neck – Wellness Focus

Tight Trapezius muscle?

You might not know exactly where it is, but you most likely have experienced pain and strain in your Trapezius muscle. Maybe you just started working out. Maybe you swim or play tennis. Perhaps you are carrying heavy objects or been sit in one position for a long period of time. Maybe you’re just stressed. All these activities can cause your traps to tighten.

The Trapezius has three areas: upper, middle and lower. The muscle stretches from the top of your neck, out to your shoulders and a little more than half way down the center of your back.

This huge muscle performs many different functions, including moving shoulder blades in toward the spine, rotating and moving shoulder blades up and down, bringing the head and neck backward, and rotating and side bending the neck. It also assists in breathing, opening up the small amount of breathing room in the upper chest area.

For people who work at desks and computers, Continue reading “Tight Trapezius muscle?”

Six Ways to Improve Your Posture

Over time, gravity and bad habits can take their toll on your body and try to declare victory over the structural muscles that keep our bones and muscles aligned. The result is poor posture.

Classic signs of poor posture include rounded shoulders, a jutted chin, a pot belly, bent knees when standing or walking, back pain, muscle fatigue, and headaches. While we can’t fight gravity, we can take control of posture and do things the help keep muscles strong and your body trained for better posture.

1 Know what good posture looks like. Check yourself out in a mirror. Good posture while standing is a straight back, squared shoulders, chin up, chest out, stomach in, feet forward, your hips and knees in a neutral position. If you can draw a straight line from your earlobe through your shoulder, hip, knee, to the middle of your ankle, you’re good!

2 Sit up straight. Your mom was right. Use a chair that offers lower back support and sit all the way back against the back of the chair. Keep both feet on the ground or footrest. Adjust the height so your arms are flexed at 75-90 degrees at the elbow. Use this technique when driving, too! Continue reading “Six Ways to Improve Your Posture”

Why is Your Neck Sore?

Unless you’ve been injured, your sore neck most likely comes from tightness in muscles created by postural issues related to the position of your head. Your shoulders are rolled forward and your head is forward.

So why is your neck sore? Simply put, your neck muscles are in a constant battle to keep your head from rolling off the top of your spine. Some of the muscles in the battle are attached to the top of your shoulder blades, dragging your shoulders up. Elevated shoulders cause your pectoral muscles to contract and try to help manage the weight shift. The muscles between your spine and shoulder blade (the rhomboids) usually just form knots to try to compensate. In front, your droopy head causes you to have to raise your head to keep your eyes level, putting more stress on the disks in your spine. In short, it’s a mess.

Continue reading “Why is Your Neck Sore?”