2 months into this new desk setup and I finally get why the PT channel I follow talks about hip flexors, not the neck.
I’d been doing the standard stuff — chair height, monitor at eye level, wrists straight — and still ending most days with a dull ache low in my back. Blamed the cheap chair for a while. Turns out sitting 7+ hours a day shortens the hip flexors, and tight hip flexors tilt the pelvis forward, which throws everything off up the chain, neck included. So the neck stretches were treating the wrong spot.
The fix: a kneeling lunge stretch, 30 seconds each side, done every time I stand up anyway — coffee, bathroom, whatever. Nothing extra added to the day, just folded into stuff I already do.
2 months in, the ache is mostly gone, except on the days I forget to get up at all. So the moving around might matter as much as the stretch.
Wish someone had told me this years ago instead of just the neck thing.