Bill...the head and neck exercises will help with the stiffness. I will celebrate my one year date in Sept. and still have a lot of tenderness on the incision site. The stiffness I am dealing with is due to fibrous tissue and I am still on a PEG tube. Nothing, not even saliva goes down. So all of you putting down soft foods with lots of liquids, I envy you. I most likely will be on the tube permanently. For the stiffness I use a heated "bean bag". This is a flannel sack, for lack of a better word, that is actually filled with cracked corn. You heat it in the microwave and wrap it around your neck. I think you can find these online. My daughter sent this one to me. Boy does it feel good! Good luck to everyone here. Katie