Neck and shoulders

What these work on

Neck and shoulder stiffness usually arrives after hours in one position. A screen, a steering wheel, a phone held low. These practices take the area through its range and ask the muscles around it to do something other than hold still.

The useful dose is smaller than most people expect. A trial of office workers found meaningful change from about two minutes a day, five days a week, kept up over ten weeks. That is why these run three to six minutes instead of half an hour. Frequency does more of the work than length.

Most of them include upper back movements rather than isolating the neck. The neck rarely stiffens on its own, and the shoulder blades and mid back are usually part of what feels tight.

Expect more comfortable range within about four weeks of regular practice. If you stop for a while the range eases back, though not all the way to where you started.