Adult ‘Tummy Time’ Is a Thing Now—Here’s Why Physical Therapists Like it

If you thought tummy time was just for babies, think again. “Adult tummy time” is one of the latest wellness trends taking TikTok by storm, with some videos of the practice racking up at least 3 million views.

Proponents of adult tummy time claim that lying on your stomach for 10 or more minutes a day while watching TV or reading can improve bad posture and relieve “tech neck”—the strain in our necks and shoulders caused by looking down at phones and laptops for hours each day. 

“Tech neck occurs when the head gradually tilts forward out of spinal position, placing greater stress on the upper back and neck,” Leah Verebes, PT, DPT, GCS, assistant professor at Touro University School of Health Sciences and a board-certified specialist in geriatric physical therapy, told Health. “This forward tilt places up to 60 pounds of pressure on the cervical spine, leading to muscle strain, joint tension, and even disc issues.”

Some research estimates that 73% of university students and nearly 65% of people who work from home have neck or back pain, with laptops and cell phones as top contributors to the issue.

But is tummy time for adults actually the solution, or should the floor-centric practice be reserved for infants? Health talked to physical therapists to find out.

For the uninitiated, tummy time is just what it sounds like—lying on your stomach. Doctors encourage parents to have babies do it to strengthen their neck, shoulder, core, and arm muscles so they can lift and turn their heads, prop up on their arms, and eventually roll over and crawl. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies start getting playtime on their bellies right after birth, for three to five minutes at a time, working up to an hour or more per day.

“For adults, this intervention is gaining popularity as it’s being promoted as a way to counteract the hours we spend sitting, slouching, or leaning forward over phones and computers,” said Joseph Hribick, DPT, a clinical assistant professor of physical therapy at Lebanon Valley College. “It is being used to help reverse forward-head and rounded-shoulders posture and address upper-back tightness.”

When doing tummy time, some people might casually lie on their stomachs while others may treat it more as a pose, similar to exercises done in the belly-down—or prone—position in yoga and Pilates, such as sphinx, cobra, swan, and swimming.

While the term “adult tummy time” might be new, the position and the idea behind it aren’t. “I never called it ‘tummy time,’ but I do prescribe this to my patients, especially folks with disc injuries at the low back,” said W. Zach Smith, PT, DPT, a doctor of physical therapy and co-founder of HIDEF Physical Therapy in the Greater Seattle area.

“It’s like the ‘hot girl walk,’” Milica McDowell, PT, DPT, C-EP, a Montana-based physical therapist, exercise physiologist, and vice-president of operations at Gait Happens, told Health. “What are we doing? We’re just walking. Somebody puts it in a catchy package, and then everybody wants to take a bite.”

Unlike many social-media wellness fads, this one actually works, experts said. It counteracts the flexed position used during phone scrolling by having the head and neck go into the opposite position.

“By going onto your stomach, you’re having to hold your head up against gravity, so that can help to strengthen the muscles in the backside of your neck and create a nice, supportive structure for your neck,” Smith said. “And because you’re laying down your stomach and your head is up off the ground, that will also put your neck into extension instead of in a flexed posture, which is what tech neck is from.”

Extension exercises and prone positioning have long been used in physical therapy to improve posture and alleviate pain. And there’s research to back up their benefits. “While no clinical trials are known to investigate by name ‘adult tummy time,’ the fundamental principles and interventions are strongly evidence-based,” Verebes said.

Even so, tummy time isn’t for everyone. People with lower-back conditions, such as spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, or spinal instability, may find the position aggravates their condition. The same goes for those who experience pain while on their stomach or while bending over. It’s also not recommended for people who are pregnant (especially in the second and third trimesters), who’ve had recent spinal or abdominal surgery, or who have osteoporosis.

Just like babies do, you’ll probably need to start out with small increments and work your way up to longer periods. Most people probably wouldn’t want to do more than 30 minutes of tummy time a day. In fact, too much of it could have the opposite effect. “Staying in this position too long can potentially lead to low back and neck pain,” Hribick said.

If neck and back pain start to interfere with your ability to sleep, work, or do regular activities, it’s probably time to schedule an appointment with your physician or a physical therapist rather than trying a DIY treatment.

Other signs it’s time to see a professional are if you’re feeling any numbness, tingling, or burning or if you’re self-medicating with pain relievers, marijuana, or other substances, McDowell said.

While experts agree that tummy time can help, it’s likely not going to magically cure all neck, shoulder, and back pain. 

“Some tummy time is going to be better than none, but it’s only one piece of the puzzle,” McDowell said. “Tummy time is not going to fix your tech neck completely. It will help. It’s going to chip away at the iceberg, but it is not a panacea.”

Here are other expert-backed recommendations:

• Look up: McDowell said that if you want the benefit of extension without lying on your belly, an alternative is to look up at the ceiling. This can be especially helpful for people who either can’t lie prone or who look down a lot while they work, like chefs or mechanics, but can’t stop what they’re doing to lie on their stomachs.
• Use devices at the correct height: Bringing devices up to eye level keeps our necks neutral, which can reduce pain and strain, McDowell said. Keep your phone raised instead of in your lap by propping it on something or pressing your elbow into your belly as you hold it. Place a yoga block or stack of books underneath a laptop to raise it to eye level. Better yet, connect it to an external monitor and keyboard so you aren’t looking down at the screen. 
• Practice other exercises: Verebes recommends “wall angels” to activate upper back muscles. Stand against a wall and slide bent arms up and down in a goalpost pattern. Scapular contractions (squeezing the shoulder blades together) can also promote a more upright posture and engage mid-back muscles. Yoga poses, including cat/cow, child’s pose, sphinx, and cobra may also help.
• Take movement breaks: Set a timer to get up from sitting and move every 30 to 60 minutes. 
• Try a standing desk: If you’re in front of a computer all day long, use a standing desk if available to change posture and move out of seated positions. But when you do sit, keep your feet flat on the floor with hips and knees at about a 90-degree angle, Hribick said.

Little tweaks can go a long way to easing the ouch. “Making small, incremental positive changes to your workstation, postures, movement, and exercise compound over time and lead to powerful changes in addressing ‘tech neck,’” Hribick said.