The cervical hyperextension stretch helps elongate the muscles along the front side of your neck.  These muscles are often tight on people who work at desks, use computers, or study frequently (i.e., college students).  When these muscles become tight, the head is carried forward of your shoulders instead of over them.  This reduces and sometimes reverses the proper cervical curve leading to degenerative changes in the lower cervical spine.

To perform the cervical hyperextension stretch:

1. Extend the head backward as far as possible, as if you were looking at the ceiling.
2. Place your fingers on the underside of your jaw bone and gently push up, assisting the stretch.  Make sure you keep your mouth closed during this stretch to prevent injury to the jaw joints (TMJ).
3. Hold this position for 1.5 - 2 seconds and return to the neutral position.

Repeat the above steps a total of 10 times.

Make sure you do not stretch any muscles below the neck.  In other words, make sure you are not arching your back, involving more of the chest or abdominal muscles in the stretch.  This stretch should focus only on the front neck muscles.