Neck and shoulder pain from screen time? Stop blindly tucking your chin — the real fix starts with reducing trunk tension and targeted training.
Forward head posture is a modern-day lifestyle condition. Most people spend the majority of their day sitting, and whether or not they’re at work, screen time adds up significantly.
When you’re focused on a task or staring at a screen, your neck tends to drift forward without you even noticing — that’s what’s commonly known as forward head posture (FHP).
Over time, this doesn’t just cause discomfort in the neck and shoulders — it can also lead to pain or injury in the lower back and hips. In some cases, it even contributes to the development of a buffalo hump.
How do you assess whether you have forward head posture? Is tucking your chin really a good solution? And what’s the right approach to actually correcting it?
Wall Posture Test
This test is straightforward. The spine has both inward (lordotic) and outward (kyphotic) curves. Viewed from the side, the lordotic segments should align in a line, and so should the kyphotic segments.
Using this principle, while assessing the lordotic curves typically requires a professional, checking whether your kyphotic segments line up is something anyone can do on their own — it’s the simplest and most intuitive self-assessment available.
Here’s how to do it:
Step 1: Stand with your back against a wall.
Step 2: Check whether your pelvis, upper back, and the back of your head (occiput) can all rest comfortably against the wall at the same time, as shown in figure (a).
What to look for: If you’re used to forward head posture, as shown in figure (b), you may be able to get your pelvis and upper back to touch the wall, but getting the back of your head there requires deliberate effort.
Even if you manage to touch the wall, your head will likely tilt backward — restricted by a stiff thoracic spine — rather than looking straight ahead with a level gaze. That’s still not correct, as shown in figure (c).
Note: Since I don’t personally have thoracic stiffness, I couldn’t demonstrate the actual compensation perfectly; this image is simply for illustration purposes.
Figure (b): Forward head posture or kyphosis — the head drifts forward, away from the vertical line formed by the pelvis and upper back.
Figure (c): Illustration of someone with forward head posture attempting to touch the back of their head to the wall — the head tilts back instead.
Is Tucking Your Chin Actually a Good Idea?
If your head can’t easily reach the wall due to forward head posture, the instinct might be to simply pull your neck back — cervical retraction. But is that really the answer?
Not quite, and it’s easy to fall into a trap here. When you forcefully retract your neck, you tend to over-activate the anterior neck muscles, particularly the sternocleidomastoid (SCM), as shown in figure (d).
Once these muscles become overactive and tight, they actually increase pressure on the cervical spine, making things worse rather than better.
What you actually want to do is practice cervical axial elongation — think of it as “growing taller through the back of your head.” helping your head realign against the wall without unnecessary strain, as shown in figure (e).
Figure (e): Cervical axial elongation — the “growing taller” sensation that allows you to rest against the wall with ease.
The muscles you actually want to activate are the deep cervical muscles and the erector spinae near the lower cervical spine. These are the key muscles responsible for bringing your neck into neutral position and keeping it there.
The downside is that these muscles are harder to recruit on your own — properly engaging them typically requires step-by-step guidance from a professional.
This points to an important principle: lasting improvement doesn’t come from forcing your posture into place with external effort — it has to come from building the muscular capacity to hold it there naturally.
The Corrective Exercises Approach
Correcting posture comes down to two main pillars: neuromuscular control and strength.
Neuromuscular Control
In simple terms, this is about whether you can activate the right muscles to bring your neck into neutral — and whether you can break the habit of forward head posture in the first place.
Body awareness matters enormously here. Some people know they have forward head posture and will consciously correct it — but three seconds later, without thinking, they’ve drifted right back.
That’s because the habit has become so ingrained it happens completely below the level of awareness. In the early stages of correction, you have to consistently remind yourself. Without that self-awareness, even the strongest neck muscles won’t make a difference.
Consider an interesting perspective: Think about how many thousands of hours we spend sleeping flat on a pillow throughout our lives — so why doesn’t that cause forward head posture? On the surface, isn’t that also a prolonged, static position?
The reality is that beyond the natural positional shifts we make during sleep, the absolute key lies in your muscle recruitment strategy — your neuromuscular control.
The true impact of poor posture isn’t just uneven local structural loading; the real problem is that it actively alters your neuromuscular control. Or rather, your neuromuscular control is what creates your poor posture in the first place.
When you are asleep, lying flat on a bed not only distributes physical pressure, but your brain is also in a resting state, meaning it won’t rewrite the active movement control strategies you use when you are awake. This is exactly why, when people ask me if a “bad sleeping posture” is the culprit, I typically decline to address it.
Strength
The key muscles are the deep cervical muscles and the erector spinae near the lower cervical spine. If these lack strength, targeted exercise can help — but training alone often isn’t enough.
In people with chronic forward head posture, the surrounding myofascia — and sometimes the entire trunk — becomes tight and restricted.
The muscles responsible for restoring cervical alignment then have to do double duty: correcting the neck position while simultaneously fighting against tension from the rest of the trunk. That’s a recipe for overuse and breakdown.
So before you can effectively strengthen the neck, you first need to address trunk tension — specifically: is the pelvis properly aligned? Is there adequate thoracic and rib mobility and flexibility?
In fact, breathing patterns, psychological factors, and visceral health can all play a role, but I won’t dive into those massive and complex topics just yet.
Reduced thoracic and rib mobility is typically a result of prolonged poor posture — kyphosis, rounded shoulders, forward head posture — compounded by a lack of regular movement.
Improving thoracic and rib mobility reduces the load placed on the cervical spine — and as a bonus, it also takes pressure off the lumbar spine at the same time.
To wrap up, here are a few steps to get you started:
- Check whether you can restore neutral posture: Use the Wall Posture Test to see if you’re able to realign on your own.
- Mobilize the thoracic spine and ribs: Work on stretching this area, or use a foam roller to release tension.
- Train neck and core: Strengthen and improve neuromuscular control in the neck and core through targeted exercise.
While working through these steps, focus on building a new postural habit. Consistently checking in with your own alignment is what makes the improvement stick long-term.
If you’re dealing with multiple issues at once, working with a professional becomes even more important. A proper assessment can identify exactly what’s going on, and a well-structured training plan will help you regain healthy posture far more efficiently.
About the Author｜Andy Hsu, MS, Athletic Trainer
Train Smarter After Injury.
Precision Movement Optimization & Return to Play (RTP)
- Former Athletic Trainer, Landseed Sports Medicine Center
- Former Athletic Trainer, National Sports Training Center (Taiwan)
- Former Athletic Trainer for National Teams (Table Tennis, Volleyball)