Stiff Neck? Why It Keeps Coming Back, And What Actually Helps
Stiff neck: the short answer
A stiff neck that keeps coming back is rarely just a neck problem. Most of the time the upper back has stopped doing its share, so the neck does the work instead. Desks, phones, driving and a held breath all add to it. If you want to know how to relieve neck pain for good, look below the neck as well as at it.
The good news is that necks respond well. A review of 10 trials found yoga eased neck pain and freed up neck movement. Here is the article in short form:
- A stiff neck usually has help from below.
- The upper back is built to turn; the neck is easily overworked.
- 10 trials, 686 people: yoga eased neck pain.
- A year on, the gains lasted for people who kept going.
- A sore desk neck needs strength as well as stretch.
- Short, repeated holds beat one long struggle.
- Some neck symptoms need a doctor first.
A quick word on Iyengar yoga. Iyengar yoga is the style developed by Mr BKS Iyengar. In the 20th century he did more than anyone to set down traditional Indian yoga, through his books and his teaching, and he pioneered the use of props. It is the style we teach at Flametree, in Darwin and live online.
Arms overhead, chest open. A stiff neck often starts with a chest and upper back that desk work has closed down.
Why is my neck so stiff?
Usually because it is doing more than its own job. Think of the spine as a chain. Senior Iyengar teachers, writing in Yoga Rahasya (the Iyengar yoga journal, published from Pune, India), call it a chain of 32 links. When one link is overworked, it wears, and the next links take up the load.
Each part of that chain has its own job. The lower back bends well but turns very little. The upper back does most of the turning. The neck turns a lot, and it is easily overworked.
So when the upper back goes stiff and rounded, the neck turns and holds for it. Add a head that pokes forward to look at a screen, and the small muscles at the back of the neck hold that head up all day. No wonder they ache.
Mr Iyengar’s own book on yoga and health adds the usual suspects for the neck: long hours at a desk, driving with drooping shoulders, and sleeping on piles of soft pillows. Most of us can tick at least two.
Mountain Pose: chin level, shoulders back and down, neck soft. Where neck care starts in every class.
What did Mr Iyengar see in Christina’s neck?
In 1992 Mr Iyengar taught remedial classes in Australia. One of the people he worked with was Christina. For four years she had had upper back pain, a stiff neck and headaches. A surgeon was proposing a neck fusion (two bones joined by surgery).
Mr Iyengar did not need her X-ray. “The outside neck tells me,” he said. He showed the teachers her rounded upper back, and explained:
“So the job that has to be done by the dorsal/thoracic spine is done by the lumbar and the cervical.” BKS Iyengar
In plain words, her upper back had stopped carrying its share, so her neck and lower back were doing its job as well as their own. He gave her Triangle Pose at a pillar, with a brick along her upper back, to wake that upper back up.
That is the most useful idea in this whole article. Get the upper back working, and the neck can finally rest.
Mr Iyengar gave Christina Triangle Pose at a pillar, with a brick along her upper back. Get the upper back working and the neck can rest.
Does yoga really help a stiff neck?
Yes, and the trials are clear about it. A 2019 review pooled 10 trials, with 686 people, comparing yoga with other treatments for long-lasting neck pain. Yoga eased neck pain, made daily life easier, freed up neck movement and lifted mood. The authors were cautious only because the trials were run in different ways.
A German trial then asked the question everyone wants answered: does it last? Fifty-one people with neck pain took a 9-week yoga course and were followed for a year. A year on, their pain and neck disability were still better. The best predictor of lasting gains was simple: whether they kept practising.
A 2015 review of six trials of Iyengar yoga for back and neck pain, with 570 people, found the yoga group did better in all six. That is why we are happy to say it plainly: well-taught yoga helps a stiff, sore neck, and it is well worth trying.
In a German trial, the neck pain gains were still there a year later, most of all for people who kept practising.
Can neck pain from desk work be helped?
Yes, and the answer surprises people. A sore desk neck usually needs strength as well as stretch.
In a 2008 Danish trial, 48 women with sore necks from desk work either strengthened the sore shoulder muscles or rode an exercise bike with relaxed shoulders. Strengthening cut their worst pain by about 79% over ten weeks. The cycling helped only a little, and only for a short time.
In a 2009 Indian trial, 291 professional computer users were offered an hour of yoga a day, five days a week, for 60 days, or nothing new. The yoga group’s aches and pains came less often, hurt less and got in the way less. The others’ aches got worse.
In an Iyengar class the arms work hard: stretched up, held out in the standing poses, pressing into a chair or a wall. That is strength through the shoulders and upper back, the very muscles a desk lets go to sleep.
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How does an Iyengar class look after a stiff neck?
By working on the whole chain, not just the sore link. Geeta Iyengar, Mr Iyengar’s daughter and a great teacher in her own right, and the Yoga Rahasya writers come back to the same few points again and again:
- Shoulders back and down.
- Shoulder blades moving in toward the chest.
- Chin level, not poking forward.
- Neck soft, with the teeth and jaw unclenched.
Geeta put it in one line: “Open the armpits and you are safeguarding the neck.”
Hands on a chair, arms and back long. The upper back and shoulders work while the neck stays soft.
Twists are done from the upper back, the part built to turn, with a chair holding the pelvis steady. Lift first, then turn. The neck follows last, and never wrenches round.
And the poses that load the neck wait. With a sore neck, Headstand waits, and Shoulderstand is only done with a teacher and plenty of blankets. Geeta told one woman with a neck disc problem she was “Not going to take Sirsasana” (Headstand), and gave her standing poses instead.
Why do short holds help more than long stretches?
Because a stiff neck is a guarded neck. Force makes it guard harder. Mr Iyengar once watched a teacher adjusting a woman with a painful neck, and told her: “Never keep long for any person. Just touch and go, touch and go.”
So new students stay in each pose a short time, come out, and go in again. Each time, the guard lets go a little more. It is the same reason we breathe out slowly as a pose deepens. A held breath tightens the neck and jaw. A long, soft out-breath lets them settle.
“Just touch and go, touch and go.” Short holds, repeated, are kinder to a stiff neck than one long struggle.
When should a stiff neck be checked by a doctor?
Most stiff necks are muscular and settle. But a few symptoms need medical advice first:
- Neck pain after a fall or an accident.
- Dizziness, or numbness, tingling or weakness in the arms.
- Fever with a stiff neck, or a severe headache with it.
- Pain at night that does not ease when you rest.
For everyday stiffness, choose an advisor you trust: your yoga teacher, a yoga therapist, and your doctor if you wish. In our experience the two kinds of advice usually work well together.
Where can I get help for a stiff neck in Darwin?
If you are looking for help with a stiff neck in Darwin, come to class. Flametree teaches Iyengar yoga at Woolner and live online, from anywhere in Australia. Every class is adjusted to the people in it, and our beginner classes all work the upper back, the shoulders and the breath.
Many people with a sore neck see a physio in Darwin first, and that is a fine place to start. Yoga sits well beside it, and it is something you can keep doing for years, which is what made the difference in the German trial. Read more in Yoga For Neck Pain: What The Iyengar Trials Found and Yoga For Posture.
Happy Backs, our free ebook, has a full section on sore necks and the desk back.
Your free copy of Happy Backs is waiting. New to Flametree, or away for 3 months or more? You get 2 free classes + 2 ebooks, only available via this offer. Already coming to class? You can still get the book.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get rid of a stiff neck that keeps coming back?
Look below the neck. A stiff neck that keeps returning usually has a stiff, rounded upper back underneath it, so the neck does the turning and holding. Work that brings the upper back and shoulders back into play, done regularly, is what lasts. In a German trial, yoga’s gains for neck pain were still there a year later for people who kept practising.
Why is my neck so stiff in the morning?
Muscles and joints are stiffer after a night still, and a pile of soft pillows can hold the neck bent for hours. Mr Iyengar wrote that the body is stiff in the morning and that regular practice conquers it. If the stiffness is new, severe or comes with fever, get it checked.
Can yoga make a stiff neck worse?
It can if it is forced. Headstand and unsupported Shoulderstand put load on the neck, so in a Flametree class they wait until a sore neck has settled, and Shoulderstand is done only with a teacher and plenty of blankets. Short holds, a level chin and a soft jaw keep the work safe.
Is a stiff neck caused by bad posture?
Partly, in our experience. A head that pokes forward over a screen makes the small neck muscles hold it up all day. Modern research is more cautious about posture on its own, but strengthening the shoulder muscles cut desk workers’ worst neck pain by about 79% in a Danish trial.
How long does it take for yoga to help a stiff neck?
Many people feel easier within a few weeks of regular classes. The trials ran for 9 to 12 weeks, and the gains lasted when people kept going. One or two classes a week, kept up, is the usual pattern.
Should I stretch a stiff neck or strengthen it?
Both, and the strength matters more than most people expect. A sore desk neck usually needs the shoulder and upper back muscles working again. In an Iyengar class the arms work hard in the standing poses, which builds that strength while the neck stays soft.
When is a stiff neck serious?
See a doctor first if neck pain follows a fall or accident, comes with dizziness, arm numbness or weakness, comes with fever or a severe headache, or keeps you awake at night. These are rare, but they need medical care before yoga.
Where can I get help for a stiff neck in Darwin?
Flametree Yoga Studio teaches Iyengar yoga at Woolner in Darwin and live online across Australia. Our beginner classes work the upper back, shoulders and breath, and every class is adjusted to the people in it. Many people see a Darwin physio as well, and the two work well together.
Where to next
- New to yoga, or coming back? Start with our half price 10 class pass with 2 classes free, in Darwin or live online.
- For a workplace, team or group: book private yoga classes for groups, online, at a Flametree studio or at your venue.
- Want to see class times first? Look at the beginner timetable.
Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin and live online. This article is general information, not medical advice. Choose an advisor you trust: your yoga teacher, a yoga therapist, and your doctor if you wish.
Sources: Li Y and colleagues, Effects of yoga on patients with chronic nonspecific neck pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Medicine, 2019 (doi 10.1097/MD.0000000000014649); Cramer H and colleagues, Yoga for chronic neck pain: a 12-month follow-up, Pain Medicine, 2013; Crow EM and colleagues, Effectiveness of Iyengar yoga in treating spinal (back and neck) pain, International Journal of Yoga, 2015; Andersen LL and colleagues, Effect of two contrasting types of physical exercise on chronic neck muscle pain, Arthritis and Rheumatism, 2008; Indian trial of yoga for 291 computer professionals, 2009; BKS Iyengar, Australian remedial classes, 1992; Yoga Rahasya. Full references are in the Happy Backs ebook.
