Tight Upper Trap Muscles..Best Stretches & Exercises for Shoulder/Neck Pain

[@felixfurious2056]

Question: I am regularly lifting heavy weights in the gym and I'm worried these exercises are too easy. Do heavy barbell and dumbbell shrugs and / or military press have the same effect? Thank you in advance and a very well made, straight to the point video by the way!

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

Yes those would be a good option. I would do the monkey shrugs with appropriate weight as the angle can target the muscle slightly different. And thank you, that was our hope!

[@davidbagwell6963]

Lifting weight with out stretched arm help the most. So thanks.

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

That great, glad it was helpful!

[@ttvvonify1844]

should I pick only one of these exercises to do or should I do all of them?

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

Do them all and then focus on the 2 that are the most effective

[@ttvvonify1844]

@@PerformanceSportSpine what do I choose from the 2 that are most effective, how should I incorporate the 2 most effective exercises in my workout?

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

@@ttvvonify1844 Typically the monkey shrug and the over shrug are the most helpful

[@crinoidia]

Great video! I've been experiencing tight traps, on and off, during races and on the treadmill. Very annoying! Looking fwd to trying out the weighted shoulder exercises in the gym.

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

Thank you! Yes, that tightness is extremely annoying. They will definitely help with that. Thanks for watching

[@08Mamba]

When I was doing the overhead raise at the beginning I felt a lot of popping and I also gained some relief. Is the popping good or am I doing the exercise wrong?

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

Popping that is not associated with trauma and/or pain is almost always totally fine. So in this context sounds like a good thing

[@ktm942]

Can you add more video on this stubborn problem? I have insanely tight upper traps and nothing seems to help, but strengthening seems to be key...

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

We have another one, here you go. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qairqoGAbNmGZpo

[@ktm942]

@@PerformanceSportSpine I don't have an incline bench, can that exercise be modified as a floor exercise? Also, do you have a video on mobilizing / correct placement movement of the First Rib?? Please ...

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

@@ktm942 You can do it on the floor or anything with an incline. We have had patients lean against a wall with 1 arm and do it with the other arm. We don't have a video on the first rib, but will put it in the queue

[@jenniferlee9029]

May i ask how long it takes to heal the upper traps for good with these exercises? Thanks ❤

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

Depends. But usually 2-4 weeks.

[@mikeyhikes]

Excellent video. Thank you so much!

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

You're very welcome!

[@szel1708]

I have had an injury 8 months ago, where my left trapesius was compensating in a lot of exercises. At one point I had a small rupture. Since then my trapesius has been tight, hardvas a rock and now I have a constant feeling of tightness in my shoulder. Could these exercises help?

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

These exercise with help rehab your trap. Assuming that that rupture or other injury has had adequate time to heal

[@szel1708]

@@PerformanceSportSpine the rehab went perfectly fine, only problem right now is the stiff muscle

[@kai.m]

Why do so many physical therapy channels say the opposite? They say if your muscles are tight then they are overactive and you should not work them out. Recently I saw a video saying that it you have anterior pelvic tilt you need to actually strengthen your hip flexors, not stretch them. What is the source of all of this confusion in the physical therapy community? It's like we've all been given the wrong information for years.

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

Not sure, it is a very prominent myth that exercises causes tight muscle to be tighter. But the truth is the body is meant to move and the very physiological purpose of muscles to produce power. So exercising will help muscles to healthier and stronger. Resulting in muscles be less tight. Stretching will never resolve persistent tightness, it will provide a short term relief. There are differences in all professions and social media is far more about quick fixes and catchy titles rather than provide evidence-based content. It often comes down to, are you a person that is willing to update their beliefs if presented with new information?

[@roadrunnabeats]

It's up to you to know when to do what. There's different reasons for pain and tightness so obviously there's different answers

[@BobCarrot-z1f]

In my experience, the difference in answer depends on their bias, who they are surrounded by/their education, and if in-person it's what they see and how they are judging you when they look at you. If they think you are scrawny/inactive/female, then they'll most likely say you need to strengthen. They think you are weak and ignorant. If you're absolutely dripping in gainz/male/they have a reason to be jealous or have hate for you then they're more likely to assume you are tight and overtrained. In neither case do they specifically address the actual underlying cause which is trigger points, so they'll give you: stretches & exercises no stretch or exercise will actually help... so you'll constantly be swarming the interent for videos like this doing all these different stretches and exercises wondeirng why it never feels better so you keep coming back for more and more stretches & exercises, meanwhile dudes like this are making money off of our views

[@BobCarrot-z1f]

it's the same way PT Clinics work except you have to pay to show up instead of just watching a youtube video

[@BobCarrot-z1f]

Pain is a business edit: usually if they go to school for these things, they even believe their own bs

[@chrishouseley6093]

Thank you for the upload, I was wondering if you could help me with a 4 yr long injury mainly affecting the RHS of my body Bear with me, it's a long read. It started due to using poor form when following a home back workout vid that involved laying on my abdomen (large pillow under abdomen for comfort) with arms outstretched & pulling on a rolled up towel (as though you were trying to stretch the towel apart horizontally), then 1 rep involved lifting the head off the ground & then twisting the upper torso either side squeezing the shoulder blades in - while I used good form when turning my torso left, when I'd turned to my right, I kept foolishly hyperextending my spine arching it too far in & then twisting. I had forced the spine, ribs & shoulder blade to grate & creak, ever since, the right hand side of my back feels pushed forward and up - the discomfort makes me want to crack my back frequently. I've injured my right scapula/shoulder blade, upper traps, ribs feel out of place etc but the worst thing is nerve damage throughout the body, my legs randomly twitch & my stomach had felt sensitive - I may've forced a hiatal hernia? I did have a full back MRI which was all clear though Are there any exercises you'd recommend? I find the quadruped IYT is useful for shoulder area, upper trap raises with chin tucked has helped my neck, but i still have tight knots close to the spine. Mackenzie stretching and figure 4 helped with sciatica on the right leg

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

We can't give specific medical advice without a personal examinaiton

[@ttvvonify1844]

I've been doing the monkey shrugs for 5 sets of 50 reps with a 15-pound weight, with a 3-minute rest between each set. I try to hit failure every time, What is your recommendation for the rest period between each set and how should I space my workout? currently, I do it every 2 days. Should I also do some cardio to help my extremely tight upper traps?

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

That seems right. Definitely rest several minutes between sets and the every other day is great. You may want to work on increase the weight and do 3-4 sets of 12-15 reps and see if that different stimulus is advantageous. And yes cardio/moving more will help. Also water intake, healthy food, good sleep and general health can be huge areas to help/improve upon

[@ttvvonify1844]

@@PerformanceSportSpine I also noticed that my right upper trap is much tighter than my left upper trap, even though the right upper trap muscle looks bigger than the left upper trap muscle. Could this be due to some imbalances, also I am right-hand dominant, and should I modify my trap exercises because of this?

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

@@ttvvonify1844 Hard to say why that is. When you say tighter, is that a constant tightness at rest or after/during exercises?

[@ttvvonify1844]

@@PerformanceSportSpine constant tightness. Both of my traps are pretty tight. its been like this for almost 2 years. The tight traps cause me to have constant headaches every day. I've had a headache every day for almost 2 years. I noticed that stretching is only a temporary relief and that I've seen some improvements with strength training. I believe I got myself into this situation by sitting all day during the pandemic without moving much.

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

@@ttvvonify1844 Sorry for the delay. If there is constant tightness usually if is from 1 of there 3 things. 1) Constantly stretching, rolling or pressing on them, that feels good in the movement but causes the muscles to become chronically irritate (i.e constant tightness) 2) Being told to keep our shoulders down and back all the time. This causes constant stretch on the muscles. One way to test this is to lay down on your back. If the tightness decreases this is likely part of it 3) Engaging the traps before you lift. Bracing is good for heavy lifts like dead lifts, but unneeded for your average day to day lift. Hope this helps

[@chitraparam4283]

My massage therapist just told me I have very tight trapz and scapula. Past few months I have right hand tremor sometimes and right thumb tremor sometimes. I showed Dr few months back, he said it may be essential tremor and said not nerve related but only today my massage therapist told me that my trapz were very tight, could that be the reason for right hand tremor?

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

Tight muscles can't cause hand tremors. That is a neurological condition. If you are experiencing tremors best to see a neurologist specialist to have them medical assess it properly

[@chitraparam4283]

@@PerformanceSportSpine oh ok. Thanx

[@SnifBelch]

​@PerformanceSportSpine I am a massage therapist, and a nurse, and I thank you for telling him the truth about tremors being neurological and referring him in the right direction! In both my career titles we are NEVER to diagnose a client or patient, and doing so can be dangerous. You may have just help out this person more than you know.

[@mindmuscleconnection599]

I had an injury 1 year back in my right shoulder that leads to winged scapula.After recovery,whenever i train my right shoulder especially when i do lateral raises my right trap gets overactivated and this causes imbalance of my traps now plz suggest me something ?

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

Sorry to hear that. You need to find the right entry point and adjust the frequency, intensity and/or exercise to a level that your body can currently handle, then gradually progress. i.e. if 2x10 at 15 lbs is too much, start at 2x6 with 8 lbs then increase as your symptoms allow. This is of course general concepts, not specific advice.

[@mindmuscleconnection599]

@@PerformanceSportSpine thank you ....hope it will work

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

We do too!

[@ParthShethia]

whenever i sit for few minutes with my left shoulder a bit down then i feel like a burn in upper trap and also i feel that my left jaw is also a bit numb at that moment whT could be the case and solution to this ? and what would you advice me to take hot water bag or cold water bad and also should i use any relief tube or spray at that region and also plz can you tell me that why my left side of face becomes but numb when there is a strech on my left trap muscle

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

Unfortunately that issues is too complex to be able to give advice without an assessment. If you are experiencing numbness we recommend seeing a trained healthcare provider

[@annap1191]

What happens if you have muscle knots in the traps?

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

Exercises will cause the muscles to get stronger and improve blood flow that will help in reducing the knots and the associated symptoms

[@thecowcanon]

Can this also be a reason for shoulder pain?

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

Potetinatly, depends if the shoulder pain is caused by the traps

[@mohammednaeemakhtar6057]

Good

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

Thank you!

[@sosukewifhat]

did egolifting my first time in the gym at 17 and hurt my right upper traps / neck hard, now 23, i have constant tightness and pain, and whenever I use my right arm too much, I'm in pain ...

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

Sorry to hear that, tough when you are young and feel invincible. How you had it checked out by anyone?

[@newts1964]

I've had acdf surgery six weeks ago any suggestions c4-6 fusions and decompression

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

If you have been cleared by the surgeon for exercise/rehab. Isometrics are the best place to start kzbin.info/www/bejne/g2HGhYCcqbChnMU Exercises @ 0:10

[@Cars_yyc]

Brother it hurts cuz I worked out by bouldering and rock climbing with 45lbs on my back

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

Sounds rough. Best way to deal with that would be to try and temporarily reduce the frequency or intensity of climbing to let the muscles calm down

[@lj1biswell]

What if this makes your muscles spasm?

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

Most likely you over did it. How long did the spams last?

[@tameem64afrid36]

I have tightness in left arm trap I cant feel my left arm i have done workout in a year but i cant do any workout now say some solution

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

If you can't feel you arm, you should have it examined immediately by a trained healthcare provider

[@Edp-jf8zn]

dont be a dik

[@TableTennis-Man]

It works for while...but doesnot help...2 weeks of pain.. then i recall it could be my spine. went to a pull up bar and hang for 3 X for as 30 secs each....or as long as you can .. rotate your body a bit while hanging....end of day i am okay..seriously almost gone the upper trap to neck pain.

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

People should not do that for neck pain

[@andykingsley5640]

I have muscle knots please help

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

To do these exercises dosage optimal for your current condition. And probably soft tissue work to those muscles

[@jawwadali9775]

I already do these with weights. Not working

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

This video will explain why: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pZrNmaavrZeIr8ksi=WcCjPY7C4hMzvMwD

[@Edp-jf8zn]

my tight trap is hurting like hell burns abit and shoots up which gives me headaches

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

What do you think caused it?

[@TubeRandom]

Man with iphone x notch hairline... Thanks for the video btw

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

.

[@phillipcarrington6630]

Stretching does help relax tight muscles , you can't rewrite science dude

[@PerformanceSportSpine]

Enjoy your few mins of relief and mindless droning

[@Kykot1999]

he litteraly explains why, stretching releases the tension temporarily because youre pulling the muscle from the tensed position, but youre not really fixing anything because youre not working the muscle, working the muscle promotes blood flow and recovery, growth of strength and size, improving health of the tissues

[@spoopsmagoops1911]

Why are you crying? You don't even have a solid foundation to stand on with this one my friend. The key word was Temporary lmao

[@life_score]

Not always. I have proof. So much for your science.