Nervous System Response and “Holding Stress”

Surely, you’ve noticed yourself or a friend utter those famous words, “I hold my stress in my traps.” Hell, I bet 99 out of 100 Americans would feel tender to the touch if you stood behind them and dug your fingers deep into their upper shoulders. The reason for this has to do with a topic we discussed recently about the evolution of our nervous system and our built in physical response to arousal. 

The fact of the matter is there’s a natural human reaction to stress that often includes elevated shoulders. We can hypothesize a few reasons why this is nearly universally true, including the fact that stressful breathing is generally shorter exchanges in the chest which elevates the upper torso and elevated shoulders even offer a protection of the vulnerable neck area. In any case, watch a slow motion video of any human being flinching from a punch or a ball thrown at them by surprise (stressful) and you’ll notice an elevation of the shoulders. 

When you say that you “hold your stress in your shoulders” (specifically your traps), you’re not wrong. That’s because which muscles are the prime movers for the elevation of the shoulders? You guessed it..

…the trapezius muscles.