HEAD UP!

Seven exercises to soothe your sore neck and shoulders

- ANNA MALTBY

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 — curving forward from focus or fatigue, then lifting our chins to stare at our screens — can lead to pain for many people.

This neck and upper back discomfort is often called "tech neck" or "text neck." And experts say that it's not necessarily the position itself that is a problem, but the amount of time we spend in it.

"The important thing about posture is it's not such a binary good and bad," 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. "That's what you're doing to your neck every day," he tells them.

Tech neck hasn't 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, Callan said. You should be able to keep your pelvis neutral, meaning you're 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, Hsing said. It's also important to strengthen the muscles in your mid-back and along your spine, and improve your mobility in these areas.

The following routine includes exercises that check each of these boxes and many of them can be done right at your desk.

CHIN TUCK

Repetitions: Two or three sets of five to eight repetitions