Middle / Lower Trapezium issues

[IL Cattivo]

Hi guys,

Of all the muscles that you can have issues with I am continuously having re-occurring problems with straining or pulling my middle to lower trapezium when lifting weights??

The part of the trapezium I am having these problems with are the part of the muscle that joins near the spinal cord 2/3's up the back near the top. It's not on the actual shoulder part of the muscle, that’s fine, it’s the part of the muscle right next to the spine.

When doing exercises that require lifting above my head like push presses I can often feel a twinge and it just goes!! From there I then have discomfort with what should be normal head movement as I then can't move my head to look up or to one side without feeling some form of pain in that area?

Are there any exercises or stretches out there where I can mitigate the risk of keep doing this rather annoying injury? It occurs at least once a month for some bizarre reason and I would like to stamp it out once and for all...!!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated please.

Many Thanks

 

[Jrahien]

If your traps are consistently spasming like that, the issue is likely not with the traps themselves, but with other muscles that your traps are having to overcompensate for.

If I had to guess, I'll go with the common problem that I see in people in that they have little of what's known as scapular stability. Basically, there are smaller, stabilizing muscles around your shoulder blade that are meant to keep the shoulder blade stuck down tight against your rib cage during movement. These muscles tend to become weak in people that do a lot of isolation training and become trap-dominant in their shoulder movements.

For strengthening those smaller muscles, look up scapular push-ups, T-curls, and be conscious of pinching your shoulder blades down low, at the bottom, during "pull" exercises.