Lateral neck tilt

This tilt stretches the main neck muscles, particularly the sternocleidomastoid, towards the front of the neck. Just tilt the head to the side (figure 1.) Repeat three times, alternate sides, holding 10-20 seconds. This stretch can be varied for greater effect.

1.   2.

Variation:

The variation in figure 2 increases the effect on the levator scapula, a muscle at the back of the neck that connects the skull and shoulder blade and either tilts the head back or raises the shoulder blade. To do that, either hold the arm behind your back as shown or, better, hook the fingers under a tabletop or similar; both hold the shoulder blade down while the neck tilts. Once that is easy, you can go further by adding a forward tilt to the head; that is, hold the arm down, tilt the head comfortably to the side, then tilt carefully forwards.

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