Does your neck feel tight or stiff when you look side to side? The sternocleidomastoid (SCM) — the large muscle running along the side of your neck — may be playing a role. As a main muscle that helps turn and tilt your head, its size and location mean it’s always working when you’re looking around, scrolling, or holding your posture — and this constant demand can make it a frequent spot for tension to show up.
Fortunately, if you’ve been looking to ease tightness and help your neck move more freely, a few simple tips could help. Keep reading to learn about the most common reasons for tight SCM muscles, plus six remedies for relief.
An Overview of the Sternocleidomastoid
As one of the largest and most powerful neck muscles, the sternocleidomastoid helps with many everyday neck and head movements. It’s found on both sides of the front of your neck, starting from the base of your skull behind your ear, and wrapping down toward the collarbone.
To make the SCM easier to understand, it can help to break it down into its three parts:
- Sterno (meaning sternum): This is where one end of the SCM attaches.
- Cleido (meaning clavicle): The other end of the SCM attaches here, at the collarbone.
- Mastoid: This refers to the mastoid process, or the bony bump at the base of your skull behind your ear, where the top of the muscle connects.
What the SCM Muscle Helps With
Being one of the most active muscles in the neck, the SCM is involved in countless movements you make throughout the day, including:
- Turning or tilting your head while driving in traffic, talking to others, or checking screens
- Stabilizing your neck during small, repetitive movements
- Nodding or bringing the head forward while focusing on your phone, books, or papers
- One-sided daily habits, like holding a heavy bag
- Jaw-related movements, such as chewing gum or clenching due to stress
What Causes the SCM To Tighten Up?
Some experts consider the SCM one of the trickiest muscles in the body — simply because there are so many factors that can affect it, and so many ways tension can show up. With that in mind, here are four common causes of SCM tightness worth knowing about:
Forward Posture Causing Increased SCM Activity
One major reason for tight or contracted SCM muscles is forward head posture (FHP). Jutting or rounding your head forward — like while you’re reading a book or looking at your phone — puts extra strain on all the neck stabilizers, including the SCM. This can lead to overactivity and general imbalances in the way your muscles work when you move your head and neck.
In a 2020 study, researchers looked at the differences in activation of certain upper body muscles in those with normal posture vs. forward head posture. They found that for the FHP group, neck muscle activity was altered, with the SCM and upper trapezius muscles showing higher activity at rest than for those with straighter posture.
Sideways Head Positioning
Turning your head to either side naturally shortens the SCM on that side, but when this positioning is prolonged (like when cradling your phone in your shoulder or sleeping facing down), it can cause significant strain. Additionally, repetitively turning your head to the side for everyday tasks — like when checking a second monitor, driving, or otherwise multitasking — can further stress the muscles, leading to inflammation and stiffness over time.
Chronic Stress
It’s well-known that cortisol and other fight-or-flight hormones can cause muscle tension as a side effect. And while you might notice stress most in the back of your neck or shoulders, it turns out that your SCM can feel it, too.
Stress can sometimes be the sole cause of SCM pain, but it can often layer on top of other types of strain to worsen symptoms.
Health Conditions
Most of the time, minor SCM tightness isn’t anything to worry about, and it can usually be traced back to a daily activity or habit affecting your neck muscles. But in rare cases, there may be an underlying health condition playing a role. Some possible conditions that can show up with SCM pain or tightness include:
- Sternocleidomastoid syndrome, which is a condition marked by acute (or long-term) stiffness and neck pain. It can also involve painful trigger points in the SCM.
- Torticollis (wry neck), a condition where a shortened or tight SCM causes your head to tilt slightly to one side.
- Whiplash, a muscle strain, or other injury due to sudden movements, overuse, or other trauma to the muscle.
- TMJ disorders, due to the shared nerve pathways and interactions between the SCM and jaw.
With that being said, be sure to check with your doctor if your neck tightness is severe or persistent, comes with other symptoms, or isn’t getting better after a few days of rest and self-care.
Side Effects of a Tight SCM
Because the SCM muscles are involved in such a wide range of movements, tightness here can affect more than just the neck itself. For example, SCM trigger points commonly cause “referred” pain, or discomfort that pops up somewhere else entirely — like your temples, base of the skull, or even your jaw. But that’s not all; SCM tension can bring other symptoms like:
- Tension-type headaches (often on the affected side)
- Changes in posture
- Reduced range of motion or tightness that spills into the jaw or shoulders
- A sense of imbalance or lightheadedness (often minor, but should always be checked out if persistent or severe)
7 Simple Remedies for a Tight SCM Muscle
Since tension in the SCM often shows up from repetitive motions, postural habits, and daily stress, the best remedies tend to focus on easing that built-up soreness and encouraging healthier movement. Seven easy options to try include:
Note: Some types of neck pain can be serious. Be sure to check with a doctor before trying any new movement routines or remedies, especially if you have severe symptoms or any underlying health conditions.
Gentle SCM Stretch
If you’re looking for a gentle way to lengthen and loosen the muscle tissue, a simple SCM stretch can help. (Tip: It’s important to go only until you feel a light stretch in the muscle, without causing any pain, and use up to a few times throughout the day as needed.) Here’s how it works:
- Stand tall with healthy, aligned posture.
- With the arm opposite to your affected SCM muscle, wrap your hand around the back of your neck. Your elbow should be pointing up in the air here.
- Place your fingers at the top of the muscle tissue, near the bony bump behind your ear.
- Gently hold the muscle tissue in place, and bend your other arm behind your back.
- Drop that same shoulder slightly, and use your SCM-side hand to gently pull your head to the side to feel a light stretch.
- Hold for a few seconds.
To see how this stretch looks in person, be sure to check out this step-by-step tutorial.
Chin Tucks To Support Posture
While not primarily targeting the SCM muscles, chin tucks are one postural exercise that many find helpful. This is because they engage the deeper neck flexors while stretching out those muscles at the back of the neck — in turn helping combat the forward posture that so often causes additional strain. To try this exercise:
- Start by standing straight with your shoulders back and chest open.
- Looking straight ahead, gently glide your chin backward toward your neck. Aim to keep your eyes and chin forward, without rounding your head down.
- Go until you feel a gentle stretch.
- Hold for a few seconds, and repeat 8-10 times.
Use Heat To Relax the Muscles
If your main symptom is dull SCM tension or stiffness, heat therapy can be surprisingly effective. Something as simple as applying a warm heating pad to the sides of the neck for 15 minutes at a time can bring relief, and this can be repeated several times per day as needed. (Just be sure that it’s warm and not excessively hot to avoid irritating your skin.)
Alternatively, you can use moist heat for quicker relief. Opt for a damp, warm towel on the muscles as needed, or even jump into a warm bath or shower to help ease tension more directly.
Try Cold Therapy for Inflammation
When you’re dealing with acute pain as opposed to dull tension, cold therapy could help calm things down. A simple ice pack applied to the SCM muscle for up to 10-15 minutes at a time can soothe inflammation and swelling, especially in the first day or two after a minor strain or flare-up. That said, cold tends to work best early on — but as the muscle heals, you can start to alternate in some heat as needed.
Some people also enjoy using ice massage as another form of cold therapy for pain relief. You can try it by freezing a small amount of water in a paper cup and tearing off the top to expose the ice. Then, gently glide the ice across the muscle tissue for a few minutes at a time.
Allover Neck Massage
Neck massage can be a great way to target muscle tension and trigger points, including in the SCM. But since the SCM is located near delicate structures (including arteries), you might find it more comfortable — and still very soothing — to begin with a massage focused on the neck as a whole rather than targeting the muscle by itself.
Professional massage therapy is always a good option to start with, especially if you’re recovering from an injury or otherwise need more in-depth care. But for day-to-day tightness, here’s a simple, gentle technique to try:
- Sit comfortably and wrap both hands around the back of your neck.
- Begin with 60 seconds of gentle, broad compressions along the length of the neck to warm up the muscles.
- Next, use both hands to splay (or spread) the back-of-neck muscles outward from the center. Repeat up and down the neck for one minute.
- Finish by using moderate pressure to glide your thumbs down the back sides of your neck for another minute. Feel free to spend a few extra seconds working on any spots that feel especially tight.
SCM Release
If it feels comfortable for you, this gentle SCM release technique can also be helpful for relieving everyday tension:
- Turn your head to the side to make the muscle easier to access.
- Gently grab the muscle tissue near the top of the neck, beneath the ear. (Tip: Go slowly to ensure you’re working on the right spot. Aim to pull the muscle tissue softly outward, rather than pressing hard into the neck.)
- As you hold the muscle, slowly tilt your head forward and backward to help it stretch and release.
Home Neck Massager
Although not always SCM-focused, regular neck massage can be a great way to combat daily soreness and help your muscles feel and move better. But to take away some of the hands-on work, a high-quality home massager like the MedMassager Neck Massager can be worth trying.
This tool works by gently wrapping around the back of the neck, comfortably fitting the natural curvature of the muscles, and then delivering a blend of gentle heat and kneading to break up tension and discomfort. Here are the steps to using it:
- Use the hand straps to wrap the massager around your neck muscles.
- Turn the massager to its lightest setting.
- Allow your muscles to warm up to the massage for one minute.
- Increase the pressure as needed, optionally switching on the heat setting for more relief.
Preventing SCM Tightness in the Future
Whether a tight SCM is a one-time occurrence or has been bothering you for a while, the good news is that a few easy steps can often help prevent tension from coming back once it’s healed. These include:
Small Postural Changes
Fixing your posture throughout the day can reduce strain on the neck, all while helping ensure your muscles stay at the right length (not contracted or overly stretched). And as a long-term lifestyle change, this can mean less muscle tension and overactivity. Here are some easy posture tips to keep in mind:
- Pay attention to both your static (sitting or standing) and dynamic (in motion) posture.
- Aim to keep your head in line with your hips, and watch out for excessively curving your spine.
- Try to keep your shoulders down and back (especially when you’re feeling stressed!).
- Remember to keep your chest open as opposed to rounding or slouching over.
Relaxation and Stress Reduction
Since stress can worsen neck muscle tension, working on reducing it can be another good step to take. Of course, it’s not always possible to stop actual stressors — but if there are any unnecessary sources of anxiety in your life (like a cluttered space or too much time online), it can help to start there.
In addition, certain relaxation techniques can help you better cope with stress on a mental and physiological level, including:
- Regular exercise (walking, weight lifting, sports, or other forms of cardio)
- Practicing deep breathing to calm the nervous system
- Eating plenty of anti-inflammatory, whole foods
- Meditation, yoga, or other mindful body techniques
- Therapy and other professional mental health support if needed
Physical Therapy
If you’ve ever thought that poor body mechanics or imbalances might be affecting your SCM muscles — or if you’re recovering from a strain or injury – physical therapy can be a great option. A physical therapist can guide you through targeted exercises to strengthen and stretch the sternocleidomastoids, all while helping improve your posture and overall movement patterns.
Over time, this therapy can boost range of motion and help the SCM muscles function with less daily strain.
The Takeaway
The sternocleidomastoid muscles are two large, strong neck muscles that play a key role in head movement and stability. Because they work nearly all the time, it’s easy for them to tighten up in response to poor posture or strain — and this can lead to muscle tension, headaches, and other uncomfortable symptoms down the line.
The good news is that several remedies can help bring relief, ranging from gentle stretches to heat, cold therapy, and soothing massage.
Try the MedMassager Neck Massager today to start easing neck tension from the comfort of your home, or explore the full line of HSA/FSA eligible tools here.
