Chin tucks: how to do them at your desk

A chin tuck is a small movement where you slide your head straight back over your shoulders without tipping it up or down. It is aimed at anyone whose head sits ahead of their shoulders after hours at a laptop, and it takes about a minute.

How to do it

1. Sit tall with your feet flat and your eyes on a point straight ahead, ideally at eye height.
2. Rest one fingertip on your chin as a guide.
3. Slide your head straight back, as if making a small double chin. Your eyes stay level, so your nose does not point up or down.
4. Hold for about 5 seconds and keep breathing.
5. Let your head glide forward to where it started.
6. Repeat 5 to 10 times.

The movement is a glide, not a nod. If your chin drops toward your chest, you are bending your neck instead of moving your head backward.

What you should feel

You may feel a stretch at the base of your skull and along the back of your neck, and a light working effort at the front of your neck under your chin. The Cleveland Clinic describes the same stretch in the back of the neck ^[3]. You should not feel pinching, sharp pain, or anything travelling into your arms or hands.

The range is small. Most people move their head back only a few centimetres, and more range does not make the exercise better.

Common mistakes

• Looking down. If your eyes drop, your head tips forward and you are doing the opposite of a tuck. Pick a spot on the wall and keep looking at it.
• Lifting your chin. Tilting your face up makes the movement look bigger without moving your head back.
• Shoving with your fingers. Your fingertip is a reference point, not a lever.
• Holding your breath. Breathe normally through the hold.
• Leaning your whole torso back. Your ribs and shoulders stay where they are, and only your head moves.

How long and how often

Programmes in studies and patient-education pages vary. A common home routine is 10 tucks with a 5-second hold, and one page suggests repeating it 5 to 7 times across the day ^[4]. The Cleveland Clinic lists 3 sets of 10 daily ^[3]. In a 2024 trial of 36 adults with chronic neck pain and a forward head position, one group did retraction exercises, 10 repetitions in 6 sets a day, for 6 weeks ^[1]. These are examples of what was studied, not a prescription for you.

That trial compared two exercise methods, with no non-exercise group. Both groups improved on pain, disability and a head-position measurement, and the authors reported similar results between them ^[1]. Because it had no control group, it cannot tell you how much of the change came from the exercise itself.

A second small trial, 30 adults aged 25 to 40 with chronic neck pain, trained the deep muscles at the front of the neck while lying down, three sessions a week for four weeks ^[2]. Both groups improved on an endurance measure, and the group that used a pressure-biofeedback device improved more. A review of 27 workplace trials found moderate-quality evidence that neck and shoulder strengthening exercise helped office workers with neck pain ^[5].

An easier and a harder version

Easier: sit with your back and head against a headrest or a wall and press your head lightly backward, with a smaller range. You can also do 3 or 4 tucks with no hold to get the feel of it.

Harder: lengthen the hold to 10 seconds. The McKenzie-style group in the trial progressed to retraction with fingertip overpressure on the chin ^[1]. Some physiotherapists teach a lying version with the head lifted a few centimetres off the bed, which is worth learning from a clinician first.

At your desk

Set a reference: pick one point on the wall or the top edge of your screen. Do a set when a meeting starts or after you send an email. If your screen is low, you will tip your head down to see it, so raise it first with the monitor height calculator. The LaptopNeck coach uses this same tuck as its first reset after a posture alert.

Stop and see a clinician if

• You feel numbness, tingling or weakness in your arms or hands.
• Pain spreads down an arm.
• You feel dizzy or faint during or after the exercise.
• You get double vision or other visual change, a drop attack, or new trouble walking or using your hands.
• Your neck pain started after an injury, such as a fall or a car accident.
• Your pain is severe, keeps getting worse, or wakes you at night.
• You have new or severe headaches.

This page is general information. It cannot diagnose the cause of your neck pain.