A “chin lift” can mean two very different things: a facial exercise designed to tone the muscles under your jaw, or an emergency first aid technique used to open someone’s airway. Both are straightforward once you know the correct form. Here’s how to do each one properly.
The Chin Lift as a Facial Exercise
The chin lift exercise targets the muscles in the lower half of your face and the front of your neck. The goal is to strengthen and tone the area under your chin by lifting your lower jaw against resistance from your own facial muscles. It requires no equipment and takes less than five minutes.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Step 1: Sit or stand with your spine straight and your shoulders relaxed. Close your mouth.
- Step 2: Slowly push your lower jaw forward.
- Step 3: Lift your lower lip upward until you feel a stretch in the muscles under your chin and along your jawline.
- Step 4: Hold this position for 10 to 15 seconds, then relax.
- Step 5: Repeat 15 times per session.
For best results, do this daily. You should feel a clear pulling sensation under your chin and along the front of your neck. If you don’t feel that stretch, push your lower jaw further forward or lift your lower lip higher.
What This Exercise Can and Can’t Do
Chin lifts primarily work the muscles involved in chewing and jaw movement. They can improve muscle tone in the lower face over time, which may give your jawline a slightly more defined appearance. However, the scientific evidence behind jawline exercises is limited. The chewing muscles targeted by these exercises don’t directly reduce fat under the chin or improve skin elasticity. If your concern is a double chin caused by excess fat or loose skin, exercise alone is unlikely to produce dramatic changes. Muscle toning and fat loss are separate processes, and spot reduction through exercise isn’t supported by research.
That said, consistent facial exercises are low-risk and free. Many people find that building the habit alongside broader fitness and nutrition goals gives them the best results.
The Head-Tilt Chin Lift for Airway Emergencies
The head-tilt chin lift is a basic life support technique recommended by the American Heart Association. It’s used to open the airway of an unresponsive person whose tongue or soft tissues have fallen back and blocked their throat. When someone loses consciousness, the muscles in their jaw and tongue relax. The tongue can slide backward and seal off the airway. The head-tilt chin lift physically repositions the jaw and tongue to clear that blockage.
How to Perform It
- Step 1: Lay the person flat on their back on a firm surface.
- Step 2: Place one hand on their forehead and gently tilt the head backward.
- Step 3: Place the fingertips of your other hand under the bony part of the chin (the lower edge of the jawbone).
- Step 4: Lift the chin upward, bringing the jaw forward.
This combination of tilting the head back and lifting the chin pulls the base of the tongue away from the back of the throat, opening the airway. You should see the chest rise if the person begins breathing, or the airway is now clear enough for rescue breaths during CPR.
The Most Common Mistake
The single biggest error is pressing on the soft tissue under the chin instead of the bone. If your fingers sink into the fleshy area beneath the jaw, you’re actually pushing the tongue upward and making the obstruction worse. Always grip or lift from the hard, bony edge of the jawbone itself. This is critical: pressure on soft tissues can obstruct the very airway you’re trying to open.
When Not to Use This Technique
If there’s any possibility the person has a neck or spinal injury, such as after a car accident, fall, or diving injury, tilting the head is risky. Moving the neck could worsen a spinal cord injury. In that situation, trained rescuers use a different technique called the jaw thrust, which opens the airway by pushing the lower jaw forward while keeping the neck completely still.
There is one important exception. The 2025 American Heart Association guidelines note that if a jaw thrust fails to open the airway and the person is in cardiac arrest, a head-tilt chin lift may still be necessary. A blocked airway is immediately fatal, while the risk of worsening a spinal injury, though real, is secondary to keeping the person alive. In a cardiac arrest situation, an open airway takes priority.
Telling the Two Apart
These two techniques share a name but have nothing else in common. The facial exercise is a daily toning routine you do on yourself, slowly and gently, to build muscle definition over weeks or months. The medical maneuver is an emergency intervention performed on an unconscious person to prevent suffocation, and it needs to happen within seconds. Knowing both is useful. One is a fitness habit, the other could save a life.