Uneven traps

[duly noted]

My 15 year-old son showed me something a bit concerning. He flexed, and his left trap is huge... flexing way up on the neck. His right trap is pretty much non-existent. When not flexing, you can't really tell the difference. From behind, you can also see it, and his lat on the right is larger than the left, but only to a small degree. Interesting because it is the opposite of the trap uneveness.

Should I be concerned? He doesn't remember injuring anything, but only noticed it a couple of weeks ago when there was some pain... Not some immediate catastophic tear than healed weird... no recollection of major injury or event that would have caused it.

Thanks...

[lightningsix]

My 15 year-old son showed me something a bit concerning. He flexed, and his left trap is huge... flexing way up on the neck. His right trap is pretty much non-existent. When not flexing, you can't really tell the difference. From behind, you can also see it, and his lat on the right is larger than the left, but only to a small degree. Interesting because it is the opposite of the trap uneveness.

Should I be concerned? He doesn't remember injuring anything, but only noticed it a couple of weeks ago when there was some pain... Not some immediate catastophic tear than healed weird... no recollection of major injury or event that would have caused it.

Thanks...

It's truly none of my biz but generally 15 is kind of young to start lifting weights which leads to improper form i.e. uneven muscles and/or stunt growth.

As far as making them even. Just have him do 1 arm shoulder shrugs to even it out.

I hope that helped a little bit
p.s. I meant no offense with my post, just my $0.02

[TimD]

15 is NOT to young to start lifting.
As to the uneven traps, that's going to happen. I wouldn't be too concerned. Just try doing some unilateral work, and it should start to even out.
Tim

[brook011]

My 15 year-old son showed me something a bit concerning. He flexed, and his left trap is huge... flexing way up on the neck. His right trap is pretty much non-existent. When not flexing, you can't really tell the difference. From behind, you can also see it, and his lat on the right is larger than the left, but only to a small degree. Interesting because it is the opposite of the trap uneveness.

Should I be concerned? He doesn't remember injuring anything, but only noticed it a couple of weeks ago when there was some pain... Not some immediate catastophic tear than healed weird... no recollection of major injury or event that would have caused it.

Thanks...

It's truly none of my biz but generally 15 is kind of young to start lifting weights which leads to improper form i.e. uneven muscles and/or stunt growth.

As far as making them even. Just have him do 1 arm shoulder shrugs to even it out.

I hope that helped a little bit
p.s. I meant no offense with my post, just my $0.02

First off, 15 is a great age to instill some weight training values. Most highschool football teams have a weight training program, and 15 is usually when they start getting into this. As for his back, I think you're thinking dumbbell rows, not shrugs. Everyone has their own opinion on this, but I fixed my tricep inequality by doing the weak side to failure and then repeating that # of reps on the strong side. I can't tell you the disadvantage of or dangers of having an inequality, but I would imagine any sort of lifting where he would attempt to use the back as a whole would risk injury. "Lifting a box or whatever"

[duly noted]

brook011,
I'm not too worried about the back (lats). The trapezoid is the funny looking one. I really wouldn't think he had done enough shtugs to make it that uneven.

[brook011]

brook011,
I'm not too worried about the back (lats). The trapezoid is the funny looking one. I really wouldn't think he had done enough shtugs to make it that uneven.

Read it wrong :) Sorry about that.

[stuward]

brook011,
I'm not too worried about the back (lats). The trapezoid is the funny looking one. I really wouldn't think he had done enough shtugs to make it that uneven.

He's probably compensating for a weakness so one side is probably taking more of the load. Does he carry a bookbag to school, always on the same side?

Like Tim said, unilateral work will help even out but I think that just doing heavier deadlifts, farmers walks, etc, will start to even it out anyway.

[Chris_A]

What exercises is he doing. Like Stuward said, he could be overcompensating for a weakness on one side in a heavy lift by using his traps more than he should. Unilateral work can even things out (DB Shrugs), and also paying strict attention to form on heavy lifts where he may be shrugging his traps to move the weight when he is not supposed to, or he is using the traps unevenly. Lowering the weight and observing strict form may also help; it just depends on what exercises he is doing.

[ironmaiden708]

It's truly none of my biz but generally 15 is kind of young to start lifting weights which leads to improper form i.e. uneven muscles and/or stunt growth.

Do some research before saying garbage that that. You are wrong on all accounts. Anybody can have improper form but with the correct instruction it can be good. Muscle imbalance can occur with anybody whether they are 12 or 40 yo which can be prevented by a solid balanced routine. Stunting growth is a myth. I lifted when I was 15 and I'm doing just fine and I continued to grow taller.

trapezoid

Trapezius?

[helcat]

I'm a trainer with a background in Pilates and I do a lot of postural work. This is a very common deviation - typically caused by carrying a bag on one shoulder or cradling a phone.

It's not just the strength of the traps but thei tightness you need to be concerned about. It may now cause problems now, but over time you son could be prone to impingement in the c-spine and/or shoulders (especially if shoulder(s) are rounded forward. I highly recommend working with a NASM certified trainer who is comfortable doing postural profiles or someone with a background in PT or Pilates to remedy this before it becomes a problem. h

[brook011]

It's truly none of my biz but generally 15 is kind of young to start lifting weights which leads to improper form i.e. uneven muscles and/or stunt growth.

Do some research before saying garbage that that. You are wrong on all accounts. Anybody can have improper form but with the correct instruction it can be good. Muscle imbalance can occur with anybody whether they are 12 or 40 yo which can be prevented by a solid balanced routine. Stunting growth is a myth. I lifted when I was 15 and I'm doing just fine and I continued to grow taller.

trapezoid

Trapezius?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapezoid

[ironmaiden708]

Wow, now I know what a trapazoid looks like. What I am referring to in this thread is that is he intentionally saying trapezoid or did he mistake that for the upper trapezius muscle.

[brook011]

It was a mistake, I was just making a joke with the trapezoid reference.

[Jungledoc]

Mr. Noted--I'm assuming that Duly Jr. has no pain, tenderness in the larger muscle? And that he is in good general health, not feeling unwell? The difference is apparent only with flexing? Assuming that the answer to all these is "yes" than I agree with all the above (except the part about 15 being too young to train). If the answer to any is "no" than please have your doctor poke around at it a little. I have a skewed view of life, but I've seen enough muscle tumors in my life to make me a bit cautious about your description.

[duly noted]

Mr. Noted--I'm assuming that Duly Jr. has no pain, tenderness in the larger muscle? And that he is in good general health, not feeling unwell? The difference is apparent only with flexing? Assuming that the answer to all these is "yes" than I agree with all the above (except the part about 15 being too young to train). If the answer to any is "no" than please have your doctor poke around at it a little. I have a skewed view of life, but I've seen enough muscle tumors in my life to make me a bit cautious about your description.

Answer to all is YES... He seems to be fine...