For most of my adult life, I’ve found that even a few hours of sitting in a semi-prolonged posture (even with breaks and movement) of any degree of slouching – computer, car, university lecture, etc – results in neck tension in the trap region as a whole, occasionally feeling as though it stems more from the medial scapular region, but deeper. Could sometimes even feel it when putting a lacrosse ball into my pec. This is typically exacerbated by having to do overhead work (think drywalling renos, painting or similar) in combination, or even in combination with training (typically rows or pullup work).
Tension headaches are one thing, but I occasionally find these muscles will “seize” at random and remain extremely tense for a few days before going away. Occasionally I can counter it by gently continuing movement, but other times not.
Is there anything in particular about that region that lends itself to being susceptible to this? I’ve never really had this happen in any other region (other than in LBP, but that often goes away with lifting), and I’ve never really understood if it’s a capacity-exceeding thing, or if it’s simply a neurological thing. I’ve also been unsure how to train to potentially lessen it, because I find it often gets worse with more back work. Would neck work potentially help? Especially when there’s a “seizing”, it seems to be one of the very few cases where a thoracic chiropractic adjustment actually makes a very significant difference.
Pain, tension, or tightness in this region is not really related to a particular posture, though movement often helps. Exercise is generally good and neck exercises are something we often recommend for people with discomfort in this area. Would not recommend chiropractic adjustment for any indication.
Do you have anywhere to point to for neck work ideas? I see the Iron Neck advertised a lot but unsure whether or not it’s effective in principle.
I’m aware the literature indicates it’s more of a time x position problem and there’s no posture that’s painful as a universal rule, but there’s an undeniable correlation in my case between specific slouching or angled sitting postures and tension. If I spend 20 minutes sitting on a severely angled chair or couch I can pretty reliably reproduce this. Interestingly in university days when I wasn’t lifting as much, the tension would be less, but it seems as though overhead and back work combined with more prolonged postures in combination tends to lead to these (as well as the fact that I’m not in prolonged sitting postures as frequently as I used to be). Is it reasonable to assume certain postures – at least in my case – simply load muscle groups in ways a person might not be used to, or in a way that overloads weaker supporting muscles?
Re: chiropractic adjustment – it definitely doesn’t fix the overarching problem, just meant to say it’s one of the few “quick relief” bits when a seizure occurs. Still unsure why a seizure or “kink” occurs though, as opposed to simply “tension”. It’s not the same as a low back tweak (for me at least), which is generally resolved through movement.
That’s may be the case currently, though probably not lifelong. I wouldn’t put too much stock in this correlation other than yes, moving around often generally feels better than not and exercising the neck, upper back, etc. is likely good.
I do not think that your neck is weak or that there’s pathology there that needs to be fixed. Improving MSK function in a dynamic environment usually requires training.