Scapulae alignment

Hey guys, a few weeks back I landed on the top of my head from a rather high jump on a tramp for some nice axial loading, and luckily no lasting damage was done! However, one thing I've noticed in the weeks since is it feels like my traps are activating differently. I made this video to see if there really is a difference or if it was just in my mind. It looks to me like there are some differences in various places, such as the lower point of the left scapula pointing in more and higher relative to the right, and I would like your input. Any suggestions on how to retrain my to fire at the same time.

Some notes:

-My scapular and straight arm strength is super weak and I'm well aware of it.

-After the accident my neck was super stiff along the right trap, and has had kinks since then. It get SLOWLY better on a daily basis. To give a reference of where I'm at on the tightness, I can tuck my head in all the way with only discomfort, no pain at all, but I still don't feel comfortable doing any kind of rolls on the ground where I put my weight even momentarily on my tucked head.

Maybe it is in my mind, but I don't think so :roll: . Any tips on how to fix my scapular differences would be great!

Thanks!

9gSsemA9-V4

I'll take a stab at this but not to advise on any particular issue with your muscles there.

You fell on your head. When this happened your body went; "WTF was that???" The muscles respond to such incidents by going into "protect" mode and essentially freezing up thinking you very possibly will try to do that again or another blow is on the way. Nature developed this over the millenia for good reason. Your muscles are trying to protect you from attack or from your stupid self (that's a generalization - please don't take it personally).

So, over time, barring any real injury, your muscles will eventually relax into full range of motion. In the meantime your sense of "tightness" is that gripped up muscle holding on. There are ways to trick the muscle into relaxation including, but not limited to, stretching, drugs, massage, etc. Up to you which you think will work best for you. I find 800mg of ibuprofen over a few days does a great job of convincing those stubborn holds to release.

Thanks for the response. That was almost the exact way I explained it to other people when they got worried, luckily I could tell very quickly that it was only muscular.

I've been trying stretching and massage so far, I prefer to avoid drugs, but there's so much you can do in that awkward spot.

I've been hoping that it would just return to normal as it relaxed, but I figured I would ask since the difference in activation has remained the same all the way through the slow relaxation, but I suppose it only takes one tight muscle to set everything awry!

How did you land on your neck? Your L scapula looks barely winged. This could be due to traction on the accessory nerve which innervates the trapezius in which case you'd have more dominant action of the serratus pulling the scapula posterolaterally (Look at 0:58). To cause traction on the L accessory nerve your head would probably have to be turned right and your L shoulder depressed, and land in a way that increases the distance from your L shoulder to your L ear - is this how you fell?

If it's really bothering you you could get an EMG. Either way, therapy will probably be what you're already doing in the video + trapezius strengthening. You could try Ibuprofen.

Switch the L's and the R's - I'm directionally challenged

thenail01 said:

To cause traction on the L accessory nerve your head would probably have to be turned right and your L shoulder depressed, and land in a way that increases the distance from your L shoulder to your L ear - is this how you fell?

Pretty much it. I initially landed on the top of my head, but as my body folded my head tucked and went slightly left.

Thanks for the detailed input!