Levator Scapulae Strain Treatment

What are your levator scapulae?

Your levator scapulae consist of two muscles. One on each side of your neck, running from transverse processes of C1 – C4 (the edges of the top four vertebrae in your neck) down to the medial border of your scapula on the superior angle (the top inner portion of your shoulder blades). These muscles are mainly responsible for elevating and retracting the shoulder. When working together, they also extend the neck backward but working separately, they play a role in flexing the neck side to side.

What is a muscle strain?

A muscle strain is when a muscle is stretched past its natural capacity or if there is a tear in the muscle tissue. This occurs in the muscle itself or in the tendon where the muscle connects to your bone. Symptoms of a strain consist of swelling, pain, spasms in the muscle or reduced movement.

At PhysioMax Wellness we use multiple treatment forms and modalities to help you heal faster from your injuries.

With this levator scapulae strain, one treatment session consisted of:

Cupping therapy

Cupping therapy reduces the pressure and tension in the muscles. It can relieve inflammation of the muscles and tendons, allowing more effective blood flow bringing more oxygen and nutrients to injured tissues to promote healing from a strain. My moving the cups around slightly, it enhances the massage movements of the cups and releases more tension

Dry needling

By using acupuncture as part of the treatment plan for the levator scapulae strain, the acupuncture needle can pin point more specific parts of the muscles tissues. This provides more precise treatment. Acupuncture on its own triggers a healing response in the body but by adding the acupen to electrically stimulate the needle, this intensifies the body’s response to deliver healing properties and pain relief to the tissues.

Massage gun

The massage gun releases tension and increases the blood flow bringing oxygen and nutrients to the muscles as well as pain relieving chemicals to help you live as pain free as possible between treatment sessions.

PhysioMax Wellness is a Physiotherapy clinic located in Burlington, Ontario. PhysioMax Wellness offers; physiotherapy, chiropractic care, massage therapy and more. We use manual therapies as well as various modalities to improve the rate of healing from injuries. Our goal is to work with you and for you to create personalized plans to recover from injuries and help your reach your health goals for conditions you may have.

Julia de Reijke RKin, CSEP-CPT, BASc Kinesiology (Hons), DipFTHP