Do Your Traps Feel Like Cement Bricks?

Do your traps feel like little cement bricks? Does it seem like those muscles never let go no matter how many massages you get? Do you have chronic headaches? Is it affecting your sleep and your daily activities?

It could be neurological muscle tightening! It happens when your body is out of alignment. Instead of those trap muscles expanding and contracting like they should, they now acting like a tight strap.

Here is how to identify it and how to eliminate your problem:

What is neurological neck muscle tightening? When your body is structurally out of alignment, your brain can sense it. You may or may not feel this misalignment, so you continue to move throughout your day and do your normal exercises without knowing you are outside of your “safe space.” Your brain sends signals to your muscles to tighten around the misaligned area in order to “protect that spot” and hold it tight enough that you won’t get injured further. In theory, this is a great thing that the body does, but your body is not designed to move out of alignment, and the muscles that the brain have told to tighten in order to protect you are not meant for such a huge, long term job. They will eventually fail, and when they do you could be injured (eg. a slipped disc) or at the very least you will feel tightness and pain.

How can you tell if your neck is misaligned? Sometimes you need to see a practitioner or chiropractor in order to tell for sure. Many times, however, you can see it in the mirror.

Ideally, if you have good posture, your rib cage should sit right above your pelvis (hips), your shoulders slightly rotated outward, and your ears should sit right above your shoulders, chin level. Unfortunately, in a world where most of us sit at a desk and stare at a computer, this posture rarely happens. Most people hunch, letting their rib cage drop down, their shoulders to roll inward, and their head jut forward. Look at your posture in the mirror as you stand to the side. Are your shoulders rounded forward? Are your ears in front of your shoulders? If your ears are farther forward, your trapezius muscles (neck and upper back) have lengthened too far and will tighten up in a panic, as your brain has told them to hold on tight to support your head (instead of your head balancing in easy alignment).

You might also be causing this misalignment from sleeping on multiple pillows or a pillow that is too thick/fluffy. This makes your head sit in front of your shoulders for hours every night. Until you’ve fixed your posture (or your pillow!), those muscles will most likely never let go. It won’t matter how many neck massagers and shoulder rubs you get. That constant muscle contraction, plus the extremely tight muscles in your front (chest, shoulders) from slouching can cause headaches, neck pain, and upper back pain. No bueno.

How can I fix it? If you haven’t had poor posture for long, you may just need to make the conscious decision to remember that sequence of “rib cage over pelvis, shoulders slightly outwardly rotated, and ears over shoulders.” You may want to do foam rolling and stretching on the muscles that are too short in your chest. You can find a fascia release technique you can do at home to release your pec fascia on my instagram pg @movementbyjulia

Whatever muscle is too short, the opposite muscle is too long. If poor posture has made your chest muscles tight, your trapezius and upper back muscles are too long. It would be to your benefit to do strength training for your back muscles to support good posture and prevent that neck/upper back pain from returning. Try rows, reverse flys, and lat pulldowns to begin strengthening (and make sure you are keeping the best posture possible DURING the exercise).

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