Neck Pain with Shoulder Shrugs

[ISellHomes]

Last night I was trying to do dumbbell shoulder shrugs. 8 sets of 12 reps with 40lbs in each hand. I have done this exercise weekly for the past month. Last night, however, my neck/spine grew a sharp pain. I was performing the exercise in front of a mirror, and the movements were controlled and slow. I had a slight roll to my shoulders (bringing my shoulder blades toward each other on the downward portion).

This morning the pain had lessened, but it still feels like I have a "crick" in my neck when I turn so far in any direction

It feels like I strained and managed to slightly compress my vertebrae with my neck muscles during the lift. Has anyone else run into this? Any thing I should avoid? Could the roll have contributed to the pain?

[papi93]

Did you keep your head in a neutral position?

[ISellHomes]

Did you keep your head in a neutral position?

I tried, but I mah have ducked my head down to meet my shoulders now that I think about it. But it's difficult to tell when your shoulders are coming up if your head is coming down.

[vegasdsm]

gotta keep your head straight forward.. if you even peek to the side you're F'd...

might want to "hang" between your sets..... (takes weight off spine and allows everything to even out after being compressed)..

40 lbs' in each hand may not compress the spine alot.. but by "hanging" between sets, it may alleviate your pain(s)...

[ISellHomes]

gotta keep your head straight forward.. if you even peek to the side you're F'd...

might want to "hang" between your sets..... (takes weight off spine and allows everything to even out after being compressed)..

40 lbs' in each hand may not compress the spine alot.. but by "hanging" between sets, it may alleviate your pain(s)...

Well, the compression is in my neck (the "c" vertebrae I think) not my back, so hanging really wouldn't help. It feels like I unconciously flexed my neck muscles hard enough to compress my vertebrae. While it's not feasible, it feels like hanging by my head would relieve the stress. Does anyone know any stretches or techniques that could achieve that kind of relief?

[Sean Patterson]

first of all about sholder shrugs
do not roll your shoulders
the fucntion of your traps to simple shrug up and down is plenty
there is no need at all what so ever to roll the shoulders
shrug the weigh tup contracting your traps
and release it slowly and keep in good fasion up and down
stop rolling your shoulders thinking its better for your traps
im sure this will help a lot
godbless
sean

[IamAnAlien]

sry for bringing back an old thread. but this happened to me today AND a few days ago.
last time (last friday) it happened when i did side-lifts with very inproper form.
this time it happened when i did shrugs. i gotta admit my head was lurking when i did the barbell shrugs.
i did them like this:

i think i gonna try it in 4 days one last time and focus on my neck beeing straight.
if anybody knows some tips, just let it out.

[braindx]

It's likely while you were sleeping (especially if you sleep on your side, stomach or roll) that one of your vertebrae got stuck out of place either in a rotated or side-bent position.

It happens especially when you tire out the muscles from working out.

Heat+ massage should help normalize it if it's not bad.

Otherwise you may need to see a chiro or physical therapist to pop it back in place.

[IamAnAlien]

how do i know if i have to let it pop back by an shiro?
look at this pic:

normally i have one of those "cervical" sticking out a bit. but since yesterday its flat.
maybe its INplace now?

[derstratege]

Avoid doing Shrugs at all. I found it to be a completely non-sense and non-functional isolation exercise, training a muscle that works as synergist or at least provides stabilization during almost any shoulder and many back exercises.

You can develop really great upper traps by simply having a versatile delts and back workout including a wide variaty of other exercises, without doing a single Shrug, and without compressing your vertebrea.

Take care...

[IamAnAlien]

like i said... i gonna try it one last time with proper form (straight neck) and a little slower (even i did them slow last time). i really like shrugs and they do alot for my traps.
its strange that the same thing happened when i did side raises a week ago.
only different was, last friday the pain went from the spine to my right shoulder and this time to my left shoulder.
if it happens again while i do shrugs, i gonna leave them out.

maybe it has something to do with the front barbell shrugs... they make you pull your shoulders to the front.
i did shrugs before with dumbbels, never had problems. i even used to rotate my shoulders back then. but my dumbbels arent heavy enough anymore.

thx for the replys so far. and i'll let you know how it went next time.

[IamAnAlien]

so, i worked out again today. or at least i tried. pullovers where impossible, since i felt pain.
barbell and dumbbell rows , bench and flys were all no problems. then in my second set of gorilla press it came back. not as bad as the last time, but i stopped immediately.
i still wont go to a doc. i will start doing wrestler/neck bridges tomorrow night again, if possible. and hope the pain goes all away from alone. like it did last time.

[c-diddy]

first of all about sholder shrugs
do not roll your shoulders

^^^ Rolling shoulders is bad for your rotator cuffs. Read these threads.

[IamAnAlien]

i know that by now... i didnt roll them since a few month.

[SONOFABULK]

bump, i might have fuked up my neck doing shrugs yesterday. If i turn my head left or right, the pain is really bad and i can hear some tiny cracks. Also, i didn't roll my shoulder, all i did was go up and down with 45 pound plates and i held them for about 10 reps. I pushed myself pretty hard and my stats are bs, i am really like 140.

[Epilerik]

You probably used poor form. And really, shrugs are a waste of time. Most people's upper traps are overdeveloped compared to their low traps and delts. Big upper traps with small back and shoulders just looks like frog-tech. Deads, olympic lifts, rackpulls and face pulls are more than enough to hit the upper traps plenty.

If you insist on shrugging, do it with the weight over your head like you're at the top of a shoulder press. This works the lower and middle traps, as well as the upper traps. It also helps your press, because you're endurance is being trained.

[k9pit]

bump, i might have fuked up my neck doing shrugs yesterday. If i turn my head left or right, the pain is really bad and i can hear some tiny cracks. Also, i didn't roll my shoulder, all i did was go up and down with 45 pound plates and i held them for about 10 reps. I pushed myself pretty hard and my stats are bs, i am really like 140.

If you let your neck go far forward with heavy shrugs (or heavy DB shoulder presses for that matter), you can get some wicked neck pain. Try to keep your neck back or neutral, but not far forward.