The chin tuck, which in Italian we simply call retrazione del mento, or the « double chin » exercise, is one of those movements that seem to do nothing and yet are among the most used in rehabilitation for neck pain. If you have neck pain, headaches that start at the back of the head, or spend the day with your head pushed forward towards the screen, a physiotherapist has probably already suggested it to you.
In this guide you will find how it is really done, why it is prescribed so often, the mistake that makes it useless and how to fit it into your day without having to set aside time for it. We also tell you, honestly, where the scientific evidence is solid and where it is more hype than the research shows.
⚠ Important: read this before continuing
The exercises and advice in this article are general guidance and may not suit your situation. Every person has a unique clinical history: what works for others could be counterproductive for you.
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How to do the chin tuck, step by step
- Sit or stand with your back straight and your gaze horizontal, looking ahead.
- Without tilting your head or looking down, draw your chin back (as if forming a « double chin »).
- Hold the position for 3 to 5 seconds, feeling the stretch at the back of the neck.
- Slowly return to the starting position, without pushing your head forward.
- Repeat 10 times, 2 to 3 times a day. You can also do it sitting at your desk.
If you do not have time to read the rest, this outline is enough to get started. The rest of the article is there to help you do it well.
The chin tuck: what it is and why it matters
The movement consists of drawing the chin inwards, as if you were creating a double chin, while keeping your gaze horizontal. In this way the head glides backwards and realigns with the cervical spine.
Today, very many people spend much of the day with their head pushed forward, what is called forward head posture in English. Hours at the computer, prolonged smartphone use and sedentary habits all push in the same direction. Retracting the chin is the opposite movement: this is why it is used as a counter-move.
When the head is forward, the posterior neck muscles work under constant tension, the deep anterior muscles tend to be less recruited, and the cervical vertebrae receive loads distributed differently. Bringing the head back to a neutral position relieves that continuous tension and reactivates the deep flexors, the small muscles close to the spine that stabilise the neck from within.
Chin tuck and posture: what the research says (and what it does not)
A distinction needs to be made here, one that is rarely found in articles on the subject.
On forward posture, the evidence is more nuanced than it is made out to be. A systematic review with meta-analysis found that adults with neck pain do indeed have their head further forward than people without pain, and that the degree of forward displacement correlates with pain intensity and disability; in adolescents, however, this association largely disappears. These are cross-sectional studies: they photograph a relationship, they do not prove that posture causes pain. Put simply: correcting head position is reasonable, but it is not a magic lever and it is not the only thing that matters.
On training the deep neck flexors, which is exactly what this exercise trains, the evidence is more direct. A systematic review with meta-analysis compared motor control training of the deep flexors (with pressure biofeedback) with strength-endurance work for the neck muscles, and found it more effective for pain and disability. Keep the order of magnitude in mind: these are small differences, not cures. Another systematic review documented that training the deep cervical flexors affects several impaired functions in chronic neck pain.
Finally, on the phone, a 2025 meta-analysis of 7 studies and over 10,000 participants estimated a risk of neck pain roughly double in those who use it excessively (adjusted odds ratio 2.34; 95% CI 1.44 to 3.82). Here too: an association, not proof of cause.
The honest conclusion is this: the chin tuck is a useful, well-tolerated building block within an exercise programme, and exercise is recommended by the guidelines on neck pain. On its own, it is not the cure for neck pain.
Doing the chin tuck correctly
Execution is everything: done badly, this exercise does not train the muscles it is meant to train.
Basic seated version. Sit with your back straight and your gaze looking straight ahead. Without tilting your head up or down, draw your chin back as if someone were gently pushing your forehead backwards. You should feel the back of the neck lengthening upwards. Hold for 5 seconds and release. Repeat 10 to 15 times.
Wall version. Standing, with your back and head against the wall, draw your chin back, trying to bring the cervical area closer to the wall. The wall gives you tactile feedback: you can feel whether you are really gliding backwards or just tilting your head. Hold for 5 seconds, repeat 10 times.
An important tip: before trying these exercises, make sure you have received a correct diagnosis. People often think they have one problem, but the real cause of the pain is something else. Doing the wrong exercises can make things worse instead of better.
Lying-down version. Lying on your back, with no pillow, gently press the back of the neck towards the floor. It is the simplest variant to learn, because gravity does not ask you to support the head. Hold for 5 to 10 seconds, repeat 10 to 15 times.
| Version | Hold | Repetitions | When it suits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seated | 5 seconds | 10 to 15 | At the office, during the day |
| Against the wall | 5 seconds | 10 | When you are not sure you are doing it right: the wall corrects you |
| Lying down | 5 to 10 seconds | 10 to 15 | At the start, or if the neck is very irritable |
The most common mistakes in the chin tuck
Tilting the head downwards. This is the mistake that makes the movement useless: you are not looking downwards, you are retracting. The head stays level and only the chin moves back. Imagine sliding your head backwards along a horizontal track.
Tensing the shoulders. The shoulders stay relaxed. If they rise or tighten, you are compensating with large, superficial muscles instead of using the deep flexors, the very ones you want to train.
Holding your breath. Breathe normally throughout the movement: holding your breath creates unnecessary tension and is usually a sign that you are pushing too hard.
Overdoing the force. There is no need to retract to the extreme limit or clench your jaw. It is a control movement, not a power movement.
What to expect
On neck pain. By rebalancing the work between deep and superficial muscles, the tensions that feed Neck exercises for cervicalgia: the routine that works are reduced. Many patients report improvements after just a few weeks of consistent practice, which is consistent with what has been measured in studies on training the deep flexors, where, it bears repeating, the average effects are modest and the quality of the evidence ranges from low to moderate.
On headaches. Tension headaches that start at the back of the head are often linked to the neck muscles, and working on the neck can reduce their frequency and intensity. If this is your case, read more about the link between neck pain and headaches.
On posture. Repeated every day, the movement retrains the sense of "head aligned": over time, noticing that you are leaning forward and correcting it becomes almost automatic. Do not expect your posture to change by itself within a week, however.
On timing. There is no number of days that is valid for everyone. If after a few weeks of regular practice you notice nothing, the problem is probably not the amount of exercise: it is that you need a different strategy, or an assessment.
When to do it and how many times
Consistency matters more than intensity.
Frequency. Several times a day; ideally once an hour if you work at a computer. A phone reminder helps more than good intentions.
Duration. Each session can last 1 to 2 minutes: 10 to 15 repetitions with a 5-second hold each.
Integration. Link the movement to fixed moments of the day: every time you pick up your phone, before opening the computer, during breaks. It is the most reliable way to turn it into a habit rather than a task you have to remember.
How to progress
When the basic chin tuck becomes easy, you can raise the level. Not before.
With resistance. Place your hand behind your head and push gently forward while you draw your chin back, resisting the pressure. This strengthens the deep neck flexors.
With rotation. Keep the retraction and add small rotations of the head to the right and left: this asks the neck to stay stable while it moves.
On all fours. On hands and knees, with your gaze towards the floor, perform the retraction. Here gravity acts in a different direction and adds the challenge of anti-gravity control.
Within a complete programme
The chin tuck on its own is not enough, and anyone who sells it to you as a single solution is making your life easier in the wrong way.
It should be combined with: stretching the anterior neck and chest muscles, strengthening the scapular muscles (to keep the shoulders back), mobilising the thoracic spine and correcting your workstation. On this last point, you will find everything in the guide to office ergonomics.
It is like one brick in a building: essential, but it needs the other elements. Correct posture requires a complete approach, not a single exercise repeated endlessly.
Who really needs it
People who work at a desk. Those who spend hours at the computer accumulate prolonged static positions, and the neck is the first to show it. Here the exercise fits well into an anti-pain routine for the office.
People who use their smartphone a lot. This is the so-called « text neck ». As seen above, excessive phone use is associated with a higher risk of neck pain: reducing the time spent with the head bowed matters at least as much as the exercise.
People who already have neck pain. As part of treatment, the chin tuck is almost always included in neck programmes, including in long-lasting forms: if this is your case, read how to manage chronic neck pain.
People who should not do it on their own. If you have had a trauma (for example a whiplash injury), if the pain radiates into the arm with tingling or loss of strength, if dizziness or visual disturbances appear, stop and get assessed before starting any exercise. (And if the tingling is only in the hand and comes at night, the path to follow is a different one: tingling in the hand at night.)
Doing it with a physiotherapist
Teleconsultation lends itself well to teaching the chin tuck: the physiotherapist watches you perform it on a video call and corrects the mistakes you cannot see on your own. And it is precisely the quality of execution that makes the difference between an exercise that trains the right muscles and one that trains compensation.
With Ri-Hub you can be followed by experienced physiotherapists at 29,90€ per session. The professional assesses your cervical posture, teaches you the movement precisely and integrates it into a complete programme for your neck.
Many people are convinced they are doing it correctly and in fact are compensating. An outside eye, even at a distance, changes the result.
Conclusion
The chin tuck is one of the simplest and most prescribed exercises for neck pain: it requires no equipment, it can be done anywhere, and it can be learnt in a few minutes. It realigns the head, reactivates the deep neck flexors and reduces the continuous tension on the posterior muscles.
It is not a miracle cure: the evidence speaks of real benefits, but of modest size, within broader exercise programmes. It is, however, an excellent starting point, and the cost of trying it is practically zero. If you want to be sure you are doing it correctly and to include it in a path built around your neck, Ri-Hub teleRehabilitation can help you.
You might also be interested in:
Plantar Fasciitis Exercises: 12 Effective Movements to Eliminate Pain Abdominals and Back Pain: What We Really Know Swimming and Back Pain: Which Stroke to Choose and Which to Avoid
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Need a consultation?
If you feel something wrong while doing it, a sharp pain, a discomfort that lingers the next day, one side behaving differently from the other, it is the moment to ask rather than to keep pushing by changing videos. A physiotherapist watches how you do it and tells you whether it is technique, load or something to assess first: a 20-minute video call, free and with no credit card required.
The chin tuck is one of the building blocks, not the whole house: the complete routine, with which exercises have evidence of effectiveness and which give only momentary relief, is in Neck exercises: what really works.
If your neck is stiff mainly on waking, it is worth reviewing how you sleep as well: Cervical pillow: how to choose it.
If you are looking for other movements explained this way, you will find them in the exercise library: 104 guides with execution, mistakes and progressions.
Sources
- Neck Pain: Revision 2017, Clinical Practice Guidelines (Blanpied et al.), Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy / APTA
- Exercises for mechanical neck disorders (Gross et al., 2015), Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
- Clinical Practice Guideline for Physical Therapy Assessment and Treatment in Patients With Nonspecific Neck Pain, Physical Therapy, 2018
- Motor control training of deep neck flexors with pressure biofeedback improves pain and disability in patients with neck pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Musculoskeletal Science and Practice, 2020
- Effects of deep cervical flexor training on impaired physiological functions associated with chronic neck pain: a systematic review, BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 2018
- The Relationship Between Forward Head Posture and Neck Pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Current Reviews in Musculoskeletal Medicine, 2019
- Association of smartphone overuse and neck pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Postgraduate Medical Journal, 2025
Last source check: August 2026.
