{"id":30746,"date":"2025-06-30T09:00:42","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T09:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=30746"},"modified":"2025-06-30T09:23:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T09:23:11","slug":"7-exercises-to-relieve-tech-neck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=30746","title":{"rendered":"7 Exercises to Relieve \u2018Tech Neck\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For thousands of years, humans have hunched over to light fires, care for our children and harvest plants. But the modern version of this position \u2014 curving forward from focus or fatigue, then lifting our chins to stare at our screens \u2014 can lead to pain for many people.<\/p>\n

This neck and upper back discomfort is often called \u201ctech neck\u201d or \u201ctext neck.\u201d And experts say that it\u2019s not necessarily the position itself that is a problem, but the amount of time we spend in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe important thing about posture is it\u2019s not such a binary good and bad,\u201d said Claire Hsing, a physical therapist in Boulder, Colorado. Our bodies can be comfortable in many different positions, but few of them are ideal to hold for long periods of time, she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Brad Callan, an assistant professor of physical therapy at Pacific Northwest University School of Health Sciences, sometimes uses a simple exercise to illustrate that point: He asks his patients to stretch their thumb far away from their hand. Then he tells them to imagine holding it that way for eight hours. \u201cThat\u2019s what you\u2019re doing to your neck every day,\u201d he tells them.<\/p>\n

Tech neck hasn\u2019t been rigorously studied, but experts say there are changes you can make that will likely offer some relief from the discomfort. First, check that your work station allows you to sit with good posture, Dr. Callan said. You should be able to keep your pelvis neutral, meaning you\u2019re not arching or rounding your back, he said.<\/p>\n

Stretches that release tension in the muscles along the neck and the tops of the shoulders can help, too, Dr. Hsing said. It\u2019s also important to strengthen the muscles in your mid-back and along your spine, and improve your mobility in these areas.<\/p>\n

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For thousands of years, humans have hunched over to light fires, care for our children and harvest plants. But the modern version of this position \u2014 curving forward from focus or fatigue, then lifting our chins to stare at our screens \u2014 can lead to pain for many people.This neck and upper back discomfort is often called \u201ctech neck\u201d or \u201ctext neck.\u201d And experts say that it\u2019s not necessarily the position itself that is a problem, but the amount of time we spend in it.\u201cThe important thing about posture is it\u2019s not such a binary good and bad,\u201d said Claire Hsing, a physical therapist in Boulder, Colorado. Our bodies can be comfortable in many different positions, but few of them are ideal to hold for long periods of time, she said.Brad Callan, an assistant professor of physical therapy at Pacific Northwest University School of Health Sciences, sometimes uses a simple exercise to illustrate that point: He asks his patients to stretch their thumb far away from their hand. Then he tells them to imagine holding it that way for eight hours. \u201cThat\u2019s what you\u2019re doing to your neck every day,\u201d he tells them.Tech neck hasn\u2019t been rigorously studied, but experts say there are changes you can make that will likely offer some relief from the discomfort. First, check that your work station allows you to sit with good posture, Dr. Callan said. You should be able to keep your pelvis neutral, meaning you\u2019re not arching or rounding your back, he said.Stretches that release tension in the muscles along the neck and the tops of the shoulders can help, too, Dr. Hsing said. It\u2019s also important to strengthen the muscles in your mid-back and along your spine, and improve your mobility in these areas.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and\u00a0log into\u00a0your Times account, or\u00a0subscribe\u00a0for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?\u00a0Log in.Want all of The Times?\u00a0Subscribe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30748,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30746"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30749,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30746\/revisions\/30749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/30748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}