your neck to support neck extension. 

This is one of my favorite ways to stretch out and relax my neck. It doesn’t take much, but it feels incredible. It’s important to encourage the natural curve in the neck and this is one of the easiest ways to do that. Take a towel and fold it in half long ways, roll it up, and place it under your neck. Lay with your neck over the towel and support the natural curve in the neck. I suggest practicing this for 1-5 minutes. If it feels too uncomfortable you can lessen the width of the towel roll and slowly increase it over time. There are many ways to increase extension in your neck, but it’s important to start with exercises that don’t over stress your muscles. Hopefully this will be one of your go to postures. 

If you enjoy these poses and would like more guidance I have a 6 week Manage & Relieve Head & Neck Pain Program that gives you access to 6 weeks of video content to Manage & Relieve Head & Neck Pain. When you sign up you get access to all 6 weeks.

You also get access to join me live for a monthly Q&A followed by a 30 minute Functional Movement class that focuses on strengthening your whole body with a focus on alleviating head & neck pain. If you’d like to know more about Functional Movement you can click here to read about it. 

Self-compassion is simply giving the same kindness to ourselves that we would give to others.

– Christopher Germer