The Manual Man

The upper thoracic spine ends up being the primary driver of a great amount of the NECK PAIN cases we see.
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Think about the neck as the “building” and the upper thoracic spine as the “foundation” for that building. If the foundation is stiff, not moving well, and lacking neuromuscular control, that spells bad news for the building living above it.
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We see this specifically with the extension and rotation of the upper thoracic spine. If extension is limited, it will drive the neck into a forward-head posture (no where else to go but forward). A lack of extension usually falls suit with a lack of rotation. Only thing is with the rotation limited in the upper thoracic, the cervical spine has to take up the slack and you end up with hyper-tonic cervical muscles that are just working way too hard through the day.
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So if you have neck pain, check out your upper thoracic spine mobility and stability. That may help tremendously.