Neck Roll
oec:neck-roll
A gentle cervical mobility exercise performing controlled circles through the neck's full comfortable range of motion.
Generated by gemini-3.8-flash from the sources below. No person has checked this record. Don't rely on it for safety.
Also called: Neck Circle, Clockwise neck circles, Head Roll, Head Circle, Counterclockwise neck circles
How to do it
Setup
- Sit tall in a chair or cross-legged on the floor with your shoulders relaxed and down away from your ears.
- Gently drop your chin toward your chest without forcing the stretch.
Movement
- Slowly roll your right ear toward your right shoulder.
- Continue the smooth circle by gently tipping your head back to look toward the ceiling, avoiding aggressive backward compression.
- Trace the circle over to the left side, bringing your left ear toward your left shoulder.
- Complete the revolution by returning your chin to the starting position at your chest.
- Repeat for the desired repetitions, then reverse direction.
Breathing
Breathe smoothly and continuously, exhaling as the chin rolls forward and inhaling as the head tilts backward.
Cues
- Slow and controlled
- Keep shoulders down
- Draw a smooth circle with the crown of your head
Common faults
- Shrugging the shoulders up toward the ears
- Actively depress and relax the shoulder blades throughout the movement.
- Moving too quickly or using momentum
- Slow the motion down to maintain full muscular control and avoid joint irritation.
- Forcing aggressive hyperextension of the neck
- Keep the backward roll gentle and elongated rather than hinging sharply backward.
Safety
- Stop immediately if you experience sharp pain, dizziness, or tingling down your arms.
Muscles
Joints
- Cervical spine: Circumduction, Flexion, Extension, Lateral flexion, Rotation
Details
- Movement
- Neck isolation, Mobility drill
- Modality
- Mobility, Flexibility
- Mechanics
- isolation
- Force
- not applicable
- Laterality
- bilateral
- Kinetic chain
- open
- Level
- beginner
- Equipment
- None
- Record
- Repetitions; or Duration
- Load
- none
Related
- progression of Neck Half Circle
- substitute for Neck Controlled Articular Rotation
- variation of Neck Controlled Articular Rotation
Sources
- wger: Clockwise neck circles (CC-BY-SA-4.0)
- wger: Counterclockwise neck circles (CC-BY-SA-4.0)
This record: CC-BY-SA-4.0.