Hi mr. physio in Australia
today I'm going to talk about the upper trapezius muscle
This muscle starts from the bottom of your skull and ends at the top of your scapula
this will rotate your scapula upwards. It is very important for shoulder movements
more important function of this muscle is to fight against gravity
your arm weighs about 5% of your body.
if you're 70 kilogram, your arm weighs about 3.5 kilograms
it means your upper trapezius has to hold 3.5 kilograms against gravity
if it fails to do that, your arm goes down
also if you have forward head posture, upper trap has to stretch out more
and if you have to sit down too much, you don't use upper trapezius
then the muscle can get weaker and weaker
Weak muscle has to hold your arm all the time?
of course it will get overworked and overworked muscles are going to get tight
there is an article published last year in British Sports Medicine Journal
it states the collagen density in the overworked muscles will increase
the increased density means changes in collagen tissues
To sum up, if you don't move your muscles, you will get weak
weak muscles will get overworked
This can lead to changes in collagen fibers
then the muscle function gets weak again
weaker muscles get overworked again (vicious cycle)
then there will be less blood circulation that supplies the oxygen and nutrients to muscles
this will weaken the neurological signals from your brain to muscles
Therefore, your brain tends to forget how to use that muscles properly
that's why massage and stretching can't fix this problem
because what you need is to use your muscle
so how much exercise do you need?
the answer is slightly more than what you normally do
if you're an office worker sitting at a desk all day long
you need just a little bit more than sitting and resting
you need to massage first to warm up your muscles
so it doesn't have to be hard massage
push down onto the upper trapezius muscle and move shoulder for 30 seconds
and then move on to the next spots (try on few different spots)
make small movements to wake up those muscles
also you can pinch the upper trap using your thumb
next is shrug exercise
many people do this exercise to strengthen the upper trapezius
but you use levator scapulae too and this can rotate scapula downwards
they work together when elevating shoulders
but they also work against each other when it comes to scapular rotation
Levator scapulae can sometimes cause shoulder and neck pain
to minimize its involvement, bring your arms 30degrees out
then do the shrug exercises. here are some variations
push your head 5cm backwards to engage your spinal muscles
hold this position and do small movements with your arms
it can be any movements (everyday activities)
for example, you can move your arms up and down (side to side for 30 seconds)
you can still improve muscle endurance
start within a smaller range and increase gradually
you don't need to do quick movements unless you do them in your everyday life
next is eccentric exercises
tilt your head to the left and use your right hand to pull it to the right side
here you need to keep pushing your head to the left side though
so you can use and stretch your muscle at the same time
By pushing your head to the left, you engage your left upper trapezius
and then you're going to stretch it out by pulling your head to the right
start with about 30% of your full power and increase that to about 70%
2 sets x 5 reps -> 3sets x 20 reps (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
lastly the rotator cuff exercises
The rationale for this exercise is this
upper trapezius doesn't attach to the arm bone
but the rotator cuff muscles are
it means the later is the main muscles to hold your arm against gravity
if these are weak, your arm is likely to go down
if your arm goes down, your upper trapezius has to work harder
also you may develop shoulder instability
for this exercise, hold a small weight and lift them up and down (thumbs up)
according to research this exercise can target all the rotator cuff muscles
it is better to slow down when going down
going up (concentric contraction) and going down (eccentric contraction)
you have to focus on eccentric contraction
This will put more loading on your shoulder
you can also do eccentric exercises without equipment
in this exercise, you lift your arm up while pushing your arm down with the other hand
the point is to keep lifting your arm up so that you can use your muscles against resistance (the other hand)
start with 30% and increase slowly to 70%
you might need to other exercises
I will address them in other videos
so today I talked about why upper trapezius gets tight
Like many other muscles this also gets tight because they're weak
that's why massage and stretching is not the solution but the exercise is
thank you for watching and Rehab safely