I was having dinner the other night with a group of people and one of the guests mentioned they were having neck and shoulder tightness. We got to talking and they were curious about the muscles in the upper neck. It’s times like these that I love because it gives me a chance to share anatomy.
Let’s take a quick look at the trapezius:
As you can see, it’s a big, broad, flat muscle. However, when people complain of upper neck pain, sometimes it’s due to an upper trap that’s pretty tight.
This is also an area where people tend to get muscle tightness because we hunch so much over our phones and computers.
So, what can you offer? One approach is to strengthen the middle trapezius, which tends to be weak from all that hunching we’re doing. The role of the middle trapezius is to adduct, or draw closer together, the scapula. This is also called “strengthening the posterior chain,” a reference to a whole line of muscles that are on the back of the body. The middle trapezius, along with the rhomboids, draw the scapula towards the spine. Strengthening those two muscles can alleviate some of the tightness in the upper traps.
Also, using a myofascial release ball, nudged between the upper trap and the corner of a wall, can give you a chance to use some gentle pressure, similar to what you’d get in a massage, onto the muscle. This can give you some control over taking care of it, without having to get an actual massage. Plus, it gives you something you can do regularly, which is one of the key aspects to healing.
Yoga poses that would strengthen the middle trapezius and the rhomboids are poses like Bridge with the fingers interlaced behind the back and any variation where you add “cactus arms” to the pose.
Looking for yoga sequencing that can help you learn anatomy? Check out my Practice Portal where I’ve loaded almost 100 sequences as well as guided meditations and other goodies! Take a peek here>>>>>>Practice Portal.
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Namaste,
Karen