The lying neck flexor head lift strengthens the front of the neck while you lie on your back, with a small pillow under your head. You nod your chin toward your chest and lift your head a little way off the pillow, pause, then lower it again. The muscles at the front of your neck (neck flexors) take the weight of your head as it lifts. In the video the movement is very small, and the head barely rises from the pillow.

How to do the lying neck flexor head lift

Lie on a mat on your back, knees bent and feet flat. Rest your arms by your sides and put a small pillow or folded towel under your head, as in the video.
Look up at the ceiling and let your jaw and shoulders go loose.
Nod your chin gently down toward your chest. Keep that nod as you raise your head a short way off the pillow, while your shoulders stay on the mat.
Stay there briefly, breathing as normal.
Let your head down onto the pillow slowly and give your neck a moment of full rest before the next lift.

What you should feel

Effort at the front of your neck and under your chin, growing toward the end of the set. Hard work is fine, but it should not hurt.

Common mistakes

Jutting the chin up toward the ceiling as the head rises, instead of leading with the nod.
Curling your shoulders off the mat as well, which turns it into a sit-up.
Lifting much higher than needed. Just clearing the pillow is enough.
Holding your breath or gritting your teeth.

How often

A common starting point is 5 to 10 lifts, pausing for 2 to 5 seconds at the top of each, once or twice a day. The pause usually gets longer over the weeks. Your physio will adjust this.

Stop and check with your physio if

You feel dizzy, faint or unsteady. Stop and get medical advice the same day. If you faint, it does not settle within a few minutes of sitting still, or you cannot stand or walk steadily, call emergency services.
Things look double, your vision suddenly blurs or goes, your speech slurs or becomes muddled, swallowing becomes hard, your face or lips go numb, one side of your face droops or one side of your body goes weak or numb, you suddenly become so dizzy or unsteady that you fall or cannot stand or walk, your legs suddenly give way but you do not black out (a drop attack), or you get a sudden severe headache. Stop and call emergency services, even if it goes away.
An electric shock feeling runs down your back or into your arms or legs as your head bends forward. Stop and get medical advice the same day.
Neck pain or a headache gets worse with every lift, or you feel pain, pins and needles or numbness in an arm or hand.

From the clinic

The pillow means your head starts slightly raised, so the lift is short and the neck begins in a comfortable spot. The chin tuck head lift is a very similar exercise, done without a pillow and with the arms crossed over the chest. If lifting your head is too hard for now, the deep neck flexor exercise keeps the head down and uses only the nod. Finish the set when the chin starts lifting toward the ceiling or the neck trembles. To get up afterward, turn onto your side first and let your arms do the work of sitting you up.

If a neck movement makes you dizzy, stop, sit still until it settles, and get medical advice the same day before you try again. If you have rheumatoid arthritis, or you have been told the spaces around the nerves or spinal cord in your neck are narrowed, check with your physio or doctor before you start. After neck surgery or a broken bone in the neck, check with your surgeon or physio before you start. If you are pregnant and past the first three months, check with your physio before exercising flat on your back.

If your neck pain started after a recent car accident or fall, get it checked by a doctor or physio before you begin. Keep still and call emergency services if the pain came straight after a high-speed crash, a car that rolled over, being thrown from a vehicle, being hit by a vehicle while walking or cycling, a motorbike or quad bike accident, a horse riding accident, a diving injury or a fall from a height or down several stairs, or if you have numbness, tingling or weakness in an arm or leg. If you hit your head and were knocked out, cannot remember what happened, have had a headache ever since, are being sick, or take medicine that thins your blood other than aspirin on its own, go to an emergency department, and do not drive yourself.

If you have a condition that stiffens the spine, such as ankylosing spondylitis, new neck pain after even a minor fall, knock or jolt is an emergency: keep still and call emergency services if it started straight after the injury, or go to an emergency department straight away, without driving yourself, if it started later. See a doctor the same day, before any exercise, if you are 65 or over, have low bone density (osteoporosis) or have taken steroid tablets for a long time, if your neck pain is severe, if you cannot turn your head halfway toward each shoulder, or if it hurts when you press on the bony middle of the back of your neck. Having none of these does not rule out an injury.

Written and checked by the PocketPhysio editorial team. Last updated 2026-09-28.

This page is general education, not a diagnosis or a personal treatment plan. If you have pain, an injury or a health condition, see a physiotherapist or doctor before starting new exercises.

Lying neck flexor head lift