Neck Pain or Tight Neck? Try Our Simple Neck Side Stretch

Do you have a tight neck from sitting at your desk all day? Or maybe a slip and fall on the ice and snow? Whiplash? Here is a quick neck side stretch you can do anywhere to help alleviate tightness in the neck and upper fibres of trapezius muscle.

Hi, this is Dana Ranahan from Body Works Sports Physiotherapy and I’m here today to give you a quick stretch you can do for your neck at work. Oftentimes people get tightness in through this region of the shoulder and neck. Some people call it the shoulder, but it’s actually a muscle called the epitrapezios that runs along this area, along with some other muscles along the side of the neck.

The stretch is a simple one you can do to help lengthen that out a little bit.

The Stretch

  • Think about keeping your neck nice and long first off.
  • Tuck your chin in and then do a little bit of a tip to the side.
  • Now what you want to be careful of is that you don’t allow the shoulder to come along with you. That the shoulder stays down.
  • Sometimes people will hang onto the side of their chair to keep their shoulder down as they stretch the neck.
  • Think about the axis kind of going through your nose as you tilt.
  • Then you can bring your hand on top of the head, just giving a little bit of pressure as you lengthen the neck, not trying to force too hard to the side.
  • Hold this stretch for 20 to 30 seconds, take a break and then switch sides.

If you do this at work it will help to release all that tension from working at the computer, hopefully helping you feel better at the end of the day.

For more information or if you have any questions check out our website at www.body-works.ca.