The 2-Minute Neck & Shoulder Check

Quiz Questions

• 1.
  Which best describes you right now?

  • A.
    I'm pregnant
  • B.
    I'm less than 1 year postpartum
  • C.
    I'm between 1-5 years postpartum
  • D.
    My children are older
  • E.
    I don't have children
• 2.
  How many hours a day do you spend looking at a phone or computer?

  • A.
    Less than 2 hours
  • B.
    2-4 hours
  • C.
    4-6 hours
  • D.
    6-8 hours
  • E.
    8+ hours
• 3.
   Which symptoms do you experience regularly? (Select all that apply)

  • A.
    Neck pain
  • B.
    Shoulder tension
  • C.
    Upper back pain
  • D.
    Headaches
  • E.
    Jaw tension
  • F.
    Tingling/numbness in shoulders, arms, and/or hands
  • G.
    Feeling "stuck" or stiff
  • H.
    Poor posture in photos
  • I.
    None of the above
• 4.
  When do you notice your symptoms most?

  • A.
    When working at a computer/desk
  • B.
    While feeding or carrying children
  • C.
    At the end of the day
  • D.
    During exercise
  • E.
    When I first wake up in the morning
  • F.
    All the time
• 5.
  When you try to sit up tall, what happens?

  • A.
    I can do it, but I can’t hold it — I sink back down
  • B.
    It feels stiff or strained, like my body resists
  • C.
    I try to, but I can't really feel what's different/I'm not sure
• 6.
  What does stretching usually do for you?

  • A.
    Not much — I feel tired/unsupported more than tight
  • B.
    Feels amazing in the moment, but the tightness comes right back
  • C.
    I can't tell if stretching helps me
• 7.
  By the end of a long day, your neck and shoulders feel…

  • A.
    Tight and tense, like I need a deep tissue massage to release them
  • B.
    Tired and achy, like they can't hold me up anymore
  • C.
    Honestly, I'm not sure I notice until it's really bad
• 8.
  How connected do you feel to your body right now on a scale of 1-10? (1 = not connected at all, 10 = very connected)

  • A.
    1
  • B.
    2
  • C.
    3
  • D.
    4
  • E.
    5
  • F.
    6
  • G.
    7
  • H.
    8
  • I.
    9
  • J.
    10
• 9.
  Have you ever been given a clear explanation for these symptoms?

  • A.
    Yes, and it helped
  • B.
    Yes, but it didn’t help
  • C.
    No
  • D.
    I’ve tried to figure it out myself

Quiz Outcomes

• 1.
  You're a Clencher

  Image Source

  Your body's default is to hold on. Shoulders up toward your ears, jaw tight, a low hum of tension even at rest. This is the Clencher pattern, and it's more fixable than it feels.What’s likely driving it:Your muscles are overactive, not just "tight". This is why stretching helps only for a minute, but then it’s back.Your body is stuck in a holding pattern from various tasks like looking at screens, carrying heavy bags/children, and even stress. It's often worse on the side you carry things on.Guarding muscles only release when your nervous system feels safe, not on command or with stretching.The key: forcing “better posture” makes it worse. Try releasing first via your nervous system, then rebuild.An exercise to try now — Mindfulness exercise (90 sec): Close your eyes if that feels ok. Picture the tension in your neck and shoulders as a glowing red orb. Breathe in for 4 counts. As you breathe out slowly for 6 counts, imagine that red orb cooling to a calm blue, the heat draining away. Let your shoulders soften down with each out-breath. Put a timer on for about 60-90 seconds.When done regularly, most Clenchers can feel their shoulders drop within days, but lasting change means release first, then properly strengthing, with the right exercises in the right order.Amie's posture pathway is in the works — built for exactly this. Join the waitlist at askamie.co/waitlist and we'll tell you the moment it opens.
• 2.
  You're Stretched-Thin

  Image Source

  You can sit up tall, but you can't quite hold it. The muscles that should keep you upright have gone quiet, so your body drifts into a slump it can't climb out of. That's the Stretched-Thin pattern: not tight, but under-supported.What’s likely driving it:Your postural muscles are lengthened and switched off. They need waking up, not stretching.Your neck and upper traps are doing a job they weren’t built for so they get tired as the day goes on, causing more tightness and discomfort towards the end of the day.Rest hasn’t fixed it because it’s a strength gap. And if you lean/carry more often on one side, that side probably compensates more.The key: Stretching (especially without proper strengthening) makes it worse. You need the quiet muscles to switch back on.An exercise to try now — Standing Y-raise (60 sec):Stand with feet hip-width apart, soft knees, and hinge forward slightly from the hips (about a 45 degree angle).Make sure your back is flat and your chest is angled toward the floor.Start with your arms down by your sides with palms facing each other, then sweep them overhead into a Y, thumbs up, squeezing the muscles between your shoulder blades.Keep your shoulders down, away from your ears.Lift, hold 2 seconds, lower slowly. 8–10 reps.When done regularly, most women in your pattern feel more “held up” within a week or two, but real change takes 4–6 weeks of the right strength progression, in the right order. That’s what we are building for you.Amie's posture pathway is in the works — built for exactly this. Join the waitlist at askamie.co/waitlist and we'll tell you the moment it opens.
• 3.
  You're Running on Autopilot

  Image Source

  Somewhere along the way, you lost the thread with your body. You can't quite tell what's tight, what's weak, or where the signal's coming from. That's the Autopilot pattern. It's not failure; it's very common, and very fixable.What’s likely going on:You’ve been pushing through sensations for so long that you stopped getting clear signals and your body can feel quiet.You can’t fix what you can’t feel yet. In order to correct something, you have to feel it first.The good news is that this isn't permanent. It's just a habit of attention and attention is trainable.The key: you start with reconnection, not exercises. The first win is noticing feelings, not a stronger back (yet!).An exercise to try now — Body Scan (60 sec):Close your eyes if that feels ok.Bring your attention first to your head. Notice if your teeth are clenched together. Notice if you feel any tension in your forehead or eyes.Next, bring your attention to your neck. Notice if you feel any tightness in the front or back of your neck. Notice if there is anything happening where your neck meets your shoulders.Lastly, bring your attention to your shoulders and mid-back area. Notice if your shoulders are scrunched up towards your ears. Notice if your shoulders feel rounded or if you feel hunched over.Don’t fix anything. Just notice what you feel.Awareness usually returns within a week or two of daily check-ins and then we build from there.Amie's posture pathway is in the works — built for exactly this. Join the waitlist at askamie.co/waitlist and we'll tell you the moment it opens.