Muscles

Longus Capitis

Exercises that target the longus capitis, grouped by whether they stretch or strengthen it.

Content last reviewed: 2026-07-18

Longus capitis is a deep muscle attaching the base of the skull to the front of the mid-cervical vertebrae. It assists the chin tuck and helps hold the head balanced over the shoulders, working alongside longus colli as part of the deep neck-flexor group.

Like the rest of that group, it tends to lengthen and lose conditioning with chronic forward head carriage, leaving the superficial neck muscles to dominate. That trade-off is a common thread in posture-related neck tension.

It responds to low-load craniocervical-flexion holds — small, sustained nods that build endurance without provoking the bigger muscles — trained gradually over weeks rather than pushed hard in a single session.

Regional anatomy near the longus capitis
Longus CapitisRegional view — the front of the neck. Longus capitis lies deep beneath the sternocleidomastoid shown here.Anatomical illustration derived from BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science, licensed under CC BY-SA.

Strengthen the longus capitis