Tag Archives: muscle tension

Those Knotty Muscles: The Trapezius

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trapezius illustrationFor those who don’t know me, I am an artist as well as a massage therapist, and whenever I write something about a particular muscle – like the trapezius – I look for clip art of that muscle and think to myself, “I really should just make my own muscle illustrations.”

Well, I recently got a fancy digital stylus that makes it possible to use my iPad like a sketchpad. It didn’t take me long to realize that making muscle illustrations would be a fun use of this particular technology.

That’s Nice, Now What’s This About Knotty Muscles?

Now, to get to the point… this knotty little muscle, the trapezius, also know as “the traps”. Named for it’s trapezoid shape, it covers a large portion of your back and shoulders and is the muscle you can pretty easily feel right below the surface of the skin at your upper shoulders.

This is one of the main muscles that is likely bothering you when you say your neck or shoulders ache. Because of the wide region of the body it covers, it is responsible for, or at least involved in, a lot of actions of the neck, back and shoulders. This includes shrugging your shoulders, moving your arm and shoulders backwards, and tilting your head back.

What Makes a Trapezius So Knotty?

Pain in the trapezius can result from injuries such as whiplash, carrying heavy objects, neck and shoulder tension, or poor posture. I feel like the most common source of upper trapezius pain I see is due to the tendency to scrunch our shoulders up towards our ears when we’re stressed. When we do this, those muscles contract to hold that position. After being contracted like that for a long time, the muscles tighten and can get stuck that way, tear, or develop those sticky spots we call “knots”.

physio-1778029_640How Do We Get the Knots Out?

If your traps prove to be a problem area for you, we’ll spend time working on them during your massage. We’ll work to soften, relax and lengthen them again. The trapezius has three different sections, upper, middle and lower fibers. Each section has different functions and different ways we can work on them during massage.

For the upper portion of the muscles, I’ll use a mix of massage strokes, deep pressure/compression, movement, and gentle positional release techniques. Stretching and range of motion of the arms and shoulders meant can help get them loosened up and moving again. The middle and lower portions of the trapezius are worked with massage strokes and different stretches and movements down your back, alongside your spine, and across the shoulder blades.

If you’ve got pain or tension in these areas, I can help! We can work on the trapezius and other shoulder muscles both on the massage table and in the massage chair. Even a short session can help. Contact me to schedule your appointment, and we’ll get that knotty muscles back into shape!
~Tricia

Hand Pain? It May Not Be Arthritis

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250px-extensor_digitorum_muscleDo you wake up with stiff, sore fingers? I have had several people mention fears of early arthritis (without confirmation by a doctor). You should of course see a doctor if you’re concerned about your health, however there is a possibility that it is not arthritis.

Here is a little something to try. Relax your forearm on your desk or a table and feel the muscles of your arm with your other hand. When relaxed, those muscles should feel relatively soft, and the skin should move around easily. If your forearm feels hard, and maybe the skin doesn’t even move very much, then your muscles are hypertonic, in a state of tension or abnormally high muscle tone.

You may not realize just how much your arm and fingers are interconnected. If you look at this diagram of the muscles of your forearm and hands, you can see that the flexing and extending of your fingers involves muscles that travel over your wrist, up your forearm, and even across your elbow.

To further illustrate how connected they are, here’s another demonstration. Place your forearm palm up on the table again and relax it, with your fingers somewhat straightened. Take your other hand and apply pressure to the muscles just below your wrist, and push towards your elbow, as you might see in a massage stroke. With a bit of pressure, this should make your fingers flex/curl towards your palm. Cool, huh?

This type of muscle tension most often affects people who use their hands and wrists a lot, and can be a precursor, or happen in conjunction with carpal tunnel syndrome. This means if you spend a lot of time at your computer, play an instrument, paint, hammer, knit, or do other work where you use your hands a lot, or in awkward positions, you may experience this problem. Of course you know I’m going to say it… “Massage can help!”
During your massage, I can tell you if those muscles are hypertonic, (have extra tension in them). We can do some different levels of moderate to deep tissue work to help loosen them up and get your forearm and hand moving better and feeling better. The best part? I can show you a few tricks to do at home to help keep them a bit more pliable going forward and make your mornings a little less stiff, and your days a little less painful!