What Muscle Retracts the Neck?

Off Topic
41

[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
Here: if there is still question about my calling this motion retraction or it is unclear what motion I am talking about, here are some webpages with pictures and text:

http://www.necksolutions.com/neck-exercises.html
http://www.spineuniverse.com/treatments/physical-therapy/physical-therapy-goals-basic-exercises-your-backs
http://stanford.wellsphere.com/back-neck-pain-article/head-retraction-exercises-a-must-to-correct-forward-head-posture/431021

Now as for what muscle is most involved, my guess is the splenius but I have not found confirmation of this anywhere, as explanations of muscle function and neck movement generally omit retraction.

Perhaps someone here knows for a fact instead of a guess, hence the post.[/quote]

Digastric is one. I’m sure some of the suprahyoid msucles would aid in this movement. I’m a little rusty since that was ten years ago in ART and 25 years ago in school. I just fix stuff now, which is easier than explaining it.

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I feel absolutely no pull on the mandible at all though; there seems to be no interaction between retracting the head and retracting or protracting the mandible; and there’s no similarity in feel, but great dissimilarity, compared to retrusion of the mandible.

I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just saying that it feels to me that those cannot be prime movers in my case and actually it seems to me that nothing connected to the mandible is active during neck retraction.

On the other hand, I do feel activity in the traps including the midback part, as well as undefined muscles in the neck. The SCM may be acting to help prevent tilting of the head, but I’m not sure.

43

[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:

[quote]metal.head wrote:
"Trapezius Muscle

…the upper part, acting alone, elevates the shoulder and braces the shoulder girdle when a weight is carried. The lower part draws the scapula downward. When both of these muscles act together, the scapula can be brought toward the body and the head can drawn directly backward."

The term “posterior head translation” is sometimes also used to describe the motion you are talking about (retraction).
[/quote]

THANK YOU.

That makes a ton of sense. I had an intuition the traps were involved but I could not figure how. Your explanation makes it clear how this can work.

So perhaps the best answer thus far is posterior scalenes plus this combined trapezius activity you describe, plus undoubtedly stabilization from various other muscles.[/quote]

Yeah, I recently developed a bit of an injury in my mid-trap (I think) and “posterior head translation” is difficult and a bit painful. Funny thing is I can do most trap exercises without problem (rack pulls, DB rows, etc) but it gets really aggravated (and was initially caused) by vertical pressing. Any help, anyone?

44

[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
I feel absolutely no pull on the mandible at all though; there seems to be no interaction between retracting the head and retracting or protracting the mandible; and there’s no similarity in feel, but great dissimilarity, compared to retrusion of the mandible.

I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just saying that it feels to me that those cannot be prime movers in my case and actually it seems to me that nothing connected to the mandible is active during neck retraction.

On the other hand, I do feel activity in the traps including the midback part, as well as undefined muscles in the neck. The SCM may be acting to help prevent tilting of the head, but I’m not sure.[/quote]

Puzzling.

Because the digastric muscle is the primary and almost sole mover when I perform that movement and there is no engagement of the traps whatsoever.

Just did a few reps of the movement now and my mandible hurts.

45

I felt nothing in my mandible even when doing the 18 reps with the empty bar of the Smith machine, which is an as-many-as-possible effort.

So, there must be individual variability in this movement.

46

Wait a sec: if I try extreme retraction I do feel it in the mandible.

47

[quote]bloodnsweat wrote:

[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:

[quote]metal.head wrote:
"Trapezius Muscle

…the upper part, acting alone, elevates the shoulder and braces the shoulder girdle when a weight is carried. The lower part draws the scapula downward. When both of these muscles act together, the scapula can be brought toward the body and the head can drawn directly backward."

The term “posterior head translation” is sometimes also used to describe the motion you are talking about (retraction).
[/quote]

THANK YOU.

That makes a ton of sense. I had an intuition the traps were involved but I could not figure how. Your explanation makes it clear how this can work.

So perhaps the best answer thus far is posterior scalenes plus this combined trapezius activity you describe, plus undoubtedly stabilization from various other muscles.[/quote]

With due respect here but, no.

This is not a retraction of the head but a protraction of the shoulders - which is EXACTLY what I perform in the butterfly swimming stroke, which was the incorrect movement as I understood the “chicken head” movement.

I have had a shoulder injury from training to compete in the 50 meter fly which is an explosive event, and basically I had to loosen the scapula to move forward more aggressively and this overstretch in the retracting position locked my shoulder into place for a long time because I was powerfully retracting the scapula to maintain streamlining with the water and glide more effectively without having to move my head excessively as the bobbing of a retracing head would kill the stroke, which is why most people can’t get it right and kill themselves trying to do the butterfly correctly.

I had a similar injury when I was doing Oly lifts.

Now, I can relate to it happening in the scapula, upper traps and severe tensing of the posterior scalenes.

Bill Roberts, I wouldn’t doubt if your posterior scalenes was locked in tension and you’re thinking your neck is solid muscle.

48

[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
Wait a sec: if I try extreme retraction I do feel it in the mandible.[/quote]

Ah, see?

I told you.

:slight_smile:

I think you are confusing two different movements. I did have a hunch the butterfly technique had something to do with what you were trying to describe on account of the nature of your injury.

49


This picture illustrates my meaning.

Guy on the full body suit is protracting the shoulder.
Michael Phelps on the left is retracting the shoulder, hence the chest out and scapula back looking so pronounced.

Maybe I am doing some form of pseudo body building due to my training as a swimmer, maybe for power lifting is the same movement but when I shoulder press for front deltoid I am in the Michael Phelps position. When I shoulder press for back deltoid I am in the protracting position.

It may appear as if my head is protracting and retracting but in fact it is my scapula and traps that are respectively retracting and protracting.

50

[quote]Alpha F wrote:

[quote]bloodnsweat wrote:

[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:

[quote]metal.head wrote:
"Trapezius Muscle

…the upper part, acting alone, elevates the shoulder and braces the shoulder girdle when a weight is carried. The lower part draws the scapula downward. When both of these muscles act together, the scapula can be brought toward the body and the head can drawn directly backward."

The term “posterior head translation” is sometimes also used to describe the motion you are talking about (retraction).
[/quote]

THANK YOU.

That makes a ton of sense. I had an intuition the traps were involved but I could not figure how. Your explanation makes it clear how this can work.

So perhaps the best answer thus far is posterior scalenes plus this combined trapezius activity you describe, plus undoubtedly stabilization from various other muscles.[/quote]

With due respect here but, no.

This is not a retraction of the head but a protraction of the shoulders - which is EXACTLY what I perform in the butterfly swimming stroke, which was the incorrect movement as I understood the “chicken head” movement.[/quote]

Undoubtedly the movement you are doing in the examples you describe has protraction of the shoulders, as you say so, but the movement I am talking about does not.

For example in the above pictures of the woman in the chair, there is no difference in protraction/retraction of the shoulders.

And it is certainly an independent movement for me. I can retract my head from a protracted position while simultaneously retracting my shoulders, protracting them, or doing neither, and the neck motion feels exactly the same except where the shoulders remain extremely protracted the entire time, in which case it’s difficult to control head tilt.

51

[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:

[quote]Alpha F wrote:
This is not a retraction of the head but a protraction of the shoulders - which is EXACTLY what I perform in the butterfly swimming stroke, which was the incorrect movement as I understood the “chicken head” movement.[/quote]

… it is certainly an independent movement for me. I can retract my head from a protracted position while simultaneously retracting my shoulders, protracting them, or doing neither, and the neck motion feels exactly the same except where the shoulders remain extremely protracted the entire time, in which case it’s difficult to control head tilt.[/quote]

It is, incidentally, a weird feeling moving the head back and forth from protracted to retracted while having the shoulders fully protracted the whole time.

52

[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:

It is, incidentally, a weird feeling moving the head back and forth from protracted to retracted while having the shoulders fully protracted the whole time.[/quote]

just like it also feels strange to rotate the head in neutral, posterior head translation, and anterior head translation comparatively. the 3 different head postures alter the biomechanics and ranges of motion.

53

Bill has been working on his Glen Quagmire impressions, hence the need to move his head forward and backward in the horizontal plane.

Giggity.

54

:slight_smile:

55

[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
I feel absolutely no pull on the mandible at all though; there seems to be no interaction between retracting the head and retracting or protracting the mandible; and there’s no similarity in feel, but great dissimilarity, compared to retrusion of the mandible.

I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just saying that it feels to me that those cannot be prime movers in my case and actually it seems to me that nothing connected to the mandible is active during neck retraction.

On the other hand, I do feel activity in the traps including the midback part, as well as undefined muscles in the neck. The SCM may be acting to help prevent tilting of the head, but I’m not sure.[/quote]

One ART procedure for treating the digrastic to to have the patient push their jaw forward. There is some slight movement backwards in the jaw if you try to contract the muscle which to me translates the head slightly backwards. Where I feel it most is the base of my sskull where the various suboccipitals, traps and others insert.

56

But could one likely lift the Smith machine bar with the digrastic?

Also I didn’t mean slight movement, but movement from fully or nearly fully protracted all the way back to fully retracted, or nearly so. I should have been clearer on that.

57

[quote]Bill Roberts wrote:
What muscle or muscles retract the neck?

While this might seem a question that should be readily answerable, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the answer and while current Googling efforts have turned up very, very many explanations of flexion, extension, lateral flexion, and rotation, they’ve never turned up retraction, except in the sea turtle, but in the human there is no muscle with that same name. In other words, no answer.

???[/quote]

I happened to talk to a DPT yesterday, and had this question in mind. She said that longus capitis and longus colli shorten during neck retraction. I mentioned that I feel other muscles working especially my traps, and she replied that at the same time the above two muscles shorten, others - including the upper traps - need to lengthen. Which is why I, with my shortened traps, feel neck retraction there.

Hope this info helps, even if it’s 4 months old.

58

The cervical spine has a natural lordotic curvature (this would resemble a backwards C-shape if a person were being viewed from the side with their left shoulder against a wall). Much of the retraction motion is actually flattening or slighty reversing the normal lordosis. The deep neck flexors peform the majority of this movement. The longus capitus and colli and anterior portion of the rectus capitus belong to this group of muscles.

59

[quote]PederLustzo wrote:
Hi,

different parts of the “deep back muscles” or “erector spinae” are involved in extension (looking up motion) of the neck. if you really mean the neck you could talk about intraspinalis, intertransversius etc. but all those muscles play a rather minor role in active motion but a rather stabilizers, I do believe what you are look for is the:

M. sternocleidomastoideus

Which although situated at the sites and front of the neck STILL pulls it back and is the stronges head extensor (looking-up-muscle). If you look at the mastoid (where this muscle is attached) you will notice that it is behind the articulatory axis, this explains why a muscle situated in front pulls the head acutaly back.

Hope this is helpfull.[/quote]

agree. Your head hangs slightly forward in relaxed posture. When you tense and retract your head, both sternocleidomastoids work in concert to pull the skull backwards maybe an inch. That appears to be the limit to my neck retraction.

60

Bill.

Leaving aside the undoubtedly worthy question of which muscles cause posterior translation of the cranium, I wish to make a couple of practical points. Incidentally, my view is that the movement is chiefly comprised of two actions: cervicothoracic spinal extension (paraspinal muscles) and cranial flexion on the atlanto-occipital joint (deep neck flexors).

You say you have forward head carriage which you wish to correct. Me too. Anyway, I suggest you concentrate on improving the strength endurance of the paraspinals facilitating lower cervical spinal extension. This is what we (spinal specialists/chiros/etc.) practice from a rehab perspective.

I could go on, but I’ll let you try and find a suitable exercise series and then I can help you tinker with them, if necessary.

BBB