Neck · 10–13 seconds, repeated a few times
The chin tuck, done properly
The smallest neck movement there is, and the one most people do backwards.
A chin tuck is not nodding, and it is not pulling your chin down to your chest. It is a small backward glide of the head over the neck — the movement that switches on the deep muscles at the front of your neck, which quietly stop working when a head spends its day out in front of a screen.
How to do it
- 1
Sit or stand tall, looking straight ahead
Ears roughly over shoulders. You can do this against a wall if you want feedback on where your head actually is.
- 2
Glide your head straight backwards
Think of sliding your head back over your neck, as if a hand were pressing gently on your chin. Your eyes stay level with the horizon the whole time.
- 3
Hold for about ten seconds, then release
You should feel a stretch at the base of the skull and some work at the front of the neck. It is a small movement — a centimetre or two is a real chin tuck.
Make it easier
Lie on your back with your head on the floor and glide your head back into the ground instead. Gravity does the holding, so the deep muscles can work without your posture fighting them.
The mistake that undoes it
Tipping the chin down instead of gliding the head back. If your eyes travel toward the floor, you are nodding — which stretches the back of the neck but skips the muscles the movement is for.
When this one tends to help
Long days at a desk, a lot of driving, or the stiffness that shows up after hours of looking down at a phone.
Stop if it brings on dizziness, pins and needles, or symptoms that travel into an arm, and speak to a clinician before repeating it.
Also called chin tucks, cervical retraction, neck retraction. Drawn from the clinically authored Vinys exercise library — how the method works. General movement guidance, not medical advice.