Author: Bryan Lang, PT, DPT, MHA, OCS, CSCS, Cert.DN: Doctor of Physical Therapy, Business Owner, Associate Professor, and Blog Contributor. Explores common client questions, helps find solutions for every day functional health concerns, and interprets difficult theories in healthcare rehabilitation. Committed to life-long learning and education. Learn more about Bryan on Google+.
BEST Advanced Neck Exercises for Strength & Stability
Neck pain is often caused by a combination of limited mobility, poor muscular control, and weak stabilizing muscles. Advanced neck exercises, including advanced neck strengthening exercises and neck stabilization exercises, focus on restoring strength, coordination, and control to reduce pain and lower injury risk.
When I see people for neck pain, there is often a combination of issues occurring. Many times there are tight muscles and joints, but what often gets overlooked are the neck stabilizers that often become weak with neck pain (especially after motor vehicle accidents). Below are three advanced exercises that I use once my clients have passed the initial phase of pain control and are ready to move towards returning full stabilization strength to their neck.
Before Progressing to Advanced Neck Strengthening Exercises
Advanced neck strengthening exercises are most effective once foundational stability is in place. Before progressing to resistance-based or co-contraction movements, individuals should be able to demonstrate adequate deep neck flexor activation and scapular control without pain or compensation. This ensures advanced exercises improve strength and control rather than reinforcing faulty movement patterns.
Are You Ready for Advanced Neck Stabilization Exercises?
Can you maintain a chin tuck without neck strain?
Can you hold deep neck flexor activation for 30+ seconds?
Can you move your shoulders without upper-trap dominance?
Can you perform movements without pain or symptom flare-ups?
Once these foundational elements are established, the following advanced exercises can help restore full neck strength, control, and long-term resilience.
1. Deep Neck Flexor Exercise
This is the foundation for all following exercises. The average individual can hold this position for 37 seconds. How long can you hold? Remember to just barely lift your head from the table after tucking your chin.
Why this exercise matters: This movement builds endurance in the deep neck flexors, which play a critical role in reducing neck pain and supporting cervical stability during daily activities.
2. Deep Neck Flexor Exercise with Shoulder Engagement
This exercise helps me identify a few things. First, it allows me to see how well the client is able to integrate the neck stabilizers with active shoulder movement. Second, it will show any compensations that the client might have (for example overusing his or her upper trapezius muscles to complete the task). Third, it can identify if there is restricted shoulder motion and thoracic spine motion that could be contributing to the client's neck pain.
Why this exercise matters: Integrating shoulder movement challenges the neck stabilizers to maintain control under load, helping reduce compensations that often contribute to persistent neck pain.
3. Co-Contraction of the Deep Neck Flexors with the Neck Extensors
The final exercise pulls out all of the stops with neck stabilization. With this exercise, a client will be recruiting both the deep neck flexor muscles, but also the neck extensors. Holding a co-contraction like this at the same time with good form and no pain gives me confidence that not only is the client recovering from their injury, but will have the neck stability in the future to stay pain free.
Why this exercise matters: Co-contraction training improves neck stability under functional demands, increasing confidence that the cervical spine can tolerate daily and athletic activities without flare-ups.