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#neckpain #shoulderpain #uppertrapeziustreatment #uppertrapeziusmassage #uppertrapexercises

upper trap starts from the bottom of skull and ends at the top of scapula
so this will rotate scapula upwards like this which is very important for shoulder movements
but more important function of this muscle is to fight against gravity your arm weighs about 5% of your body weight if your are 70kg, your arm weighs 3.5kg it means your upper trap has to hold 3.5kg against gravity all day long if it can't, your arm goes down plus if you have forward head posture, upper trap has to stretch out more and if you sit down too much, there is a high chance you are not using your trap as much as you should I mean you wouldn't use upper trap through its whole range (lifting arm above head) if you don't? of course the muscle gets weak if weak muscle has to hold arm all the time? it will get overworked there is an article published last year in British Sports Medicine Journal it states overworked muscles's collagen density increases and the increased density means changes in collagen fibers to sum up, if you don't move your muscle, it will get weak weak muscles easily get overworked, which can lead to changes in collagen fibers with that change, muscle function gets weaker again weaker muscles get overworked again.. it's a vicious cycle then there will be less blood circulation that supplies O2 and nutrients to muscles it also circulates byproducts of muscle function unused muscles (weak) don't get enough blood supply this will weaken the signals from your brain too eventually your brain tends to forget how to use that muscle properly that's why massage and stretching can't fix this problem because what you need is to use your muscle! how much exercise do you need? the answer is a little more than what you normally do if you are an office worker sitting at a desk all day long, you need just little more than sitting and resting so how? you need to massage first this is just to warm up your muscle so it doesn't have to be hard push down onto the muscle and move shoulder up/down, side to side you can make circles too for 30 sec do it on different spots small movements to wake up those muscles or you can pinch the muscle too using your thumb
2. shrug exercise
many people do this exercise to strengthen traps but you use levator scapulae in this exercise too which can rotate scapula downwards it can also be a culprit for shoulder and neck pain to minimise its involvement, bring your arms 30deg out then do the shrug (here are some variations too) and push your head 5cm backwards as well it looks a bit funny tho but from this position, do whatever you do in everyday activities it can be arm movements you do at a desk with a small weight you can move arms up/down, side to side too (about 30sec) (being silly) you can still improve muscle endurance start within a small range and increase gradually you don't need to do quick movements unless it is necessary for sports or specific exercises
3. eccentric exercises
tilt your head to left shoulder and use your right hand to pull it to right side. keep pushing your head to left side tho (about 30% of full power - 70%) so you can use and stretch your muscle at the same time 2sets of 5 - 3sets of 20 3 times a week you can also shrug your shoulder in the starting position and then bring it down as you pull your head to the other side just do 5-10 times whenever you think of it the point is to use your muscle while stretching if you do it too hard, you might pull the muscle so start with 30% in small ranges. then slowly increase
4. rotator cuff exercises
the rationale for this exercise is to support the upper trap
upper trap doesn't attach to arm bone (it is on scapula)
but rotator cuff muscles are attached to arm bone
which means they are the main muscles to hold your arm against gravity
if these are weak? you know what will happen
if your arm goes down, your trap has to work harder
also your deltoid can overwork too
for this exercise, hold small weight
and lift them up/down with thumbs up
according to research, this exercise can target all the rotator cuff and upper trap together
it is better to slow down when going down
going up: concentric contraction
going down: eccentric contraction
and then you can put more loading during the eccentric phase
keep lifting up while pushing arm down with the other hand
if you have shoulder pain, don't lift too high (below 90deg)
again start from 30% and increase to 70% gradually
it would be best if you do serratus anterior and lower trap exercises as well