1Checking For Superficial Muscle Activation
- Put your fingers below the side of your chin.
- Lift your head off the ground.
- You should feel the large superficial muscles contract under your fingers.
- These are not the muscles that we want to train when completing deep neck flexor training.
- You should not feel the activation of these muscles when completing the above chin-tuck exercises, however you may when adding the head-lift and turns.
- If you are having trouble completing these exercises, contact your Physiotherapist.
2Chin Tuck
- Lie down on your back.
- Using the small, deeper muscles in your neck, draw your chin downwards.
- Hold this position for 5 seconds.
- Repeat 10 times, or as prescribed by your Physiotherapist.
- Try not to use the large superficial neck muscles. Watch the video at the bottom of this page to know what this feels like.
Start with 10 x 5 second holds and build towards 10 x 10 seconds
3Cervical Retraction [Reactive]
- Sit or stand.
- Wrap band around the back of your head and hold in both hands.
- Maintain a Cervical retraction/chin tuck against the resistance of the band as you pull forwards.
- Consider adding a hold to increase the challenge.