upper traps injury

[whiteathlete33]

Well guys I recently pulled my upper traps muscle. It seemed to be my shoulder and upper traps both. My shoulder is fine now but my traps is killing me. I really can't bench press or anything. I took 2 weeks off from weightlifting and it felt much better. I started to lift again and it came back. I am taking hot bats with epsom salt and taking advil. I have full range of motion. How serious could this be? I really feel miserable when I can't lift.

 

[Guest]

I'm not a doctor or physical therapist (you should probably consult one or both of those) but if its really just a pull, it should heal on its own. These things take time though. The trapezius is actually a large muscle that runs pretty far down your upper back in addition to the neck-shoulder area that makes up your "upper traps". Consequently, it serves several different anatomical functions and thus its hard to do much of anything without hitting it to some extent.

I'd lay off the lifting completely for a couple of more weeks, at least. I know it sucks not being able to lift but better safe than sorry. If you keep re-pulling it I think you'll just exacerbate the problem.

What kind of routine do you follow?

 

[whiteathlete33]

Well it is getting better. I still have some mild pain but I started lifting. I am only using machines at this point because free weights will reinjure it. My training routine is all messed up becuase of this. Im just doing a few sets of everything each time I go just to maintain muscle and keep my strength. As soon as it heals I will go back to my routine which isSunday abs and obliques light cardio Monday chest biceps Tuesday legs Wednesday back and forearms, thursday abs and obliques, friday shoulders and triceps.

 

[WHITE NOISE]

This will be hard to hear and even harder to do, but you should leave the weights alone. Do cardio and let your should system heal. You may have injured something other than your trap. The shoulder system in complex and just doing light exercise with weights may be further injurious.

I have ongoing should issues no doubt due to working though the pain and not letting my "little" injuries heal properly. But that's the lifters mentality we don't go into the gym to get skinny.

 

[dwid]

yeah you should leave the weights alone. I kept working out through a upper middle back injury, and now I can't really work out with weights at all. I have a hard time bending down and doing normal everyday type things that you usually take for granted. It might be a traps injury because someone mentioned its involved in all kinds of things you do. I have a hard time reaching for things over my head with my right arm because it tightens up in my back.

It has gotten a little better over time and time with a chiropracter, i can actually do some pushups and light exercise. As long as you eat healthy you wont lose too much muscle that quickly. It will take a few months. And the muscle you lose comes back very quickly when you start back up.Edited by: dwid

 

[Bart]

Well guys I recently pulled my upper traps muscle. It seemed to be my shoulder and upper traps both. My shoulder is fine now but my traps is killing me. I really can't bench press or anything.

Are you sure it is only the traps that are messed up? I had a similar situation with shoulder and upper back pains. My bench press motion was severely restricted and I couldn't move my arm behind my back or raise it to comb my hair. I tried working through it, but it got worse and worse.

It was a rotator cuff problem that took several months of rehab. Had problems for years, finally bought a lat pulldown set up on the advice from a therapist. It worked great. No pain or restrictions any longer.

 

[whiteathlete33]

I am fully healed for a month or so now. I am so happy. I have no pain at all on any exercises. The whole situation had me upset because I was only able to do isolated exercises like preacher curls and triceps pushdown. I worked through the pain though and did light weights for a while. It sure paid off in the end.

 

[Ground Fighter]

Well guys I recently pulled my upper traps muscle. It seemed to be my shoulder and upper traps both. My shoulder is fine now but my traps is killing me. I really can't bench press or anything. I took 2 weeks off from weightlifting and it felt much better. I started to lift again and it came back. I am taking hot bats with epsom salt and taking advil. I have full range of motion. How serious could this be? I really feel miserable when I can't lift.

I'm guessing you were shrugging more than you could handle? For future reference, as a rule of thumb the trapezius muscle is constructed of "slow twitch" muscle fibers, which means that moderate weight (10 to 15 reps) is sufficiient for muscle growth and strength. But for now, lay off the weights and take it easy. There are a lot of nerves in that area, and you don't want to aggrivate it any further.

 

[whiteathlete33]

Well guys I recently pulled my upper traps muscle. It seemed to be my shoulder and upper traps both. My shoulder is fine now but my traps is killing me. I really can't bench press or anything. I took 2 weeks off from weightlifting and it felt much better. I started to lift again and it came back. I am taking hot bats with epsom salt and taking advil. I have full range of motion. How serious could this be? I really feel miserable when I can't lift.

I'm guessing you were shrugging more than you could handle? For future reference, as a rule of thumb the trapezius muscle is constructed of "slow twitch" muscle fibers, which means that moderate weight (10 to 15 reps) is sufficiient for muscle growth and strength. But for now, lay off the weights and take it easy. There are a lot of nerves in that area, and you don't want to aggrivate it any further.

I have been healed for two months now groundfighter. It may have actually been my rotator cuff as someone mentioned. I did have pain for 6 weeks or so and I lifted very light. I am 100 % now though.