How to Get Rid of a Neck Hump and Back Pain With Easy Exercises and Posture Fixes

It’s a health challenge we face as we age, and it can make us look older than our years: the dreaded neck hump. If you’ve noticed one starting to appear, you likely want to know how to get rid of a neck hump. The good news? There are a few simple lifestyle tweaks and exercises you can do from the comfort of home to diminish its appearance.

What is a neck hump?

Often called a dowager’s hump or even a buffalo hump, a neck hump is medically known as kyphosis. Although it might sound more like an ailment from your grandmother’s era, cases of rounded shoulders accompanied by a rounded spine and small hump at the base of the neck have surged in the past 10 years. 

So, what causes a neck hump? Everything from more hours spent hunched over smartphones to arthritis to aging to excess fat. And that leaves up to 40 percent of women and men over 50 with the condition, say University of California scientists. What’s more, it can worsen with time.

Once you start developing a curve as a result of slouching, you naturally compensate by straining your neck forward and tilting your head up to keep your gaze level. Ken Hansraj, MD, a spinal surgeon and author of Watch Your Back: Nine Proven Strategies to Reduce Your Neck and Back Pain Without Surgery, compares the movement to a crane operating with cantilevered sections. This accentuates the curve even more. 

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Can a neck hump be fixed?

It’s not vain to want a neck hump fixed. In fact, if left unchecked a neck hump can lead to headaches, neck pain, back pain and even difficulty breathing. In most cases, it’s possible to get rid of a neck hump, though that ultimately depends on the underlying cause. 

If the hump is caused only by excess fat or poor posture, regular exercise and postural stretches may help reduce the appearance and get rid of a neck hump. But no matter the cause of the kyphosis or its severity, there are ways you can improve your posture, reduce or get rid of a neck hump and maintain good, pain-free mobility, assures Dr. Hansraj. 

How to get rid of a neck hump 

Some of the easiest ways to reduce a neck hump are by making tiny tweaks to your daily routine. Here, three natural remedies to try: . 

Adjust how you scroll

Looking down to scroll and stream on our smartphones can train our muscles to form a hump, finds Korean research. Instead of tilting your head and shoulders down, prop your elbows on a table to raise the phone up to eye level. This encourages a more neutral head position that an Italian study suggests repositions the spine into a natural angle, retraining muscles in the neck and upper back and reversing your hump. 

Use a supportive pillow

Kicking back on a neck-supporting pillow for a few minutes a day helps reverse kyphosis by gently stretching and realigning the spine. Indeed, in a study in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, participants who used a chiropractor-designed cervical neck pillow, improved their kyphosis in 10 weeks, with results still evident a year later.  

Also smart: Use a neck roll when sleeping on your back, suggests additional research in the journal. Pillows piled high force the body into a hump-building position.

Try nature’s sleep aid

We start to lose bone mass each year after age 40, a contributing factor for a neck hump. A simple fix: Take melatonin before bed. A study in the Journal of Pineal Research found that postmenopausal women who took 3 mg of melatonin nightly not only offset a natural decline in density in their neck bones, they rebuilt new bone in the neck over the next year. 

The researchers say that melatonin improves bone turnover and increases bone density in postmenopausal women with osteopenia (demineralized bones that have weakened). Additionally, it helps your body reach the deepest levels of slow-wave sleep. That’s something a Medical College of Wisconsin study found spurs your body to produce 30 percent more bone-building growth factor-1. 

The best neck hump exercises 

While lifestyle changes are a great first step toward getting rid of a neck hump, there are easy exercises that can make a big difference, too.

“The combination of standing tall and rising, opening up your shoulders and retracting the shoulder blades are powerful posture-fixing strategies that can be achieved even with the frozen vertebrae of rigid kyphosis,” he explains. In other words, even a little movement can go a long way to help. 

Pinch a pencil

A study in the Journal of Physical Therapy Science suggests that a simple “shoulder squeeze” exercise engages muscles in the opposite way to the slouching posture that formed your hump, helping to rebuild malformed muscles within nine weeks. 

Try this: 

1. Stand tall and pull your shoulder blades back and together, imagining you’re trying to pinch a pencil between them. 
2. Hold the squeeze for three seconds, then release. 

Repeat 15 times, three times daily. 

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Try ‘wall angels’

A simple technique known as “wall angels” are an effective way to minimize or get rid of a neck hump, says Dr. Hansraj of the exercise described in his book. 

“This stretch is like making snow angels. It is a deep, dynamic stretch for the spine. The movement strengthens back muscles and lengthens muscles in the front of the neck, shoulders and core. By focusing on upper body mobility, wall angels promote proper spine alignment, strengthen muscles that hold the shoulders back, and help maintain a full range of motion.” 

Steps to follow:

1. Stand with your back to a wall. Walk your feet out so that your heels are 6″ from the wall.
2. Lean back against the wall. Tuck your pelvis so that your lower back is flat against the wall. Then pull your shoulders and head back to touch the wall.
3. Slowly raise your arms overhead with the back of your hands skimming the wall, until your hands touch overhead.
4. Slowly return your arms to the starting position, making sure the backs of your arms never leave the wall.
5. Repeat 5 to 10 times.

Watch the below animation (courtesy of Dr. Hansraj) to see the move in action:

“Mirror” your best posture

Doing a simple “mirror image” exercise that’s the exact opposite of your usual slouched posture realigns the spine and rebuilds malformed muscles. This helps shrink a neck hump as much as 39 percent in nine weeks and reduces pain scores up to 83 percent, suggests research in the Journal of Physical Therapy Science.

Here’s how: 

1. Stand up straight with the back of your head and rear end lightly touching a wall.
2. Gently tuck in your chin while softly elongating your neck before returning to your original position.

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 Repeat 10 to 20 times, four times daily. 

This content is not a substitute for professional medical advice or diagnosis. Always consult your physician before pursuing any treatment plan.

This content is not a substitute for professional medical advice or diagnosis. Always consult your physician before pursuing any treatment plan.