Hey folks,

I visited the physio today for an old shoulder injury which has returned on/off, depending on what goes on at aerial silks (which I think everyone should try!) and my at-home routines with pushups/pullups.

The physio and I talked through several things and we have a plan of attack on this, but I thought I would approach bodyweightfitness in hope that someone might be able to help with this plan.

The physio's assessment is basically that the balance between front and back is out, causing displacement/rounding of upper back and shoulders and a very strong bias towards any muscles which are already stronger. The culprit in all this is probably the lower traps around mid-back.

The plan is to strengthen the lower traps while working on relaxing the pec majors and upper traps. Initially I need to focus on activating the lower traps, and then incorporate that focus in to a resisted/weighted row.

My trouble is that I'm finding it nigh impossible to actually activate my lower traps, and know what that feels like. Even with the physio's direction it was always the upper traps or lats that activated.

Does anyone know of any movements/stretches/"tricks" which can activate the lower lats in a way that it can be easily felt/identified?

I'm hoping that if I can feel where my lower traps are when they're activated, I'll be able to better target them in any movement where they will be required.

Thanks!

TL;DR - Need to activate and strengthen lower traps. Upper traps/lats always activate instead, even with exercises which should target lower traps.

Edit: An example of a "trick": Someone taught me to wiggle my ears by helping my identify what it felt like to activate the muscles that can move that area on the head. They told me to look straight down and tense my neck as much as I could. I immediately felt the other areas around my ears move and have since been able to isolate that movement.