A few months ago I wrote a blog with the same title. I’ve been getting a lot of questions and feedback from it so wanted to expand on it. In this blog series called Why Your Neck Tension Won’t Go Away, I’m discussing possibilities. The possible relationships between your muscles that MAY be contributing to your neck tension.
This is my disclaimer: you may get results from the scenario I present, but you may not. There are MANY possible muscular imbalances that could be the root cause of your pain. It’s impossible to know your specific case without testing your muscles.
You can read part 1 here for one scenario. In part 2 below, we’ll take a look at another potential dysfunctional muscle relationship.
Neck Extensors
There are a bunch of muscles on the backside of your neck that extend your neck. Neck extension is lifting your chin up to look at the ceiling.
Your neck extensors can often overwork for your neck flexors which are on the front side of your neck.
The Levator Scapulae is one of the neck extensors.
Take a look at where it attaches on the cervical spine and the shoulder blade.
The Levator Scapulae can take over the job of holding your head up. We look down at our phones so much that the neck extensors get overstretched, but stay tight in order to hold our 7 pound head up. That makes the levator scapulae angry that it has to do the job of other muscles!
The neck extensors can also become overactive if you’ve ever had whiplash.
Neck Flexors
There are a lot of muscles that flex the neck and they are on the front and sides of your neck. Neck flexion is looking down….the opposite movement of what the neck extensors do. It’s common to see a front to back muscle imbalance. Often, the neck flexors become underactive.
Improving Neck Tension
As with any muscular imbalance, the overactive muscle needs to be calmed down by either stretching, massage, foam rolling or other release method. And the underactive muscles need to be strengthened.
I like to use a small ball to place on a trigger point in the overactive muscle. With the Levator Scapulae, the trigger point is often on the top, inside edge of the shoulder blade.
You can either place the ball between you and a wall while standing or lie on your back on the ball. If your trigger point is hyper-sensitive, I recommend using the standing release against the wall. Spend 1-2 minutes with pressure on the trigger point and rolling the length of the muscle.
Then, strengthen the neck flexors with this exercise:
This is a very subtle movement. You’re pulling your chin in as if you are making a double chin. Do as many reps as it takes to fatigue the front of your neck.
Do this corrective exercise homework daily for at least 2 weeks. And start looking at your phone at eye level. The more you practice good neck alignment, the faster the neck tension will go away.
Real Life Examples
How coincidental is it that while I’m writing this blog, a client comes in complaining of right-sided neck tension?! She also gets headaches mainly on the right side.
I tested both her right and left levator scapulae and they were weak and painful. It’s tempting to stretch an area of tension, but if it’s weak, stretching only makes it worse. Turns out one side was overworking for the other.
Another client had whiplash from a car accident 10 years ago. Her right side levator scapulae was overactive and neck flexors were underactive. So she got the exact corrective exercise homework I’ve listed above.
This is why having your muscles tested by a NeuroKinetic Therapy practitioner is so important. There are so many ways your body can compensate. You have to discover what’s the correct exercise for you.
My neck hurts on what feels like the axis and like c4-6 are sore to touch when I have migraines or very bad headaches it hurts on each side of axis what feels like round ball shaped boney shapes on each side of axis on my skull the last few days I’ve had both arms deltoid pain. The only way I can explain is my neck won’t relax HELP
There are muscles at the base of your skull called the suboccipitals. You could be feeling a trigger point in them or feeling your vertebrae. See if you can work with someone like a skilled massage therapist or chiropractor or find a NeuroKinetic Therapy practitioner in your area to test your muscles. You have to figure out if your suboccipitals are underactive or overactive or possibly your upper traps.
Can you give some tips on tight upper traps and scalenes? I’ve tried everything for it . One shoulder is higher too and I have tight pec minor
It’s common for the upper traps to be overactive and trying to do the job of the scalenes. Have you tried massaging the upper traps and strengthening the scalenes? Creating muscle balance involves both a release and an activation. If you have and that hasn’t helped, then it’s probably time to see a NeuroKinetic Therapy practitioner in your area. Visit the directory and find someone who can test your muscles to determine exactly what’s going on.
I definitely have some of these issues. I know for sure I overactiveupper traps and an overactive levatorr scapula. The right side (dominant) seems to be the worst.
I’ve recently realized when I doze off at night, I tighten my levator and traps. It is obviously neuromuscular since I’m sleeping but how do I turn that off? I am typically a back sleeper but lately even on my side has caused this.
I’ve tried chiropractics, deep tissue massage, stem, ultrasound, PNF, ART, guasha, acupuncture, and pt (to name a few). I’m a fitness instructor and cPT who hasn’t been able to workout for MONTHS. I also have SUPER lax joints and have been working on stabilizing my scapula but now I’m having chronic teres major pain.
Any suggestions?
I’d suggest seeing a NeuroKinetic Therapy practitioner in your area to test your traps and levator. They may be weak which might explain why all those release methods you mentioned haven’t worked. Or it may be that they are overactive and it’s not being balanced out by activating the weak muscles like the SCM or scalenes.
Or another scenario may be one of the small shoulder stabilizers may be overworking for the large muscles. For example, I was having a lot of tension in my neck and shoulders until I figured out my supraspinatus was overworking for my lat.
Get your muscles tested!
Hi Sara.
came across your exercises and for the first time it felt like something works and removed my pain in seconds.
is possible that my neck problems and pinched nerve issue to be from muscles unbalance ?
it started 3 months ago at the gym using too many weights.
now my back and right shoulder is all tight and in pain and a big nod or swollen area on my upper trap that won t go away, my neck is crooked and off center and I ve been diagnosed with bulged disc C5-C6 and pain is mostly in my shoulder down to my arm.i m looking for alternatives and I m not ready for surgery to treat the effect . i need to find the cause.
can you help me with this please ?
Yes, it’s possible that your neck problems are being caused by muscle imbalances. You could try using a tennis ball to release your upper traps and levator scapulae on your right side and then doing very low intensity neck flexor strengthening exercises. Neck flexors are typically weak. But it’s best to get tested to figure out which muscles precisely are imbalanced. Visit the NKT directory at https://neurokinetictherapy.com/certified-practitioners to find a practitioner in your area.
Oh my goodness gracious! Both of these helped methods helped immediately! I want to cry tears of relief. Thank you!
Wonderful! Glad to hear it:)
I started with a pain in the middle of my upper back and then felt a stiffness in my SCM muscle and now have been headaches as well which i think is mostly from the anxiety of worrying about these aches and tension i have felt on these muscles. Please help!
Visit a NeuroKinetic Therapy practitioner in your area. Here’s the directory to locate one. He/she can test your SCM and upper back muscles like the rhomboids, upper trap, and others.
My husband broke his c1 in a truck wreck. It never healed well. He has terrible pain and knots in hi neck and sholder blades. I have been told that it is the sciatica nerve that isin flamed. Is this true. And what can i do to help him.
Im having a really hard time loosening up my right trap its stuck like i move my arm up and the muscle looks like a spaghetti string from my ear to my shoulder like i have no neck on one side. Causing me extreme headaches and shoulder pain. What can i do for relief when it wont loosen the excercises work but only for about 30 min.
What exercises are you doing for it currently?
Hi Sara,
I wish I was nearby so you could do muscle testing and treatment for me. I’ve had left side neck/shoulder pain and headaches for years. I believe it Started after Overuse of shoulder from overhead painting and I protected and braced that arm/shoulder for a while. I can tell i have a scapular issue. I feel it’s improved some from stretching of serratus anterior area and pecs with ball. But I still have horrible headaches mostly when sitting. And scapular/Levator scap pain. It got worse months ago after looking down working on a puzzle and I feel a constant trigger pain in the left side of neck now that will NOT go away. And if I try to work on the point too much it makes the headache worse or sometimes get slightly dizzy. Pain doesn’t usually get too bad otherwise until I sit down. Any suggestions you could make would be so helpful!! I’ve gotten to where I avoid sitting. Could these deep cervical flexors be just what I need? I began to incorporate them in today!! Thanks in advance