Isn’t it interesting how we know so many of our health indicators like blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, resting heart rate, etc, but when it comes to knowing how our joints should move, we don’t have a number to measure that. We just simply say we’re not flexible or this area feels tight.
Do your shoulders and neck always feel tight? Maybe you chalk that up to the weight of the world resting on our shoulders. But maybe there is another reason why your neck tension won’t go away.
Your upper trapezius and levator scapulae muscles are often overactive. Meaning they are perpetually hyped up even while at rest. Your brain is keeping them “on” because another muscle or muscles are not doing their job.
Image from bowhunting.net
Not to name names, but the muscles not doing their job are typically the mid-trapezius, lower-trapezius, and/or serratus anterior.
When I’m looking at posture and joint movement, one of the areas I assess is the scapulothoracic joint. That’s a fancy way to say that I look to see how the shoulder blade is moving against the rib cage.
Have a look at her shoulders in this resting posture example. Notice how the left side is elevated? That’s overactive upper trapezius right there! You can feel neck tension if your shoulders are not level.
So let’s say you stretch and get massages and always feel the same shoulder/neck tension. Maybe you even have some trigger points in your shoulders that never go away. This could be an indication that your lazy muscles need to be activated. A balance must be created between the overactive and underactive muscles for the neck tension to finally release.
What you’re really doing is training the brain. Very low intensity strength training for the mid-trap and low-trap in combination with upper trap/levator release tells the brain that muscles are in harmony with each other.
If you’re needing some relief from chronic neck tension, first release the tense muscle with a professional or self massage, then do an activation exercise.
Try this lower-trap activation exercise:
Activation exercises are very low intensity. Kind of like what you would do in physical therapy. If you do too high intensity, the already overactive muscles kick in and don’t let the muscles who really need it do the work. Your brain is always trying to find the path of least resistance.
Releasing the trigger points and activating the weak muscles should be done every day. Spend 1-2 minutes with a tennis ball on your upper traps and follow with less than 10 reps of an activation exercise. It takes less than 4 minutes.
The right corrective exercises will go a long way in helping restore muscle balance!
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is one scenario. Please read Part 2 of this blog series for another scenario.
I Have had chronic shoulder problems for years. I broke my Proximal Humorous. and had 3 surgeries to fix it. I never realized such a simple neck shoulder exercise could be so helpful. Thanks for the post.
Yes, scar tissue from surgeries tends to need release work like massage and/or stretching. Thanks for reading!
Hi Sara – I’d love to hear more of your advice. I’ve been dealing with chronic neck and upper back pain for a couple years.
Thanks for reading! My best advice is to visit a NeuroKinetic Therapy specialist like me. There is a directory of certified specialists on the NKT website and you can find one near you. We test specific muscles and find which one is the culprit. Our motto is “test, don’t guess” because there are so many scenarios of how the muscles relate to each other.
Are you expensive or do you take insurance?
I have had issues with this for a while, and your article helped. How do I bring this into weight training? Should I be doing the corrective exercises throughout the day?
Initially, yes, do the corrective exercises twice per day. After a few weeks, it should stick and you can reduce to once a day. Regarding weight training — do the correctives as part of your warm up. And the underactive muscles may need a reduced intensity (depending on what you’re doing) until they’re functioning correctly.
Hi Sara. So one day I woke up with a stiff neck and couldnt turn to the left. Well about a few days later still had stiffness and overturned my neck out of instinct, “daughter fell out of chair” and ya that hurt. Meanwhile another weak goes by still had some stiffness but went out surfing and again overturned my neck out of instinct,”thought I saw a shark”, anyways ya that hurt. So its been about 3 months now since the initial morning and my left side still aches after plenty of message and stretching. Is this a normal time table??? That it would have healed by now
There isn’t really a normal time table when it comes to pain. The dysfunction was probably there for a while and just not causing pain until recently. If the 2 release methods you’re using aren’t working after 3 months of consistent effort, it’s probably not the right solution to rid yourself of the pain. Stretching a weak muscle only makes it weaker. It can feel tight, but actually is weak. Read my “Part 2” of this blog series and find an NKT practitioner in your area using the directory here http://neurokinetictherapy.com/certified-practitioners
I have had neck pain for a year now. I had Thyroid Cancer a year ago. I saw my surgeon, who gave me an x-ray, and they said it was mild arthritis. This is not mild if it has been killing me for a year now. I have tried physical therapy, and they just keep telling me to do my excercises and it will get better. Well, it has not! I am thinking about acupuncture or a chiropractor. Something other than doctors that know diddly squat about pain! Any suggestions?
Did you have surgery on your neck? It could be that the scar tissue is overactive. Try gently massaging the scar, then doing the neck pull-in exercise from the video in part 2 of this series.
I was in the same position as you. The doctors solutions offered no relief. one day a coworker gave me her chiropractors name and I was so miserable I would try anything.. Well that chiropractor also did acupressure and that first visit was amazing. One visit offered relief and I went for 3 months. A big difference compared to the fact that the pain put me in the hospital in shock.
Hi sara, i have lived with a pain in my shoulder/trapezius/neck for a while now, i have trained with weigths for a year before this pain started. i trained like 5 days a week. and start to feel this pain in my right shoulder. but i just ignore it. I used to cut my hair self too with my right hand and i put my shoulder in a very bad position and put a lot of tension there too. Now i can’t train because i feel my shoulder very tight trought the day, it does hurt so much, but its most like a annoying feeling in my neck and back the shoulder ( trapezius ) and very tight in the side of the shoulder. i have been to fisioterapy, but feels they have not helped me with my problem, have you some idea for what this problem could be, and how i can make it better? when i see myself in the mirror, it look like the shoulder blade is more out than the left.
Thanks so much for sharing your video and article. I’m getting really desperate; I’ve been getting neck and shoulder pain for a few years now. Tried all kinds of treatments, massage therapy, chiropractor, acupuncture etc. and nothing works. Worse is in the morning when I get up; the pain intensifies to a point where I have to wake myself up super early (4-5am). When I go to bed, I feel perfectly fine and sometimes no pain at all. I am a very active person; I do go to the gym regularly. I will try your exercise and it does make a lot of sense. Any other suggestion would be much appreciated. I’ve been getting very tight neck and shoulder stiffness/pain. Got the knots by the shoulder/blade area that never seem to go away. It is happening mainly on my left side, right side at times by a fraction of the intensity of the left.
Did you ever get a solution? This sounds exactly like me. 6 years and counting
Hi, I have been diagnosed with cervical dystonia 8 years ago now, I have tried Botox and physio with little or no relief, my turns and pulls down to the left, I think this was caused by the position I was in at work on the production line doing the same thing 8 hours a day, I’m not sure wether the people I am seeing are targeting the right muscles, my muscles are active all the time, even when sitting down, I am in pain most of the time, the only relief I get is when I lie down on my back, any advice would be great, thanks in advance
Hi Paul,
I have a lot of sympathy as I have had cervical dystonia for 42 years . For the last 20 years botox has helped greatly to manage it. However, not so effective any more so I am using alternative treatments. I find meditation, exercises and EFT help to some extent. Would also highly recommend you look at open focus brain training exercises per the book the Open Focus Brain. I am also booked in to see Dr Farias from Toronto who uses an approach of working out bespoke exercises for people over 4 days of workshops. A lot of good reports of Dr Farias and his technique so I am hopeful he can help me improve further.
Best wishes
Derek
Read up on thoracic outlet compression syndrome.
I have experienced very similar issues, mostly intensifying over the past 2-3 years, especially a chronic knot under my right shoulder blade that goes numb sometimes randomly. I have also been prone to migraines since I was a child. Mornings can sometimes be HELL for me too, even when I felt totally fine the night before. Tried many different allopathic and natural remedies and most of them only temporarily helped. I would also LOVE a professional in this field’s advice on the matter!!! THANKFULLY, I have found some relief in a few different ways:
-ABOVE ALL ELSE, going GLUTEN-FREE!!! Changing to a gluten-free diet was literally miraculous for the chronic muscle tension I have had my whole life. I am markedly more toned and flexible, and I have so much more energy.There is a very clear difference when I am really good about it, and when I have even a little bit of gluten. gluten=feeling HORRIBLE, not necessarily right away but usually the next day or even worse the day after… I also highly recommend cutting out dairy and sugar as MUCH as possible, it seriously helps muscle pain I have found.
-Getting the right pillows and mattress for my sleep needs!
-using homeopathy, cell salts helped the most and there are some amazing herb and essential oil blends
Yes, there are many reasons why people get headaches! Food sensitivity is one. Muscle imbalances another.
Hello,
I am 23 years old. The beginning of this year I started suffering from what I supposed was tension headaches/anxiety. I tried going to a chiro to see if I may have needed to get my neck crack. I had about 8 neck cracking sessions with him. Once every week. However, there was no difference with my headaches. This past April on the 20th to be exact, I was so desperate to find relief from my headaches that I decided to do a forward neck stretch due to the fact that I’ve read that stretching the back of your neck muscles are good due to the tension that can be there. So, I did that neck stretch and I added a little pressure while doing it. I also did chin tucks. I was fine right after. Hours later, I started to get a bad headache that started at the back of my head and moved to my temples. It was so bad and annoying and it felt like a tight band around my head. I never thought that the neck stretch would do something like that. I didn’t even had in mind that it was the neck stretch that caused that. The headache lasted for 5 days until I finally decided to take an aleeve pill that decrease the headache dramatically. I was left with a temple headache. 2 weeks after I started to get a pressure behind my right eye that lasted for days. I was then at work and was a little stressed when suddenly I started to get this shooting sensation on the left back side of head. It did not hurt, however, it was very much weird. Now I am randomly getting head pains here and there I am so scared and frustrated. Not sure if it’s the neck stretch that caused this. Please help. Any advice? I was also recently told that I have a pinch nerve in neck.
Those are all symptoms of your neck muscles being imbalanced. I suggest you seek out another chiropractor, one who is trained in Applied Kinesiology. And/or visit a NKT practitioner who can test your muscles. The directory is here https://neurokinetictherapy.com/certified-practitioners.
Aloha, my name is Penelope Randall and I’m 46 year old Caucasian Cherokee German female born in Rome GA now living in Wailuku HI. My neck started hurting about 3 weeks ago and feels like the muscles above my right collar bone are flexed and won’t release causing me a lot of pain and trouble turning my neck. I also feel popping with minimal movement. I do suffer from scoliosis, arthritis, and epilepsy. I don’t know how my neck got this way and guess it is from carrying to much weight or poor posture maybe. Ice packs seem to be the only releaf Ive found so far, but for the most part it hurts 24/7. It doesn’t seem to be going away. I getting an exray next Wednesday. I need a solution if anyone knows any.
I am wondering if tight trap muscles would cause equilibrium problems? It seems to affect my vision in a strange way. Now, I do have some Impingement on my spinal cord In my neck area, but a orthopedic surgeon didn’t think that was my problem. Also have a pinged nerve In my thoracic spine. Any thoughts?
I don’t know if a tight trap can cause equilibrium problems. Vision can be effected by the little suboccipital muscles at the base of your skull. Maybe a visit to a chiropractor is in order.
Yes,this is so true I have severe trap issues that has causes me to get occipital neuralgia as I think it’s truly connected. My right shoulder will never relax and I have daily headaches and mid back pain on the right side only,not to mention cervical arthirits as well. My vision is fine but I ‘ve developed a eye twitch because of all this.
I have the same thing. Did you ever find anything that helped? Thank you
What a great article! I’ve had chronic neck pain for about 8 years. I’ve tried several different chiros with different approaches to “help” the pain. Nothing works. Physical therapy relieves it a bit because I’m stretching it and it feels good, but that is short-lived (basically when I’m done stretching). Dry needling, acupuncture hasn’t worked either. I’m currently doing trigger shots in my neck which are not working long term, but I keep doing them anyway because I get relief for a few hours. Steroid shots helped only for a week. My traps are tight all.the.time. I’m wondering if I’m treating the right muscle? Instead of trigger shots in my neck muscles maybe the traps?? It’s affecting my shoulders too over the past month. My shoulders are sore, my neck, my back. My arms feel sore too, like I’ve been weight lifting. Any thoughts?
It sounds like everything you’re trying is a release method. When you try to release a muscle over and over again and it remains “tight”, you need to start asking why it’s tight. It’s probably weak and trying to provide stability for another muscle. Get your muscles tested by a NeuroKinetic Therapy practitioner in your area to figure out what’s going on.
do you exercise?
what is your job?
it may be a postural issue. it sounds counter intuitive but you need to use soar muscles when you think you need rest. our bodies are made for movement not office work. Internally rotated shoulders and constant head forward position so common in todays lifestyle will cause all these related problems. muscles in the front of the neck and the pec minor get very tight while the rear neck muscles traps etc get strained from holding up your head. The head weighs more and more as you move it beyond neutral position (away from the body) . Many times the nervous system will eventually react to this wrong posture as if it thought you were falling forward, and all the muscles tighten up. You need to reset the nervous system by correcting your posture daily. look up correcting neck forward position and you will find many videos explaining a simple 3 min exercise used by physical therapists to correct this postural inbalance.
which part of your traps? do you have an issue with neck forward? are you at the computer all day, watching TV or media devices? it may actually be a problem with the Levator Scapulae. sometimes the traps over compensate for a weak or injured levator scapulae or the Pectoralis Minor muscle may be really tight because of having your shoulders internally rotated for long periods. like when typing etc. it can be hard to diagnose over the internet because many times pain is deferred- ie the source of the problem is away from where you feel the pain.
Well, this is an amazing explanation as to why doing pull-ups seems to make the pain go away for me for a few days.
After a few years in the Marine Corps and doing pull-ups extensively, and daily, I hardly had any issues. Now, it seems consistent unless I do over-hand pull-ups, which heavily rely on the entire trap group. This confirms that I am not crazy! Time to get back in the gym.
Thanks so much!
I have been to a chiropractor and to therapy plus had dry needling with very little if any relief. any suggestions? It started with a tingling / burning along with the tightness and had just gotten worse
A chiropractic adjustment releases ligaments and dry needling releases muscles. Tingling/burning likely means a nerve is irritated. If the muscles tighten up after a release method, they are likely trying to protect you. You may need to look at strengthening muscles instead of relaxing them. Visit the NeuroKinetic Therapy directory to find a practitioner near you.
Thank you so much!
This is so true. As a kayaker, I can definitely attest to the benefits of activation exercises! They’re a great way to activate and strengthen the muscles that are essential for kayaking, without overworking the muscles that are already prone to tension and overuse. Plus, doing these exercises regularly can really help to improve your overall form and prevent injuries. Thanks for sharing these tips – This lat activation exercise is one I’ll do to keep my neck and shoulders from feeling too tight from kayaking for a living in St Augustine, FL
I suffer with Chronic neck pain…recently had six sessions of Acapuncture with no improvement..have had many years of Physio, and to a lessee degree Chiro…I am an active 77 yr old who still plays Tennis and Swims competitively…any help you can offer please.
my neck and upper traps are in BITS! I have excruciating pain in my jaw that I dont know but think could be connected. i cant wait to try this everyday. god I hope it helps. its been 8years of pain
Hey i had chronic pain on my right trapezious and after I got a cortisone shot i started to feel the same pain on my left side. It also started to feel more stiff than before. Would you happen to know why? Any input would be gladly appreciated.
It could be that your issue is side to side (right/left.) Right trap could be overworking for the left or vice versa. Or maybe the shot didn’t treat the underlying issue. What was the shot intended to treat?