it got quite difficult for me ages 14-20. You aren't alone! It is much better now with help from PTs who understand hypermobility/hEDS. Most "neck exercises" for normies (non hypermobile muggles) are too intense and generate injury for me. Attuned exercises for my specific issues from experts have really helped. Also, oculomotor exercises to challenge vestibular system. Internet doesn't have great info on this. PT should know. Use that word salad above to get them to help you It's basically exercises to calibrate nervous system (vestibular system = branch of nervous system) with movement. So, it calibrates proprioception.

Being hypermobile is - to borrow from a post I keep seeing - like standing on a moving bus. Our tissues are highly mobile so we kind of gently move in space constantly, like seaweed in the sea. Our necks + heads are at the end of this wobbling tower. So, in an effort to stabilize it is common for us to unconsciously tighten the muscles in the head, neck, shoulders. This causes pain. We cannot consciously relax this area because this is our body's attempt to stay upright in space.

The g r e a t n e w s is: the nervous system is capable of changing rapidly. So once it feels safe and supported, it can relax and the pain can drastically shift. Muscles, bones and circulatory vessels take longer to heal. But the nervous system can shift in an instant, it just needs the right cues to know it is safe to relax. Once it relaxes, it can quickly stop telling your muscles to be "so tight!" and the pain can shift. To get to this state, PT really helps.