What to do about trapezius pain? What actions can provide relief?

The trapezius muscle is generally located on the back of the human body, on both sides of the cervical vertebrae and spine, and is also a part that is more prone to pain. Trapezius muscle pain is generally caused by excessive fatigue or incorrect sitting posture. If you want to relieve the pain, you can relieve it through three movements: shrug, upright rowing, and prone shrug. Below, I will introduce to you some methods to relieve trapezius pain for your reference!

1. Shrug

Trapezius training is simpler than general bodybuilding training. The main action is shrug, that is, lifting shoulders towards ears. It’s that simple, there are no more difficult techniques or moves.

The equipment needed to do the shrug exercise is a pair of dumbbells, a barbell or an equipment with handles, as long as it can generate resistance. You just need to hold the handles of the equipment with both hands, move your shoulders towards your ears as far as you can, and when your shoulders are raised to the highest point, do the peak contraction and pause for a while. Then, slowly lower your shoulders until you reach the lowest point, feeling your shoulders fully stretched downward. The range of motion (the distance your shoulders move when you shrug and lower them) of this exercise is very small.

You may often see some bodybuilders doing more complicated shrug exercises. For example, some people rotate their shoulders back and forth while shrugging. In fact, doing so will not strengthen your practice at all, but will only increase the danger. The real purpose of shrugging shoulders is to contract the muscles, that is, the muscles are exercised and strengthened when they work against gravity. This has nothing to do with turning the shoulders forward and backward. So, when doing this exercise, make sure to move your shoulders up and down.

2. Upright Rowing

Another exercise that strengthens the trapezius muscles is the upright row. As you pull the barbell up to your chin, you can feel your trapezius muscles contracting, which is the key to this exercise. (This method is also very effective in developing back muscles)

3. Standing shrug

Same principles as shrug. When practicing, separate your feet, lean forward and keep your torso parallel to the ground, hold a barbell or dumbbells in both hands and let them hang down in front of your legs. Relax your shoulder muscles and let them hang completely. Then, use the strength of your trapezius, deltoids, and upper back muscles to lift your shoulders up to the highest position, pause and let your shoulders slowly relax and hang down to the original position.

Note during training: Do not bend your elbows to gain leverage, and do not swing your upper body to gain leverage. The weight-bearing should generally be done strictly according to the requirements, and the weight that can be done is 10~15. If the weight is too light, the effect will not be good. If you can practice with heavy and light bars alternately, the effect will be better.