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Strengthening Lower Traps May Help Shoulder Blade Control

Strengthening Lower Traps May Help Shoulder Blade Control
How to work the lower traps · livemint.com

The trapezius is a group of muscles around your neck and upper back.

Some parts help move and steady your shoulder blade.

Mike Reinold wrote about a study comparing activity in the upper and lower parts of this muscle.

People with shoulder impingement had a higher upper-to-lower muscle activity ratio than people without symptoms.

The reported ratios were 3.15 and 1.80, respectively.

Reinold says strengthening the lower part may help with shoulder blade control.

The article does not give specific exercises in the information provided.

Key facts

Article title
“Upper and Lower Trapezius Imbalances May Cause Subacromial Impingement”
Author
Mike Reinold
Asymptomatic group ratio
Upper-to-lower trapezius activity ratio of 1.80
Impingement group ratio
Upper-to-lower trapezius activity ratio of 3.15
Movement assessed
Scapular-plane elevation
Recommendation
Strengthen the lower trapezius to improve shoulder blade control

Quotes

Mike Reinold

American physical therapist and strength and conditioning coach

“Results show that subjects with impingement had a greater ratio of upper trapezius to lower trapezius than the control group. Asymptomatic subjects had an upper trap (UT) to lower trap (LT) ratio of 1.80 while symptomatic subjects had a ratio of 3.15. What this means is that the upper trapezius is a little more than 3 times more active than the lower trapezius during scapular plane elevation in patients with subacromial impingement.”
livemint.com

Sources

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