My whole right shoulder, right trap, right neck, is soo tight..

[solid_intensity]

What can I do to help it relax? The muscles feel so tight like they need to be stretched bad. I think they may be my stress muscles, where I tense them up if I'm stressed. I need them to relax, help?

[DJAuto]

Take a hot shower, concentrating on the problematic area.

Massage the area.

[tarun_s]

it could be part of a bigger problem.
for now do some self massages with a tennis ball or golf ball. or use your hands

[solid_intensity]

it could be part of a bigger problem.

like?

[zildjian_4]

Doms?

[solid_intensity]

Nah man, its chronic. It's a tightness, not really an ache or anything. Doesn't hurt, it's just really tight. Thats why I think its some kind of stress reaction.

[tarun_s]

like your back isnt doing the work its supposed to do, or your serratus anterior is inhibiting your scapula retractors from working and because of that your traps have to work overtime.
same thing happened to me, and i ended up with a torn supraspinatus

[solid_intensity]

like your back isnt doing the work its supposed to do, or your serratus anterior is inhibiting your scapula retractors from working and because of that your traps have to work overtime.
same thing happened to me, and i ended up with a torn supraspinatus

no idea what you're saying man, what should i do?

[musclebound2007]

like your back isnt doing the work its supposed to do, or your serratus anterior is inhibiting your scapula retractors from working and because of that your traps have to work overtime.
same thing happened to me, and i ended up with a torn supraspinatus

Oh wow, I guess we're all into anatomy here and can understand what this man means.

Try massaging it like people said, or getting a hot wet cloth and leaving it on it for a bit. Also maybe shrug a bit, and relax, and stretch your arms over your head and so forth, so you can stretch the muscle. When I do intense workout on my traps and shoulders, I get the pain, but of course on both sides, not just one side. But I take a hot shower, or message it with a rounded object, like a ball or something and do some stretches to relax it a bit.

[solid_intensity]

Hm, I think he may be on to something I looked it up. I think I may favor my trap/rotator cuffs over my retractor muscles when say doing a pulldown, or pull up. I'll try to work on that. If I roll my shoulders back, I get a pop sound, like bone/tendon/ligament rubbing. It doesn't hurt but my left shoulder doesn't do it. I went to a chiropractor. I didn't really help. I think I need phys. therapy.

[solid_intensity]

I'll try to squeeze my retractors in more and direct the concentric movement there. I usually try to keep concentration on my lats but maybe that's really making me over use my traps. It shall be a work in progress.

[Mindi912]

no idea what you're saying man, what should i do?

I think what he's saying (if you look at the function of the muscle - it's the primer mover to protract and hold scapula against the chest wall; rotates scapula so that it's inferior angle moves laterally and upward; raises point of shoulder; important role in abduction and raising of arm and in horizontal arm movements (pushing and punching) it's called the boxer muscle....

it makes arm elevation possible - paralysis of the muscle results in 'winging' of vertebral border of scapula away from chest wall making arm elevation impossible

in other words when this muscle does not function the way it should and you have issues lifting your arm then that results in the the trapezuis having to work harder to hold your shoulders up and off your chest - this tightens them - the more work you do the more you compromise the muscle and put more strain on it - the more strain you put on the muscle the higher the risk of injury which is what happened to him

you need to stretch out the your shoulders (back and front) and rotator cuffs - make sure you are warmed up when you do

doing these exercises whilst cold WILL do more damage

[solid_intensity]

Thanks for elaborating.. so I need to stretch shoulders and rotator cuff. K. Now what should I strengthen? I know what the serratus is how do I strengthen it??

[solid_intensity]

Let me just add, I feel it the most from doing pulldowns. So what am I doing wrong? What do I need to do to fix? Thanks a lot.

[Al Swearengen]

Let me just add, I feel it the most from doing pulldowns. So what am I doing wrong? What do I need to do to fix? Thanks a lot.

hard to say, but strengthening your mid traps, rhomboids and external rotators should go a long way in any event. face pulls, incline shrugs, external db rotations, cuban rotations, Supine and standing single-arm dumbbell protractions .

good info for you here, good luck.

http://www.t-nation.com/article/perf...rmanceTraining

[solid_intensity]

Cool thanks, I'll look into all of this.

[tarun_s]

no idea what you're saying man, what should i do?

sorry i should have made myself clearer. the muscles that retract your scapula could be dysfunctioning because of a lot of issues, like posture. to compensate, your traps will take over and thats not supposed to happen. which can lead to tight traps.
what you can do is see a therapist. and a lot of scapula pushups, wall slides to activate the lower trapezius, prone cobras, face pulls. just make sure that you're pushing your shoulders down so u dont activate your traps and use your scapula retractors more. hope this helps.

[Mindi912]

sorry i should have made myself clearer. the muscles that retract your scapula could be dysfunctioning because of a lot of issues, like posture. to compensate, your traps will take over and thats not supposed to happen. which can lead to tight traps.
what you can do is see a therapist. and a lot of scapula pushups, wall slides to activate the lower trapezius, prone cobras, face pulls. just make sure that you're pushing your shoulders down so u dont activate your traps and use your scapula retractors more. hope this helps.

yep that's exactly what happened to me traps were so tight I thought I was going to die from the pain - they were so high they looked like they started at the top of my neck.

I didn't have a clue how to 'fix' it so I went to see an oesteopath they manipulated the bone and muscle back into position and gave me a series of stretches to do to help correct my posture

Just after that I started going to the gym and start taking my training more seriously and I found that just by simply exercising and weight training normally (not doing anything extra for pulling my shoulders back) that it corrected itself naturally. I have never had a better posture as I do now.

[solid_intensity]

So what needs to be strengthened more? I'd assume the middle/lower trap?

[tarun_s]

So what needs to be strengthened more? I'd assume the middle/lower trap?

you assume right

[Big Arm Big Pay]

heating pad?

[tarun_s]

heating pad?

temporary solution

[solid_intensity]

you assume right

K awesome, thanks everyone! I'll begin to strengthen it. I blame this from years of holding my book bag on my right shoulder. I would lift it up and forward to hold my book bag on my one shoulder (to look cool), and now I have this problem. Makes sense too.

[pomaikai]

I have the same problem on my left side. I just did pushups like the ones described on the tnation article about posture(cant find the article) and man I really felt it in my shoulder, rotator cuff, and around my rhomboids and serratus anterior. Its the one where you do a pushup with your arms around 45 degrees toward your side and lower down till your chest is about an inch from the ground and hold it for a second or two. This forces your shoulder blades back and together. You then push up trying to get your body as far from possible from the ground. To do this you have to round your back and push your shoulders forward. Did 5 sets of 10 and man my left shoulder blade and shoulder are exhausted.

[TheLorax]

For symptomatic relief, try some arnica gel.

[solid_intensity]

Just wanted to say thanks a lot fellas. I have dealt with this problem since around grammar school and could never get a grip on what was going on. I've had a chiropractor but it never helped, as I figured. I've been stretching the hell out of my traps, neck, and shoulder, and strengthening my rhomboid/middle right trap. And it's been getting a lot better. I can actually start to feel my neck and shoulder finally loosening up. I actually truly feel new muscle fiber being used that hasn't been used before. As I see it what happend is that my right shoulder turned really tight the point I could not fully extend my arm over my head or forwards. So to compensate my upper trap pulled my arm in, and my middle trap released to allow an extention. So it all started from a tight shoulder, and different parts of my entire trap over and under compensating that lead to this. I thank you all very much for the help, I've pretty much dealt with this my whole life now, and it's finally clearing up. And I have everyone in this thread to thank. So thank you.

[huwwaters]

You can get a preview of this book on Google

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=A...940Y#PPT163,M1

Do not let the title put you off. It's about muscles tightening due to mental and physical stresses, overuse etc. It locates pressure points in which you should massage and poke which will relax the muscle making it easier to stretch.

Also try going to see a physiotherapist.

[solid_intensity]

I believe it, stress does add to it.

[phuz]

Take a hot shower, concentrating on the problematic area.

Massage the area.

definitely. I like to do this anyway after a tough workout, whether I pulled a muscle or not. It's just feels good to stretch it back out.

[Nickm82]

Hi guys,

Bringing this thread back coz there was some really good advice in here and I am hoping I can get some more.

I have basically the same problem, as well as the neck and shoulder though I also get tightness into my right arm even right to the hand.

I have always felt like my right trap would just not relax. I have been to two physios, a chiro, a sports doctor, a GP and finally a rheumotologist (not sure how to spell that) whose answer was antidepressants. I didn't take them because I know there is more to it.

When I read the above it made perfect sense that the trap had taken over for other muscles, especially as it is my right side and the arm used to rest on my desk to use the mouse so the muscles in the middle back were not used at all.

So I have been doing as many scap push ups, wall slides, prone cobras and face pulls as I can and almost instantly started feeling better. The physio was always trying to get my shoulders back but it always felt unnatural and forced and obviously didn't last more than a few minutes. But after these exercises me shoulder natural sat back on those muscles without any conscious effort opening up the chest and taking the weight off my trap and alleviating a lot of pain.

I felt good. So good. The only thing was there was still a know of tension at the back of my neck at the base of the skull just to the right of my spine. This wasn't so bad, but when I sit on a computer it gets tight and causes tension headaches. Which sucks when you work on a computer (all ergonomics have been optimized).

So I googled a bit and found 'forward head posture' something I have, and was told so by two physios, the specialist and the chiro. So I started doing some chin tucking exercises....

BEAUTIFUL! That knot shrinks and shrinks. But.....then by the end of the first days (doing like 10 every couple of hours) I start to get a pain in my shoulder blade and the arm.....I also get this while actually perfoming the chin tuck but try not to push it too much. But now this pain is bad...it feels like the shoulder blade, on the outside not close to the spine, is soooo tender. Like really bruised. I even feel it when doing nothing. Then the next day I am all tight again, the shoulders dont feel open the tightness in the arm is back (it runs mainly along the inside of the forearm and into the hand). The tightness in my neck is back probably coz i can no longer pull my chin in and the shoulder is all tight again.

It's frustrating. I thought I had it.

So what is this? And any idea how to fix it? Is it just so tight this is a normal reaction? Persist with chin tucks?

Also anyone know what I am dealing with? Is this muscle? Tendons? I mean i can tuck my chin and get a shooting pain in my forearm and shoulder blade. What is that?

Any help would be so appreciated you can't imagine. This pain isn't so bad that I am dying, but its enough that I am constantly tired and distracted.