Upper Trapezius pain

[driftinj]

Hi -



I purchased a Concept 2 Model D back on October and have been using it around 3x per week since then. I'm completely new to rowing (anything but a row boat). I've really been enjoying it. I'm 47, 5'10 and currently 193 lbs down from about 212 in that time frame. For my build, 190 is a reasonable weight 170-180 is six pack territory.



Anyway, about 2 weeks before Christmas, I started introducing some 500m splits with 2 minute rest intervals. After rowing, I began experiencing some upper trapezius pain and stiffness on my left shoulder/neck. I took a week off from rowing and tried again. On a Monday row there was no pain while rowing but it was a little stiff on Tuesday. During Wednesday's row there was no pain but by Friday I was experiencing a ton of pain and soreness that took days to go away. This time, I took 2.5 weeks off and started up again this week. Same results, no pain during rowing on Monday, with a little soreness on Tuesday. No pain during rowing on Wednesday and here I am on Friday with a ton of soreness and pain.



Obviously this is rowing related and has a high potential to be because of bad form. The odd part is that I rowed for about 2 months with no issues at all before this cropped up. In my rowing this week, I kept an easy pace and paid attention to keeping my core engaged and not rolling my shoulders forward but that didn't seem to help.



Some other observations:



The callouses on my left hand are much more developed than those on my right particularly those at the base of my ring and pinky finger. This indicates to me that I may be pulling more on that side than my right. This wouldn't surprise me as with exercises like curls, I've always been stronger with my left than my right despite being right hand dominant.



Another factor is that I have suffered from bad trigger points in my traps before, especially when I was training in Martial Arts 10-15 years ago. Typically that was my right side and it rarely got as painful as this. Of course, I was also 15 years younger then...



Anyway, I'd love to hear any tips on what I might be doing in my form or if anybody has had similar issues in the past. If it's related to pulling more on my left than my right then I'd also appreciate any tips on trying to balance myself out.

[Dangerscouse]

I have never had trap pain but I did have blisters mainly on the right hand. I thought a lot more about technique and now I get equally as bad blisters on both hands. It's easy to fall into bad practice if you don't think about it

Maybe try and do slower and steady sessions to understand your technique. 500m intervals are too much of a 'grip it and rip it' style.

Have a look at the force curve screen as you may need to use your legs more. Do you think you're leaning too far forward so your using more upper back than other people? Possibly a firm foam roller will help too. Could it be an old sports injury?

[prairiefire]

Have you ever ha any neck injuries? Sometimes the chronic head/neck position used while rowing (or any other activity for that matter) can exacerbate an underlying degenerative change in the cervical spine. Try adding some shoulder shrugs and periodically roll your neck around (touch your chin rot y=ou chest, look way up, tilt ear and then chin to each shoulder) - these may help.

[gooseflight]

Could be one of many things. The shoulder joint is complex.

How aggressive are you at the catch? When you drive with legs do you just hang off the handle and feel a pull in your lats or do snatch at the handle at all? Upper body needs to be relatively passive at the recovery/drive turnover.

If the symptoms persist go see a sports physio for deep tissue massage. It will make your eyes water but helpful in the long run.