Upper Trap Pain: Try These 3 Self-Treatments!

This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in April 2025. For the original video, watch Upper Trap Pain? Try These 3 Self-Treatments!

Mike: Imagine waking up at two in the morning with severe, sharp pain in your shoulder—an eight out of 10 and intense enough to nearly bring you to tears.

Brad: What could cause pain like this, especially when it seems to come out of nowhere? This happened to Bob a few years ago.

Mike: He actually considered going to the ER to seek some pain relief. But what did he try instead?

Brad: Well, he tried something new, and the first thing of this new treatment actually worked. And we're going to show you exactly what it is.

Mike: So the main thing that Bob actually noticed when it came to his shoulder pain is his pelvis on that side was actually elevated higher than his left side. Now, you may be wondering what the heck your pelvis has to do with shoulder pain? So, Brad's going to explain.

Brad: Right, and this is a whole concept that Rick Olderman has actually figured out, and that's why things have been working out so well with his treatment. Now, if we look at the pelvis, if it tilts up, another thing that oftentimes happens, and gets overlooked, is that the same-side shoulder blade, or scapula, gets depressed. In other words, if we look at it, it drops downward as opposed to being where it should be; it drops down, that causes side bending to occur, and the pelvis comes up, and the distance between the right hip and rib cage and the left hip and rib cage becomes uneven. So we need to do some exercises to even up the scapula.

Mike: These will bring the scapula and shoulder blade back in place, because when it's depressed, it's going to put a lot more tension on your shoulder and neck muscles, like Bob was feeling at his house. Now, if you're unsure, if you have this issue, you can look in a mirror at your back, or have someone take a picture of your back. Oftentimes you'll notice a fold in your skin on one side that is elevated and depressed. It's not just a fat fold. It may be, actually, a side-bending problem.

Brad: That was excellent, Mike. Thank you.

Mike: So, what we're going to do is go through three different things Bob tried to fix this, and it actually worked for him, so we're going to get into that.

Brad: Very good. Let's get to it.

Mike: So the first thing we're going to address, if you actually have a side-bending problem, is to lengthen these muscles out again. So if it's my right side, I'm going to go to a doorframe. You can use the pull-up bar. Anything tall that you can sort of hang from. If you struggle to reach something tall up, Brad will show another option in a second. My palm is facing away from me on the doorframe here, and then I'm going to slowly bend my knees; I'm not going to fully hang. And then I'm just going to stretch into the door area, and I'm feeling a nice big stretch right here in all my side muscles, and it really lifts up my rib cage.

Brad: And it's also elevating the scapula, which is one of the basics of the problem.

Mike: So if you're having some pain, you can just kind of sit here for 15 or 30 seconds. You can do it two to three times, or you can just spread it out randomly throughout the day, anytime you walk through a doorway.

Brad: Now you might be thinking, I can't reach my doorframe, or I don't have a door trim that's worth anything. So as Mike mentioned, you can use something very simple like a stick that's about four to five feet long, a pool cue, a dowel, or a piece of a PVC pipe, I'm using the Booyah Stik. There are two ways to do it. You can do it seated. Put this on the chair or the surface. You need a rubber tip. If you don't have that, simply take your shoe off or take it from the closet, put it in there, and then palm away. And then you just lean, and you can see right here: loose material and leaning tightens it up. Same thing happens with your muscles and the tissue in your side. And I'm leaning there.

Brad: You can do it standing. I'll do it so you can see it from the backside up. Don't let go of it down. Don't let the hand slide down the stick. Keep it there. Lean, and I'm bending my knees, just like Mike mentioned with the door frame. And I'm getting a nice stretch there, holding it for the same time duration and frequency that Mike had mentioned. Any questions?

Mike: No questions for me because we're explaining this, Brad.

Brad: There you go.

Mike: Maybe the viewers have questions.

Brad: Well, I know, just review it and, you know, rewind it, check it out.

Mike: The next part we're going to talk about is another way to help elevate that depressed shoulder blade.

Brad: The right one here?

Mike: Yeah, but for filming's sake, I'm just going to show it on my left because it's closer to the camera.

Brad: That's right.

Mike: So what I'm going to do is put my pinky to my elbow on the wall, start in a low position, and then you're going to slide up the wall as far as you comfortably can. If you're having a lot of pain, you can only get this high; that's okay. Going to hold it for a few seconds. 15, 30 seconds. Come back down. Make sure to breathe. Once you feel more comfortable, try to work up to the full range of motion.

Brad: Ooh, yeah!

Mike: And really think about pushing that scapula back up. You almost shrugged a little. We can't have to have someone literally push you, Brad.

Brad: Well, I just want to emphasize that, is the whole point of this, is right here. Now it's moving. I can feel it move up, and these muscles are contracting to pull it up to get it up where it needs to be.

Mike: So what this does, is it teaches those other muscles on top of your scapula to engage better as you go up. And it also stretches your lat muscles a little bit, which can become tight and pull down that shoulder blade.

Brad: There you go.

Mike: Now if you get better over time and wanna do this with both arms, I actually just like doing this with both arms, and just hanging out here for a while.

Brad: There you go.

Mike: It's kind of nice.

Brad: Yeah, I don't know if I'd do it in public, but that works well at home.

Mike: I do it everywhere. Anywhere I want to go.

Brad: Alright, now let's talk about the pillows.

Mike: We will talk about some good positioning tips here.

Brad: Now, Bob said this was one of the most important things, and it's an ergonomic change that he made, particularly while sitting, while he was working at the computer. Now, Rick mentions that you should have armrests that support the weight of your arms while you're sitting for periods of time, for an hour or two or more. And, now, if you have a computer chair, you can do it if it's a good enough computer chair to do that. If you don't have that, we'll review that in a second. You can do it on this. And this is what Bob had. He did not have a computer chair. So what he did, is you take pillows and you fold them like this, pillow right from your bed, and you squeeze it in between the stationary armrest and your body. It's comfortable. They squeeze right in there. And now I rest my forearms on those pillows; that takes the weight of your arms off of the shoulder, elevates that scapula or shoulder blade, and makes things much more comfortable.

Brad: So this was one of the big things that was one of the culprits causing the problem. Now, what Bob did was take one of these pads, and he cut it. Which actually is a good idea. Cut it, taped it to his armrests with some duct tape, and then it worked. You really don't need to go out and buy a chair. But if you have one or you want to, it's okay. And show how you correct it, if you happen to have an adjustable chair.

Mike: You know, Bob has a computer chair. He was so tall; he needs that plus the pad.

Brad: Oh really? I'm sorry.

Mike: So if you could tell here, if I have a normal armrest down low, not paying much attention, you could see how much strain it can put on your upper trapezius and neck muscles here in your shoulder complex. This is going to start to bother you over time, especially if you have that forward head posture while you're working, too.

Mike: So just simply elevating these armrests up, you could see how much pressure that takes off of all these muscles and tension, it can help elevate it. So keeping it in a high-raised position like this throughout your workday is going to be very beneficial, especially if you're stuck there for eight hours.

Brad: Yeah, and if you're just sitting in the living room watching TV and you feel that shoulder being painful, it's a good idea to keep a pillow there as well. It may not have an armrest, but you tuck it in so it's under that arm, and you'll feel it. When you put that pillow in there, it'll take the stress off that shoulder, and right away you're going to feel the pain decrease. So, make sure you have plenty of pillows.

Mike: So all these tips we are recommending are from a physical therapist named Rick Olderman. You can find his stuff at rickolderman.com. And if you want to check out more videos on how to fix shoulder pain, watch "How to Fix Shoulder Pain in Seconds (This Works!)."

Brad: There you go. Have a good day. We're sure that some of these exercises are going to help you with your shoulder pain, as it did with Bob.

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