Could Adult Tummy Time Be the Answer to Your Neck Pain and Tech Neck? Experts Weigh In
Here's what physical therapists think about adult tummy time for tech neck.
If your neck aches after a day of scrolling and screen time, adult tummy time is the wellness trend physical therapists keep getting asked about. Here is what the position actually does for tech neck, what it will not do and who should skip it entirely.
What is adult tummy time and how does it help tech neck?
Adult tummy time is exactly what it sounds like. You lie face down on the floor and lift your head, a position meant to counteract the forward-flexed posture that comes from hours of phone and computer use.
Pediatricians recommend the same position for infants to build neck, shoulder, core and arm muscles, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, which suggests starting shortly after birth in short bursts. For adults, the appeal is different.
Woman's World Answers
“For adults, this intervention is gaining popularity as it’s being promoted as a way to counteract the hours we spend sitting, slouching, or leaning forward over phones and computers. It is being used to help reverse forward-head and rounded-shoulders posture and address upper-back tightness,” Joseph Hribick, DPT, a clinical assistant professor of physical therapy at Lebanon Valley College, told Health.
The name is new. The concept is not. “I never called it ‘tummy time,’ but I do prescribe this to my patients, especially folks with disc injuries at the low back,” W. Zach Smith, PT, DPT, co-founder of HIDEF Physical Therapy, told Health.
What is tech neck and why is it so common?
Tech neck, also known as cervical kyphosis, is an abnormal forward curve of the neck caused by looking down at screens for hours at a time. Tilting your head to 60 degrees can put roughly 60 pounds of pressure on your spine, about the weight of a seven-year-old.
A head in a neutral position weighs 10 to 12 pounds. The load multiplies fast as the angle steepens.
“You are basically keeping your neck in a fixed position that it isn’t meant to stay in,” Peter G. Whang, MD, a Yale Medicine spine surgeon, told Yale Medicine. Left unaddressed, the strain compounds over years. “If you keep your neck in that position way too much, you could predispose yourself to developing degeneration of the discs and joints of the spine,” Whang said.
Does adult tummy time really fix bad posture?
Not exactly. Adult tummy time can strengthen the muscles that support your neck and add mobility to your spine, but experts say it will not undo hours of daily hunching on its own.
The idea is to move your body in the opposite direction from how it spends most of the day. “By going onto your stomach, you’re having to hold your head up against gravity, so that can help to strengthen the muscles in the backside of your neck and create a nice, supportive structure for your neck,” Smith told Health. He added that lying on your stomach with your head raised puts the neck into extension rather than the flexed posture that causes tech neck.
Prof Suzanne Snodgrass, head of physiotherapy at the University of Newcastle, was more measured in comments to The Guardian. “Tummy time probably helps your lumbar spine [the lower back] more than it helps your neck,” she said.
Who should avoid adult tummy time?
Adult tummy time is not safe for everyone. It is not recommended for pregnant women in the second and third trimesters, people with osteoporosis or anyone who has recently had spinal or abdominal surgery.
People with lower-back conditions such as spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease or spinal instability should also avoid it, and anyone who feels pain while lying on their stomach or bending forward should stop. Physical therapists treat pain during the movement as a signal to consult a professional rather than push through. Adult tummy time is meant as a corrective break from screen posture, not a treatment for an existing spinal condition.
What are better alternatives to adult tummy time for fixing posture?
The most effective approach is varied movement throughout the day rather than a single stretch. Snodgrass recommends a mix of positions that lengthen the neck and open the chest.
Stand with your back against a wall, pull your shoulder blades back and lift your lower abdominal muscles up and in, keeping your head tall. Lie on your back with knees bent and arms out to the side like drawing snow angels to stretch the upper back. Tucking your chin down while lying flat lengthens the back of the neck.
“If you sit hunched for a long time, does your posture end up being stuck that way? I think there’s some merit to that. For a lot of the years of your life, you can reverse things by doing exercise and movement,” Snodgrass told The Guardian.
The bigger fix, experts agree, is reducing the time your head spends tilted forward in the first place.
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