How to Relieve and Prevent Tech-Neck Pain, According to Experts

I can’t remember a time when my neck and shoulders actually felt good. My family got our first computer when I was in middle school, and after a right-of-passage teenage debate with my parents, I got a cell phone in high school—which, by my calculations, means my posture has been a mess for about 25 years.

In my 20s, when I began spending the majority of my days bent over a laptop, myneck pain became unbearable. I’d regularly sneak away from my office job and scoot over to a nearby nail salon where I’d pay about a dollar a minute for a 10- to 15-minute neck and shoulder massage. It was life-changing, but in recent years I’ve kind of accepted that (1) I can’t spend money like that; and (2) much like eating, breathing, and sleeping, neck strain seems to just be a part of life.

If you can relate, there’s a good chance we’re both dealing with “tech neck,” a painful musculoskeletal issue that can develop due to the chronic stress people put on their necks by constantlylooking down at their devices with poor posture. Estimates suggestup to 40% of people suffer from some degree of neck pain caused by scrolling, texting, or typing. This pain can be sharp and throbbing or dull and achy. It can stay localized in the neck or even travel to your shoulders and shoot down your back (yay).

Your spine is made up of a delicate interplay of bones, soft tissue, and ligaments that can easily get out of whack—especially if you’re glued to your devices all day,Erich Anders, MDchief of neurosurgery at NYU Langone Hospital–Brooklyn, tells SELF. Your head weighs about 10 to 12 pounds, Dr. Anderer explains, and when you tilt it down (as you do while, say, texting), you put a lot of pressure on your neck. “When you have strain in the neck, or anything that throws the alignment out of balance, that can sometimes manifest itself as pain,” he says.

It may seem like neck strain is inevitable, depending on how hooked to your devices you may be (speaking for myself here)—but most people who struggle with tech neck can find relief with a few simple tricks, Dr. Anderer says. Here are four of them to try.

Reset your posture.

Most tech-neck advice focuses oncorrecting posture. While that’s for good reason (after all, tech neck is a complication that stems from hovering over devices), it’s not necessarily realistic to sit upright all day with your head poised directly above your spine. “Our lives are sort of set up for this bad ergonomic posture,” Dr. Anderer explains. There’s really no good position for your neck to be inall day if youwork at a desksay, or on a factory line.

This is all to say: Don’t beat yourself up if your posture is crappy most of the time. Many of us are in the same boat. But if you’re doing your thing and suddenly become aware that you’re hunched over like a gargoyle, it can be helpful to give yourself a reset. Shifting your posture throughout the day and breaking out of a static position can decrease any discomfort that’s building in your neck, a2021 study found.

Your neck and spine alignment is ideal when you’re sitting down in a slightly reclined position with your neck totally relaxed against a headrest, Dr. Anderer says. (Picture yourself lounging in a comfy La-Z-Boy chair). Another decent option is to boost yourself into an upright position so that your head and neck are directly above your shoulders and spine,Kathy Doubleday, DPT, OCSa physical therapist and clinical director of the online physiotherapy provider Physio Ed, tells SELF. If you sit most of the day, you can easily do this by putting a1.5- or 2-inch wedge cushion under the back of your butt or adjusting your desk chair, if you can, so it tilts forward a bit. “This rocks you forward and helps you to automatically sit taller,” which softens the stress on your neck, Dr. Doubleday says. (Just tried this and I already feel better.)

Take active breaks (as many as you can).

Because it’s unlikely we’re all going to suddenly live screen-free, one of the best ways to alleviate tech neck, according to Dr. Anderer, is to break out of that stagnant position you fall into while using your phone or laptop. Translation: Move your body! Getting out of your chair (and resisting the urge to look down at your phone while doing so) for anywhere from 20 seconds to five minutes at a time can reduce pain, discomfort, and fatigue in your neck, per the 2021 research above.

If you can squeeze a short walk in, even better. A 2020 study in theJournal of Occupational Health found that when people at risk for neck pain went onmore walks—even short 10-minute or 1,000-step strolls—they were way less likely to have neck and shoulder issues.

How frequent should these breaks be? There’s no magic research-backed number: “Honestly, it’s as frequent as you can take breaks for and for as long as you can take them,” Dr. Anderer says. In general, the more you can move around without your phone in hand, the better.

Give your neck a good stretch.

If you have a hard time getting away from a screen (you have a demanding desk job, for example), try practicing some light neck stretches throughout your day—this can get your blood moving and keep the joints and tissues in your neck healthy, Dr. Anderer explains. You want to do “light range of motion exercises,” he says. Neck rolls (tilt and roll your head in a circle) are a great option, as are light resistance exercises (like putting your hand against the back, front, or side of your head and pushing against your hand).

Another good move for neck strain that’s onDr. Doubleday’s list: the winged arm exercise, a.k.a. the open book (which she demonstrateshere). This opens up your chest and stretches the muscles that keep your shoulders and head together, she says. And for more options (with helpful visual aids), check out SELF’s roundup oftension-relieving tech neck exercises.

Research has shown that people who regularly stretch out their necks can feel big improvements in their pain. “If you’re able to do that at least once a day, that’ll actually be very preventative for developing tech neck,” Dr. Anderer says. You only need to set aside two minutes a day, at the very least, to feelsome improvement—and the longer (and more often) you stretch, the more relief you’ll get, he adds.

Strengthen your shoulders and neck.

Finally, it can be helpful to strengthen the muscles that support your head, shoulders, and neck so that when you are chained to your desk or can’t quitdoomscrollingyou won’t be in constant pain. Aside from shoulder-focused moveslike theseDr. Anderer also recommends total-body, core-building workouts likeyoga,Pilatesand swimming so the muscles surrounding your spine (which, yes, count as part of your core) can carry more of the force that usually falls predominantly on your neck.

In addition, when you strengthen the muscles directly along the back of the neck, they become less prone to strains and spasms, he says. This can even have a stabilizing effect on the other parts of the cervical spine, like the discs, joints, and support ligaments, which helps keep your upper back and body feeling loose and good. One of Dr. Doubleday’s go-to exercises for building neck strength:

• While standing, hold onto an exercise band or a yoga strap (or even a pair of leggings) in each hand behind your hips.
• Sit back like you’re sitting in a chair, and pull the band back and up so your arms are nearly perpendicular to the floor.
• Hold that position for five seconds and repeat 10 to 15 times.

You can also try this one, which is so easy you can do it from bed (so I’m in). Dr. Doubleday says this exercise strengthens the front of your neck, which plays a big role in stabilizing your head during the day:

• Lie down flat on your bed with your head on a (relatively flat) pillow.
• Tuck your chin down toward the front of your neck until you feel the muscles on the back of your neck stretch.
• Keeping your chin tucked, lift your head a couple inches off of your pillow, and stay in that position for 30 to 45 seconds. Then rest your head back down.
• Do that two to three times, either when you wake up or before you go to bed.

When it comes to tech neck,researchsuggests it’s just as important to increase muscle endurance, or the ability to carry force for a lengthy period of time, as it is to build strength. All of the above exercises can help train your neck muscles to deal with increased and prolonged force, so it’s less of a strain when you’re working on your devices for hours on end, says Dr. Doubleday.

Humans are designed to be active, but the reality is that many people wind up living at least a somewhat sedentary lifestyle—often in a slumped-over position. The good news is, tech neck rarely turns into something more problematic, says Dr. Anderer. Regardless, left untreated, it can become a major pain in the neck (sorry, had to!). It’s all too easy to let the day slip away hunched over like a hook (trust me, I know). So do yourself a favor—give some of these tips a shot and cut your neck some slack.

Related:

• 12 Stretches to Get Rid of Shoulder Tension
• How to Make a Migraine Game Plan If You Have a Demanding Job
• 8 Relaxing Exercises That Will Release Tension From Your Entire Body