This week we get to a major culprit and arguably the biggest factor in your neck pain and headaches. Your weak little neck.

We've talked quite a bit about posture and its effects on your body and your pain. Those neck and shoulder muscles behind your head are so tight and so painful. Why?

Because they are pulling a double shift. Essentially, all that time that you spend looking down at your screen has caused the muscles in the front of your neck to effectively shut off. That results in the muscles in the back of your neck having to work twice as hard to hold your head up. Your head is heavy. And when you spend so much time looking down it makes it heavier because now the weight of gravity is pulling on it even more and eventually, it is too much for those little muscle to bear. 

The result--neck pain, stiffness and headaches. So how do you know if you fall into this category?

Try looking left and looking right. Is your chin even with your collarbone? No? Does it feel tight and restricted to get there? 

Now- try the same thing lying down on your back. When you are on your back, those neck muscles don't have to hold your head up any more. BOOM! Improved ROM. All the stretching in the world won't resolve your problem. You don't have a flexibility problem...you have a stability problem. 

So what do we need to do? Step one is to turn on the muscles in the front of your neck. Their vacation is over. It is time to start creating some stability so those muscles in the back can get back to doing one job instead of two.