In this video, I'm going to
show you how to fix trapezius pain for good. Stay tuned. Hey, everyone. Dr. Rowe
coming to you from SpineCare in St. Joseph, Michigan. In this
video, we're going to go over a step-by-step guide that can
give quick and long-lasting relief for trapezius muscle
pain. If you're unfamiliar with the trapezius, it's a large
muscle that runs throughout the whole back and it's comprised
of three separate areas. The upper, middle, and lower. When
this muscle becomes strained and inflamed, it can cause a
lot of issues including neck pain that works its way to the
shoulders that works its way downward in between shoulders
and then further down in between the shoulder blades.
So, to make getting relief easy, I'm going to show you how
to target each area separately in three different parts. While
the parts may be different, they are meant to work
together. So, to get the best results, use all three. As a
bonus, all of the exercises can be done at home and you may
find give quick trapezius muscle pain relief even within
30 seconds. So, let's get started and fix that trapezius
pain right now for good. In the first part, we're going to
focus on warming up the muscles and soft tissues that is
bringing blood flow in, improving circulation,
increasing flexibility, and hopefully getting some quick
pain relief. Let's start with the upper trapezius. That area
pretty much from the bottom of the ear into the side of the
neck to the top of the shoulder. Usually the big hot
spot for most that are dealing with trapezius issues. For this
one, you can use a couple fingers kind of like making a
hook with them but I would recommend giving a tennis ball
a try. Kinda cupping it like this. I actually like the
tennis ball method because it's a little bit more comfortable.
So, whatever side that you're having upper trapezius pain.
Let's say it's your right side. You're going to take your arm
on that side, bend your elbow at 90 degrees and then slide
your hand and arm across your lower back as much as you can.
You should feel the muscle right here on the top of the
shoulder and to the side of the neck, start to relax. From
there, we're going to tilt our head away from the side of
pain. So, I'm taking my left ear towards my left shoulder.
You should feel a D opening stretch forming on that painful
side of the neck. From there, we're really going to get that
muscle to fire by now turning and looking upward towards the
ceiling. You should feel a really deep stretch at this
point. From here, we're going to build into a self massage.
So, take your tennis ball or take fingers and what you're
going to do is start right on the side of the neck below your
ear and press in there where you're going to get a good self
massage but not causing any discomfort and do this for
about three to 5 seconds. From there, just going to relax. On
the next repetition, what you're going to do is go
slightly below that previous spot and then repeat. You want
to do this whole process pretty much going from the bottom of
the ear working your way into the side of the neck to the top
of the shoulder. You're going to find that one certain spot
is just the hot spot like it really is painful. Maybe a big
muscle knot spasm trigger point. At that point, you
really want to focus on that one and repeat this until you
finally feel that tightness go away or the pain is
significantly reduced and I do recommend that when you're done
on one side to switch to the other side just to keep
everything in balance. For the middle and lower trapezius, we
need to target across the shoulders in the upper back
downward towards the spine into the shoulder blade. Not the
easiest spot to reach. So, here's a simple trick to make
it easy. What you're going to do is take a tennis ball and if
you don't have a tennis ball, no big deal. Just roll up
several socks instead and place it in a large sock a
pillowcase. That way, you can throw the ball over your
shoulder just like this and be able to hit those hard-to-reach
spots. So, let's go next to a wall. You're going to position
the ball right over the most painful spot and with this one,
only go over muscle. Don't go over the spine or anything
bony. You're going to tilt your body so your feet are going to
be slightly out in front of you. That way, you can press
your body weight into the ball. Only go to a point where it is
a good, comfortable self massage. Nothing whatever side
that you're having discomfort I pretty much have it centered
right over my left side lower trapezius you're going to take
that arm off to the side like this and bring it back as much
as you can so my arm is straight and I'm bringing the
back side of my hand away from my body bringing it backward
you should feel a very deep stretch into the chest but more
importantly right into that trapezius muscle what I like to
do is hold this for about 3 to 5 seconds I relax and then
repeat this 110 to 15 times. What we're trying to do again
is warm the muscles up while also trying to improve
circulation and with each repetition, try to stretch into
it just a little bit more. From there, what I'm going to do is
now raise my arm up kind of like a Y position and then
repeat. You're going to notice that the muscle gets hit just a
little bit differently. Again, 10 to 15 repetitions and then
from there, just switch over different spots as needed. In
this part, we're going to focus on getting long-lasting relief
by strengthening the trapezius muscles. This is by far the
most important part so don't skip it. We're going to start
with the upper trapezius with an exercise called the
shrugging lift off. Very easy to do. The only thing that we
need is a smooth wall. Start off by facing your wall, have
your chest flush against it. You're going to take your hands
palm side and place them on the wall. We want to do a shrugging
motion to begin with. So, just reach overhead reaching your
hands upward towards the ceiling as much as you can.
Really focus on feeling that trapezius muscle on the top
part of the shoulder start to fire. Hold this one for 5
seconds. You're just then going to relax and then you're going
to repeat this one 10 to 15 times and with each repetition,
try to build into it just a little bit more. If you want to
make this one more challenging, you can always throw in another
set or two. To take this one to the next level, grab some
weights like a dumbbell or a barbell and then shrug upwards.
The more weight resistance you use, the more muscle you should
gain. So, let's build next into the lift off which is going to
target the muscle just a little bit differently. It's very
similar. What we're going to do, face our wall, have our
chest flush against it but this time around, we're going to
angle our arms and hands away from us in a Y position. I like
to make a fist, have my thumbs pointed away from the wall.
You're going to press your fist into the wall and now press
upward as much as you can until you feel those muscles in the
upper back start to fire. Once you feel that, you're then
going to lift off. So, take your hands away from the wall.
What you should feel is a deep activation of the chest muscles
but you should also try to focus on pinching the shoulder
blades at the same time to activate those trapezius. Hold
this one for about 5 seconds, you're going to relax and then
on the next repetition, try to build into it just a little bit
more. Again, to make this one more challenging, throw in
another set or two. So, moving on to the middle and lower
trapezius muscles. We're going to do a strengthening exercise
called the shoulder blade pump and rotate. This one is best
done in the edge of a bed. Position your body where your
shoulders and head are going to be off the edge of that bed. We
want to do a simple head retraction to begin with. Take
two fingers, put them on your chin, drive your chin and head
upward towards the ceiling until you feel a really good
activation of the neck muscles. We're going to hold this
position right here during this exercise. So, whatever side of
the bed that you're closest towards. In this case, it's my
right. I'm going to take that side's arm, strain it out like
this, make a fist, and then turn my hand so my thumb is
going upwards towards the ceiling kind of like a
hitchhiker sign. We're going to do the pumping motion first.
Very easy. What you want to do is lift your hand and thumb
upward towards the ceiling but moving through your shoulder
blades. So, really focus on trying to move through your
shoulder blade lifting that hand up. You should really
start to feel the muscles around that shoulder blade
start to fire. That's that trapezius. You want to hold
this and now we're going to build into the rotation to take
it to the next level. So, again, moving to our shoulder
blade, I'm going to rotate my shoulder blade and upper body
towards the ceiling until I feel a deep activation of those
muscles. I feel a ton firing. It's pretty challenging. Hold
this for about 5 seconds. You're going to relax. On the
next repetition, pump and rotate into it just a little
bit more. I try to do that for about five to ten repetitions
and you can make it more challenging by throwing in a
couple more sets. From there, I like to take this one to even
the next level by targeting it at a different angle. So,
instead of going straight out, I'm going to go into a Y
position kind of like this. So, I'm going a little bit more
forward. So, I'm going to pump upwards again and then, I'm
going to rotate. You'll notice it hits the muscles just a
little bit differently. Again, 10 to 15 times, make it more
challenging by throwing in another set or two and whatever
you do on one side, always switch to the other side to
keep everything in balance. So, in the last part, we're going
to focus on stretching. Stretching is really important
to do after strengthening exercises to keep the muscles
loose to help avoid soreness but stretching can also be used
throughout the day for quick muscle pain and tightness
relief and I'm going to show you a method that you can do
pretty much anytime, anywhere including at work because we
can do this one seated. I'm going to start with the upper
trapezius and then work into the middle and then the lower
and I'm going to focus on the right side but I do recommend
doing this on both sides to keep everything in balance. So,
to begin with the upper trapezius I'm going to take the
arm on the side of pain in this case is my right bend my elbow
at 90degrees and then I'm going to slide my arm and hand across
the lower back as much as I can until you start to feel that
upper trapezius muscle on the top of the shoulder start to
relax once you feel that you're going to take your other hand
hook the side of your head just like this and now slowly pull
your ear towards the opposite side shoulder so I'm bending my
head towards my left you'll feel a deep opening stretch
forming a the side of the neck. You want to hold this position
and now what we're going to do to take this one to the next
level is then turn and look upward towards the ceiling. The
more that you rotate and look upward towards the ceiling,
you're really going to feel that upper trapezius, get a
deep, wonderful stretch. Hold this one comfortably for 20 to
30 seconds. Release it and then on the next repetition, build
into it just a little bit more. I try to do this for three to
five repetitions. Moving on to the middle trapezia we're going
to focus more on the upper back in between the shoulders. So,
this one is kind of like a slump stretch. What I'm going
to do is take my hands, interlock my fingers just like
this and put it over the knee of the side of pain. Again, on
my right side. Let's slump forward taking our chin towards
our chest rounding our shoulders forward until you
feel a really good stretch on the upper back in between the
shoulders. Once you feel that, we're then going to use our leg
right here to intensify that stretch to hit middle
trapezius. So, what I'm doing is more or less using this knee
to push down and taking my hands down with it and when you
do this, it's really going to intensify that slump stretch. I
feel it pretty much all across my upper back and it usually
feels really really good. Again, 20 to 32nd hold, you're
going to release it on the next repetition. Try to build into
it just a little bit more. Three to five complete
repetitions. For the lower trapezius, what I'm going to do
is take my arm on the side of pain I'm going to straighten my
elbow and reach upward like this and now I'm going to take
my hand and arm and reach across my body so my right arm
is going to reach across my body towards my left and I'm
going to angle it downward towards the floor until I feel
a really deep stretch forming on the edge of my shoulder
blade going towards my spine that is pretty much the area of
the lower trapezius once you feel that you're going to slump
into it just a little bit more to intensify it take your hand
on the other side grab your elbow and passively pull your
hand down towards the floor even more. You should feel a
deep stretch already forming but we're going to take this
one to the next level by slumping into it a little bit
more and rotating our shoulder on the painful side towards the
other side downward towards the floor. So, I'm kind of rotating
that right shoulder across my body downward towards my floor.
You will feel a deep stretch across that shoulder blade into
the side of the spine. Again, a 20 to 32nd hold. You're going
to relax and on the next repetition try to build into it
just a little bit more three to five repetitions if the
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