
Neck Hurts After Running? Here’s How Posture and Breathing Impact Pain
Feb 20, 2025 If you’ve ever experienced the discomfort of neck pain after running, you’re not alone. Many runners struggle with this issue, especially after long runs or intense speed work. In our younger days, maybe we pushed ourselves, unaware of the impact of pacing, breath, and how the pieces of our bodies work together. But if we want to continue to enjoy and get the most out of our runs as we age, it’s time to evolve! In this article, we’ll explore why your neck hurts after running, examining how poor posture and inefficient breathing mechanics during your run can lead to tension in the neck and shoulders. We’ll also dive into strategies to improve your running posture and breathing, helping you run more comfortably and avoid those nagging aches. Whether you're dealing with this pain now or just want to prevent it, the insights shared here can make a real difference in your running experience.
Meeting My Younger Self
I’ve been seeing this “I met my younger self for coffee” trend going around for a while, based originally on a poem by Jennae Cecelia, and decided to do a running spin on it. Damn, if it didn’t leave me in a puddle of tears.
I met my younger self for a long run. She was waiting, bouncing on her toes, impatient to start.
“You ready?” she asked, grinning. I needed to do a quick warm up first.
We started. She took off too fast. She always did.
“Why are you holding back?” she teased. I smiled. “Pacing.”
She rolled her eyes and surged ahead. I let her go, watching her push like every run was a race. I remembered that feeling—the need to prove something.
A few miles in, I reached for my fuel as she started to fade. I caught up.
“Why does this feel so hard?” she huffed. “Because you’ve practiced ignoring your body until it is screaming at you with need” I said as I handed her a spare gel and some water.
She glanced at me, then at her feet. “And now?”
“Now I listen. To my breath, my body, the ground beneath me.”
We ran in silence for a while, our strides syncing up.
“You still love it, don’t you?” she asked quietly.
More than ever, I thought.
I looked at her—the fire, the ambition, the reckless joy. And she looked at me—the patience, the strength, the wisdom.
We didn’t need to say it. We both knew.
We were still running.
… of course there is something about breath in there! And we are going to continue along that topic in today’s blog as a follow up to last week's neck and back pain after a long run.
I mentioned at the bottom of that email that I believe something similar but different to be occurring with neck pain after speed work. Before getting into that though, I think it might be helpful to go into some background about the stack and breath.
If Your Neck Hurts After Running, Think About Your “Stack”
But what is your stack and why does it matter?
The stack, in the sagittal plane (as viewed from the side), refers to a posture that positions the ribs over the pelvis.
Being stacked helps transfer load through the core more effectively and “unlocks” all the other planes of motion (rotation, hip flexion, extension etc.). As part of your “core canister,” the abs, back, diaphragm and pelvic floor work together to modulate intra abdominal pressure, protect the spine and internal organs, and transfer force.
While you are running, the stack looks a little bit different than in standing due to a slight forward lean from the ankles (thing “tits over toes” or “hankles”- hinging at the ankles). This, together with the stack, helps the foot strike happen closer into the center of mass, allowing you to more effectively use those ground reaction forces.
The Role of the Ribcage in That Stack:
If your neck hurts after running, or really any activity, your alignment likely needs some work.
How our body is aligned (or stacked) affects the way we breathe AND the way we transfer force as we run (or do anything, really).
AND
The way we breathe affects (some would say even dictates) our alignment.
They feed into each other. With luck, or practice, this can be a beneficial feedback loop. Sometimes, however, we get the opposite. Compensations because of inherent anatomy, movement habits, breathing habits, stress… it can all affect the stack AND disruptions of the stack can affect the way we move, breathe, and manage stress.
We can find a lot of ways that this works in movement and in life, but instead, I want to look at how this feedback loop might apply in the run itself.
It’s very common for runners to hunch over at the top and just look down at the ground in front of them, “just put one foot in front of the other,” as they get tired in a long run. This hunching over compresses the front of the ribcage up top and puts you into more of a forward head posture, like the right side of the image below.
The chest compression and forward head posture makes it harder to breathe and forces you to use more accessory neck muscles to continue pulling air in.I wrote about some specific strategies to open up the chest and reset that stack to support your long run here.
On the flip side, during speed work, it’s very common for a runner to pull back from the top to eke out every last drop of power. This pull-back puts you more into an extension, open scissor pattern, like the left side of the image below. It works really well in small doses (think sprinting).
This posture puts the diaphragm in a position that makes breathing harder, plus the need to pull more air through the mouth to support oxygen demands, forcing you to use more accessory neck muscles to continue pulling air in.
This, on repeat for miles and miles, run after run, can create compression in the rib cage (aka reduced rib mobility).
Poor Rib Mobility and Breathing Mechanics May Be Why Your Neck Hurts After Running
Ultimately, to combat these postural changes and to prevent getting caught in a nasty feedback loop, we need to intentionally work to improve rib mobility and breathing mechanics.
For example…
Inhale down, expand into ribs, front, sides and back, relax the pelvic floor down.
Exhale long, slow, and completely from the bottom up, engage the pelvic floor. Feel the deep abs contract.
From here, we can use it to intentionally create mobility where you need it most by biasing specific positions. You can think of this idea of “positional breathing” as stretching from the inside.
Positions like this Hooklying Breathing can help create mobility in the front ribs:
Positions like this Rockback Breathing can help create more mobility in the back ribs:
Positions like this Crocodile Breathing can help create more mobility in the ribs all round and optimize the use of the diaphragm for efficient breathing:
In Conclusion
If your neck hurts after running, try focusing on proper alignment, maintaining a balanced breathing technique, and addressing any postural imbalances, so that you can reduce the strain on your neck and improve your overall running performance. With mindful practice, you can not only prevent neck pain but also enjoy your runs with greater comfort and ease.And the BEST news is…
We explore all of this and more in Breathe to Perform!
Breathe to Perform will help you understand the science behind your breath and put some simple breathing exercises into practice that have the potential to take your running performance to the next level; not just from the positional/mechanical standpoint discussed here, but from an oxygen efficiency/performance standpoint as well.
Next on Your Reading List:
Breaking Down the Link: Can Stress Cause Hip Pain? Unraveling the Intriguing Connection.
6 Awesome Ways to Expand Your Bodies Running Rotation.
Understanding Asymmetry in running, and how to Improve Running Economy
Don't miss a thing!
Join my newsletter, be the first to know about what's coming up, and get even more great content!