Have you ever woken up with a really stiff neck and what feels like a ball under your shoulder blade? People like to blame it on "sleeping wrong", but usually the offense occurred 24-48 hours prior to the symptoms arriving. Lifting something in an awkward way overhead, lifting something heavier than you are used to, or doing something repetitively can lead to a levator scapulae strain. The symptoms can lead to pain, difficulty with neck and shoulder range of motion and some muscle spasms. The symptoms can last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Because this is a postural muscle, it has a tendency to go into spasm to protect itself. The good news is physical therapy helps a lot with these injuries and getting moving and getting some blood supply pumping through the muscles goes a long way. Sometimes they are an isolated event, but sometimes there is an underlying tightness or weakness that leads to these injuries happening more frequently. That's where we come in. Here is a simple program that will work for most, but is no replacement for an expert assessment. If you have these strains on a regular basis, come in and see us and we will get you a custom program to help address the cause.