Trigger points (also called muscle knots) will impact 85% of people at some point or another, and the neck can be one of their favorite places to show up.
When you have a neck trigger point, you might not notice any symptoms besides a tough spot in one of your muscles. But left untreated, it could start to cause other uncomfortable side effects — including pain that radiates far away from the knot itself.
So, if you’ve been dealing with a cervical trigger point (or a few), how can you find relief? Read on to learn more about their common causes, symptoms, and remedies to try.
What Is a Trigger Point?
Simply put, trigger points are taught, hyperirritable bands of tissue that cause musculoskeletal pain. They tend to feel tender when you press on them, but they can also cause “referred” pain in other areas due to how your body processes their pain signals.
Cervical trigger points often lead to neck tension, but they can also come with other symptoms, like shoulder pain, back pain, or even headaches.
Causes of Neck Trigger Points
So, what exactly causes cervical trigger points to form? These tight bands of tissue may show up for a few major reasons:
- Repetitive stress: Overusing your neck muscles — whether from work, weightlifting, or another repetitive activity — can lead to microtrauma and inflammation. Over time, the body may respond to this irritation by forming trigger points.
- Poor posture: Tech neck, rounded shoulders, or forward head posture are all common positions that can strain your cervical muscles.
- Injuries or acute trauma, like a direct hit or fall
- Age-related changes in muscles and joints
- Stress or anxiety, which can trigger fight-or-flight hormones and chronic muscle tension
- Nutritional deficiencies: Although not always the sole cause of muscle knots, low intake of certain nutrients — including magnesium or B vitamins — can add to muscle tension.
Symptoms
When you have a cervical trigger point, you might first discover it by palpating (or feeling) along the muscles in your neck. As you run your fingers over it, it may feel like a small, firm spot that’s tougher and more tender than the tissue around it. Aside from the tangible feeling of the knot itself, you could also have symptoms like:
- Local, irritable pain in or around the neck
- Radiating (or “referred”) pain that spreads into the back, shoulders, scalp, temples, or jaw
- Reduced range of motion, stiffness, or discomfort when you turn or tilt your head
Neck Muscles Commonly Affected By Trigger Points
Your neck contains about 30 cervical muscles, nearly all of which work constantly to keep your head upright during the day. Some of these do more of the heavy lifting than others — meaning they tend to be the ones more vulnerable to trigger points forming. These include:
Upper Trapezius
Your trapezius muscles (more casually called the “traps”) are two large, fan-shaped muscles that support your neck and spine. Many people think of the traps as the tight bands of tissue that run between the neck and shoulders, but they’re actually much bigger — spanning from about the mid-back all the way up to the base of the skull.
The upper portions of these muscles overlay the back of the neck, helping with everything from turning your head to shrugging your shoulders and keeping your posture upright. Because of how active they are, they can be prone to tension and trigger points.
Sternocleidomastoid (SCM)
The sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscles are two large, powerful muscles that run up along the sides of your neck. They play a key role in helping you turn and twist your head, but they also help to stabilize and support your jaw. Like the upper traps, their constant workload can make them another common area for muscle knots to show up.
Deeper Neck Muscles
Aside from the larger, exterior muscle groups in the neck, there are many smaller cervical muscles that can also be prone to knots and tension. For example, smaller trigger points can sometimes impact the deeper back-of-neck muscles that help support and stabilize your head, like the:
- Splenius capitis and splenius cervicis, two small muscles that help extend your neck and rotate your head
- Levator scapulae (aka the “lifter of the shoulder blade”), which helps with neck and shoulder blade stability
- Semispinalis cervicis, a deeper neck muscle that helps stabilize the cervical spine
How To Relieve Cervical Trigger Points
If you’ve been dealing with a new neck trigger point — or have one that’s been bugging you for a while — the good news is that a few remedies could bring relief. Some of the simplest ones involve working on the knot itself, but there are also other options (like exercise or medical treatments) that can be worth looking into.
Here are some remedies to explore, ranging from easy home techniques to treatments that may be worth asking your doctor about:
Foam Roll It Out
Foam rolling is a type of active stretching and massage that breaks up tension in muscle and connective tissue through a technique called myofascial release. It involves using moderate pressure to slowly roll out tissue — stretching out muscle fibers, boosting blood flow, and interrupting the pain cycle that can keep trigger points firing.
If you’ve got a foam roller at home, here’s a gentle way that you can work on your back-of-neck muscles a few times per week:
- Find a comfortable area, and place your foam roller on the ground.
- Lean back onto the foam roller, situating it horizontally behind your neck.
- Slowly tilt your head from left to right, pressing into the muscles with as much pressure as feels good to you. (Optionally, you can tuck your chin in toward your chest to deepen the stretch.)
- If you find a tender point, you can pause and hold the pressure there for a few extra seconds to encourage it to release. (Tip: If the trigger point doesn’t ease up after 10 seconds or so, it may be a sign that it’s best to hold off on massage for now.)
Try a Massage Ball
For more targeted myofascial release, all you’ll need is a massage ball — or a lacrosse/tennis ball — and a wall. First, feel along your muscles until you find your knot or trigger point. Then:
- Stand with your back facing the wall.
- Place your massage ball between your trigger point and the wall.
- Lean back to hold the ball in place.
- Slowly move your body up and down to roll the ball over the muscle tissue. (Note: Be sure to focus on your muscles, avoiding the spine or any other bony spots.)
- Repeat for 20-30 seconds.
Soothing Neck Massage
If you’re dealing with tension beyond the trigger point itself, an allover neck massage could help. It brings the main benefit of easing neck and shoulder pain, while at the same time loosening up tense areas that could be contributing to knots forming. To try it:
- Sit in a comfortable, upright position, and take a deep breath in. As you exhale, allow your neck and shoulders to relax.
- With your right hand, reach over to your left-side neck muscles.
- Begin to massage in gentle, circular motions. Start at the base of your skull and work your way down the trapezius muscle, toward your left shoulder.
- Repeat with the other side.
- Next, use both hands to apply broad, gentle compressions up and down the neck muscles. Continue for one minute.
- Finally, use two or three fingers to massage the back of your neck with smaller, more focused circles.
- If you find a tense spot or trigger point, feel free to work on it for a few extra seconds, sticking to a massage pressure that feels comfortable for you.
Try a Home Massager
Hands-on massage can be a great option when you’re in a pinch, but the right home tools can make a big difference if neck tension is something you deal with frequently. The MedMassager Neck Massager is one helpful tool that combines gentle, kneading massage and heat to deliver deep relief to overused, tired neck muscles. It works like this:
- Align the massager comfortably around your neck, and switch it onto its lightest setting.
- Let your muscles warm up to the massage for one minute.
- From there, feel free to increase the pressure if you’d like.
- Relax into the massage for a total of 5-15 minutes.
Stretch and Engage Your Neck Muscles
When it comes to relieving cervical trigger points — or myofascial pain in general — exercise is a key part of any treatment plan, according to the Mayo Clinic. This is because the right movements not only support circulation and healing, but they also improve range of motion, posture, and overall neck mechanics over time.
Be sure to check with your doctor if you have any previous injuries or health conditions affecting the neck. With the all-clear, here are some helpful, mobility-boosting movements to try for trigger point relief:
Side-to-Side Stretch
To gently lengthen the upper trapezius and surrounding neck muscles:
- Stand or sit with upright posture.
- Slowly tilt your head over to your right, so that your ear moves toward your shoulder.
- Using your right hand, press gently on top of your head to deepen the stretch. (Tip: Try to remember to keep your shoulders down and relaxed here.)
- Hold for 10-20 seconds, and repeat with the other side.
Chin Tucks
When it comes to supporting the neck, chin tucks are a great exercise to try. They offer a simple way to “reset” your posture, all while engaging many of the muscle groups that can become weak and underactive due to rounding forward. At the same time, they’re also helpful for stretching and breaking up tense spots in the back of the neck.
To try this exercise:
- Sit with upright posture, aiming to keep your eyes and chin parallel to the ground.
- Place your finger on your chin.
- Keeping your finger in place, pull your chin back in a straight line. As you do so, try not to tilt or tuck your head down.
- Hold for a few seconds, and repeat 8-10 times.
Other Treatments
Massage, stretching, and a bit of time are often all you need to start finding relief from minor neck trigger points. But if you have one that’s especially painful — or it’s been hanging around for a while — here are some other treatments that may be worth talking to your doctor about:
- Trigger point injections, which can be used to relieve pain or reduce muscular activity in stubborn muscle knots
- Dry needling or acupuncture to help break up muscle tension
- Ultrasound therapy, which may help relieve pain through warmth and increased blood flow
Frequently Asked Questions
Even though many of us will run into cervical trigger points at some point or another, they’re not something people usually talk about — and it’s normal to have questions about how they work. Here are some answers covering recovery, screen use, and more:
Do Trigger Points Go Away on Their Own?
Trigger points in the neck (and elsewhere) don’t always go away on their own, especially if the underlying cause is not addressed. So, it’s important to look at what might be causing your neck tension in the first place — whether it’s bad posture, stress, or muscular imbalances — and start there. As you work on correcting the root cause, you can use remedies like massage or stretching to break up tension and support healing.
Can Phone or Computer Use Worsen Cervical Trigger Points?
Yes — screen use can be a common culprit behind neck trigger points, simply because of the forward head posture that often comes with it. This position puts the muscles at the back of your neck under extra strain, which can reduce blood flow and lead to irritation over time.
When Should Neck Pain Be Checked By a Doctor Instead?
While minor neck tension usually isn’t anything to worry about, there are some times when it’s best to check with your doctor about neck pain, whether or not a trigger point might be involved. For example, be sure to talk with a healthcare professional if your pain:
- Is severe, getting worse despite rest, or is impacting your daily routine
- Happens after an acute injury (like a fall or accident)
- Occurs with numbness, tingling, or weakness
- Comes with other unusual symptoms, such as dizziness, vision changes, or any other unexplained symptoms
Prevention Tips for Knot-Free Neck Muscles
As you start to find relief from your trigger point(s), here are a few tips and lifestyle shifts that can help keep your cervical muscles flexible and healthy going forward:
Healthy, Regular Movement
Staying still for long periods (like while watching TV or working at a desk) can leave the cervical muscles both overworked and weak — often creating a perfect environment for trigger points to form. In the long term, you can counteract this by staying active with moderate exercise 3-5 times per week. But on a more day-to-day level, you can:
- Change positions often. Try to break up any long periods of sitting or being sedentary with a few minutes of walking every 30-60 minutes.
- Stretch and mobilize your neck with the help of a few neck rolls or side-to-side bends throughout the day.
- Don’t forget about your back and shoulders. Include movements like arm circles or shoulder shrugs to help strengthen and mobilize these muscle groups, too.
Reduce Unnecessary Strain on Your Neck
Beyond moving more during the day, you can reduce the strain on your neck muscles by:
- Adjusting your workspace to be more neck-friendly
- Becoming more aware of your posture throughout the day
- Investing in a pillow that better supports your cervical spine (moderately firm, without being too high or too low)
- Managing stress and anxiety to help reduce muscle tension
The Takeaway
Trigger points will happen to almost everyone at some point, and you’re certainly not alone if one of these stubborn knots has been affecting your neck recently. The best first step you can take is to identify and correct the underlying cause, whether that’s overuse, stress, or simple poor posture. Along the way, remedies like massage, exercise, and certain medical treatments can help bring extra relief.
Looking for ways to try regular massage from the comfort of your home? The MedMassager Neck Massager is one HSA/FSA-eligible option that can help. Learn more about how it works today, or explore the full range of home tools here.
