If you’ve got a lump on top of your shoulder muscle, you have a good chance of it being a trapezius knot. This type of lump in the trapezius muscle — called a myofascial trigger point — is among the most common causes of musculoskeletal shoulder pain, according to a study published in June 2017 in the journal Medicine.
Anyone familiar with this particular tension and pain is probably wondering how to release a trapezius knot. Luckily, home remedies can help.
What Are Muscle Knots?
Myofascial trigger points, or muscle knots, are tight balls of clenched muscle fibers under your skin. They form in areas that you typically stress and strain a lot during the day, like your neck, shoulders, and back, according to Cleveland Clinic.
Causes of Muscle Knots in Your Traps
Your trapezius muscle spans from the back of your neck to your lower back, according to an article published in December 2024 in the Journal of Orthopaedics Trauma Surgery and Related Research. Attached to your vertebrae and shoulder blades, the trapezius has many functions: shrugging your shoulders, rotating your shoulder blades to allow your arms to move overhead, and pulling your shoulder blades down and together.
Knots most often occur in the upper trapezius, or the part that runs on either side of your neck and along the tops of your shoulders. These swollen trapezius lumps are typically painful to the touch and can cause pain to spread to other areas in your shoulders and back.
Common causes of upper–trapezius muscle knots include poor posture, repetitive strain, and psychological factors that increase stressors, like high pressure at work and low job satisfaction, according to the Medicine study.
Your trapezius muscle can also develop tension, knots, and even spasms if other surrounding muscles are weak or fatigued, causing the upper trapezius to work overtime to help support your arms.
Trapezius–Knot Release Techniques
There are a number of ways to get trapezius muscle–tension relief, either at home or under the guidance of a physical therapist.
Even if the muscle knot on top of your shoulder isn’t particularly painful, it indicates that your muscle is inflamed. Trigger points in the upper trapezius muscle can negatively affect the movement of your shoulder, increasing your risk of injury. This is especially true if you do a lot of overhead movements.
Stiffness in the upper trapezius can decrease shoulder range of motion, increasing the risk of rotator cuff injuries, according to a very small study published in October 2018 in the Journal of Human Kinetics. However, this study also showed that ischemic compression — also called trigger-point release — was effective in treating muscle knots on the top of the shoulder for 12 professional basketball players.
1. Release Your Trigger Point
Trigger-point release is often done by physical therapists and massage therapists. But you can try this technique on yourself with a massage ball, tennis ball, or lacrosse ball. Try it both standing and while lying on your back.
- Stand with your back against a wall.
- Place a ball behind your upper trapezius directly on the lump, and lean against the ball. Press hard enough to cause tolerable pain.
- Hold until the pain subsides by 50 percent, then press harder.
- Continue to hold this pressure until the pain subsides — typically between 30 seconds and several minutes.
2. Stretch It Out
Stretching for trapezius knots can reduce tightness on top of your shoulders. Hold each stretch for 20 to 30 seconds, and repeat three times on both sides.
- Sit up straight, and tip your ear toward your shoulder on the unaffected side.
- Rest your hand on top of your head to gently increase the amount of stretch.
- Rotate your head slightly, and repeat to target different fibers in your trapezius muscle.
3. Apply Cold or Heat
Trapezius pain that occurs right after activity, or pain that is sharp, is a sign of inflammation, according to Cleveland Clinic. For this type of pain, apply ice to your affected muscle for 10 to 15 minutes to decrease blood flow and inflammation.
If you have a knot in your trapezius that just won’t go away, and it’s achy and annoying, apply heat for 15 to 20 minutes to increase blood flow and help the muscle relax.
4. Squeeze Your Scapula
Strengthening a muscle that has a trigger point puts more strain on the already aggravated muscle, possibly making it worse, according to the National Association of Myofascial Trigger Point Therapists.
But you don’t have to avoid exercise altogether. Strengthening exercises for your upper back can help improve your posture and reduce the risk of overusing your upper-trapezius muscle. You can perform scapular squeezes without even leaving your desk.
- Sit up straight on a firm surface.
- With your arms relaxed by your sides, squeeze your shoulder blades together as if you’re trying to hold a pencil between them.
- Hold for two to three seconds, then relax.
- Repeat 10 times, working up to three sets in a row.
Be sure your upper-trapezius muscle is relaxed during this exercise. Try it in front of a mirror to help keep your shoulders from shrugging.
5. Get a Massage
If self-massage doesn’t help, consider enlisting the help of a professional massage therapist (or try a product called a massage gun) for muscle relaxation, according to Cleveland Clinic. A massage therapist can use a variety of techniques to help break up the knotty ball of muscle fibers.
6. Perfect Your Posture
Poor posture, especially while sitting at a desk, can contribute to trapezius trigger points, according to Cleveland Clinic. So, make sure you’re set up properly by following these tips from Mayo Clinic:
- Adjust your chair so your feet can rest flat on the floor. (Use a footrest if needed.) And make sure that your thighs are parallel to the floor.
- Position your keyboard and mouse so your wrists and forearms are aligned and your shoulders are relaxed.
- Place your computer monitor about an arm’s length away from your face, at eye level.
When to See a Doctor
While most lumps on the top of the shoulder muscles are likely to be trigger points, there are other medical conditions — such as cancer — that can cause lumps. Cancerous lumps often appear out of nowhere and grow steadily in size. See a doctor for an accurate diagnosis if you have any concerns about a lump in your trapezius muscle (or anywhere else, for that matter).
You should also talk with a doctor about trapezius pressure points if the lump gets red, feels hot to the touch, or is draining any fluid or blood, according to Cleveland Clinic.