Focus area
Neck & Shoulders
The muscles across the top of your shoulders and up the sides of your neck. They tighten up after long hours at a desk or carrying a heavy bag — shoulders feel knotted, and turning your head pulls.
Pendulum swing
Shoulder rolls
Wall finger climb
More actions in this plan
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More stretches for this area
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Why this area gets sore
A few muscles in this area are especially prone to tightening up and aching. Match your symptoms below to figure out which one is talking to you.
Upper trapezius
The rope-like pad running from the sides of your neck across the tops of your shoulders. Phone-scrolling, desk work and cradling a phone with your shoulder knot it up — it feels hard to the touch and pulls when you turn your head.
Deep neck muscles
The deep stabilizing muscles inside your neck. Long hours looking down or a bad pillow leave your neck stiff the next day — hard to turn fully, sometimes with tightness creeping up to the base of your skull.
Rotator cuff
Four small muscles wrapping deep around the shoulder joint that let you lift and rotate your arm. After overhead presses or badminton, a deep ache inside the shoulder — pinching at one angle and sore at night — points to them.
See a doctor if any of these apply
Stretching helps everyday muscle soreness. If any of the following sounds like you, it may be more than tired muscles — donât push through:
- Pain radiating from your arm or leg down into your fingers or toes, or with numbness and weakness
- The soreness started after a fall, impact or other injury, or the area is visibly swollen
- It hasnât improved after a week, or it wakes you up at night
- It comes with fever, chest tightness, dizziness, or loss of bladder or bowel control
- The pain is severe enough to stop normal movement, or you canât bear any force on it