Anterior Neck Stretch

How to do it

Setup

1. Sit upright on a stable chair or stand tall with feet hip-width apart.
2. Relax your shoulders down and back, maintaining a neutral spine.

Movement

1. Slightly part your lips or open your mouth to reduce tension before moving.
2. Slowly tilt your head backward, looking up toward the ceiling until you feel a gentle stretch across the front of your neck.
3. Gently close your mouth, bringing your lower jaw toward the upper teeth to deepen the stretch along the anterior neck muscles.
4. Hold the position comfortably for the designated duration while breathing smoothly.
5. Carefully return your head to the neutral starting position.

Breathing

Breathe slowly and deeply through your nose throughout the hold; avoid holding your breath.

Cues

• Lengthen through the throat rather than jamming the back of the neck
• Keep your shoulders depressed and relaxed
• Close the jaw gently to intensify the stretch

Common faults

Compressing or pinching the cervical spine by aggressively dropping the head back.

Focus on lifting the chin upward and elongating the neck rather than purely hinging backward.

Shrugging the shoulders upward toward the ears.

Keep your shoulder blades pulled gently downward away from your ears.

Safety

• Stop immediately if you experience dizziness, tingling, or sharp pinching pain in the neck.

Muscles

• Sternocleidomastoid stretched
• Deep neck flexors stretched

Joints

• Cervical spine: Extension

Details

Movement

Stretch

Modality

Flexibility, Mobility

Mechanics

isolation

Force

static

Laterality

bilateral

Kinetic chain

open

Level

beginner

Equipment

None

Record

Duration

Load

none, not applicable

Sources

• wger: Front neck stretch (CC-BY-SA-4.0)

This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.

Data

anterior-neck-stretch.json