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Kettlebell Neck/trap pain from pressing

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Monogatari90

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In the past I had an issue with pressing where I'd tweak my neck / upper trapezius and it would take me out of exercising for a solid 3 or 4 weeks due to the pain as well as lack of movement (unable to rotate head in the direction of the injury). Recently, I was able to fix this by really squeezing the kettlebell when I pressed it which seemed to work.

Well, I got a little overzealous after a few good weeks of following ROP pain free and decided to mess around with 2 20kgs (has been single pressing a 24kg) and of course tweaked my neck/upper trap again.

Has anyone else ever experienced this and/or learned any training cues to prevent this? Obviously I am doing something incorrectly, but I haven't been able to find much on this forum or elsewhere pertaining to my specific issue. I love overhead pressing, but I'm having some reservations on starting another program involving any overhead presses for fear of injury again.
 
I've had this problem before with double presses, but not with singles. It may be a flexibility issue with your shoulder girdle. If you have to put your neck in a funny position to get the arm to lock out overhead, you'll end up with pain. I recommend a doorway stretch: stand in front of a doorway or overhead bar. Put your hands against it and lean forward, stretching your straight arms behind you. Keep your neck in a neutral position. If you have limited flexibility, this can help. Dive bomber or HIndu pushups can help as well. Fix any mobility or flexibility issues before adding load.
 
Thanks for the tips - I'll give those stretches a shot and see if it helps.
I think what you're saying about putting my neck in an awkward position may be true. I've noticed in a lot of videos of people doing presses (and especially double presses) it seems like the necks juts out a little bit. I think I might be over-exaggerating that a bit perhaps.
 
I had this trouble the week before last I think, with singles. It happened on the opposite side from where I was pressing. (Pressing left, tweaked right). I felt it on the right side in the trap and also on back of the neck near the top on the right side.

I think what happened is 1) I followed the bell all the way up not just with my eyes, but with my eyes and head. 2) I was searching for extra tension to complete the last rep of a rep max and let the tension up into my neck and jaw.

I'm trying to practice keeping the tension below the neck, and only following with the eyes.
 
If possible, could you post a video of your press 1 and 2 bells). sometimes people will shrug the shoulder while pressing, esp with heavy weight. Crushing the handle of the bell is a good way to help keep the shoulder packed/stable and having to think about two bells instead of one might have distracted you from this a bit. Also having your form looked at by a SFG and/or your movement assessed by an FMS (sweet if you can find someone with both in your area), this can really give you an idea of whether you have an issue with mobility/stability, technique or both. A little money to a pro up front could save you a bunch of time loss and pain later.
 
Will happily post a video of my presses. Unfortunately I have to put this off for a bit since I'm currently towards the end (hopefully) of 3/4 week shoulder injury.
 
Personally, over the years I've reached a point where I have to ask myself, "Is it worth it?" I used to live by the deadlift, but after injuring myself a 3rd time I stopped doing that exercise. Same goes with overhead pressing - after one too many "neck tweaks," I decided to assess risk versus reward. These days, I mostly stick to Get-ups, Overhead Carries and Push-ups for upper body strength and development, and Swings and Goblet Squats for the lower body. The results are fantastic and I feel great. But that's just my 2 cents!
 
@Monogatari90 totally take care of your injury first.....and then some. As much as we feel like it, there really is no rush. strength will come, and it will come more quickly if you take some extra time and be 100% first. Don't put fitness (strength) on top of dysfunction (FMS Principal). you were running though ROP with the 24 pain free though so it sounds like you were making some good progress. but sometimes we have to take a step back to take two steps forward. Have your mobility and technique assessed. Run through some corrective exercises (if needed) and put in the work to gain/re-gain shoulder mobility/stability/motor control and/or adjust your technique if needed. Then, if you feel like the risk/reward equation isn't in your favor, there are plenty of other ways to train upper body patterns like @cmerrow said. But don't give up on OH pressing too quickly.
I had knees caps that would dislocate (hip issue) and extremely painful shoulders (T-spine issue) up until a few years ago. I put in the work to develop the mobility/stability/motor control and strength (in that order) and I haven't had any knee issues in a long time and PR'd my deadlift early this year and am doing OH training that I had totally written off even a year and a half ago. now I can really see how strong of medicine strength can be (some pun intended ;). but you need the foundation.

ps sorry for being bit preachy haha ;)
 
I'm no expert, but I have had my fair share of neck pain, usually when pressing overhead or even when straining for one more pull up. Just a guess, but you may be "goose necking" or pushing your head forward and creating a sheering force. Try to give keep your head and neck in a neutral position, kind of like you are giving yourself a double chin. Once I became aware of this in myself I haven't had a problem, or you could go to a professional and get expert advice.
 
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