#1 Exercise for Neck Pain

For many, neck pain is an unfortunate side effect of modern life.

Whether it’s from years of poor posture, stress or too many hours hunched over your smartphone, neck pain can sneak up on you and make everyday activities feel more difficult.

About 15 percent of U.S. adults have recently had neck pain at any given time, according to federal health survey data from 2017, and as many as 70 percent of Americans will experience neck pain that interferes with their daily activities at some point during their lifetimes.

Most neck discomfort these days is caused by degenerative neck disease from poor posture, says Rojeh Melikian, M.D., an orthopedic spine surgeon at DISC Sports & Spine Center in Newport Beach, California.

“It’s tech neck, where people are staring at computers and phones,” Melikian says. “That forward posture tends to wear down the discs.”

An adult head weighs about 10 to 12 pounds in a neutral position, says Ken Hansraj, M.D., a spinal and orthopedic surgeon in New York and author of Watch Your Back: Nine Proven Strategies to Reduce Neck and Back Pain without Surgery.

But when your head tilts forward, it exerts as much as 60 pounds of pressure on your neck and spine, causing strain, stiffness and degeneration, according to a research study by Hansraj published in Surgical Technology International.

To keep your neck joints supple, Hansraj recommends frequently bending and tilting your head in all directions.  But the real key to unlocking the strain on your neck lies in your upper back and shoulders, he says. 

That’s why, if you have time to do only one exercise for your neck, Hansraj and Melikian both recommend the wall angel. This multidimensional exercise opens your chest and lengthens the muscles in the neck, shoulders and core, Hansraj says. Done regularly, it strengthens back muscles, promotes proper spine alignment and can help release compressed vertebral joints in your neck — all of which can help relieve neck strain. (If you have more time, also try 5 Exercises and Stretches for Neck Pain.)

This stretch is like making snow angels in the winter. It is a deep, dynamic stretch for the spine. It strengthens muscles that hold the shoulders back and helps maintain a full range of motion. Wall angels can reduce rounded shoulders by stretching the mus­cles in the front of the body. By working the upper and mid-spine, the vertebral joints in the neck may decompress, which relieves pain and tension and reduces jutting head.