An overworked teres major muscle or one that contains trigger points can mimic shoulder bursitis or a thoracic outlet syndrome.
People that often suffer are athletes like gymnasts, rock climbers, baseball players or rowers.
Trigger points in muscles can make them painful right at their location and at other, seemingly unrelated parts of your body.
The main pain zone of the teres major is the back of the shoulder.
Besides that, pain can radiate to the front and side of the shoulder and down the backside of the arm.
The pictures below show how common it is to feel pain in the highlighted area.
The darker the red, the likelier it is to feel pain in the respective spot when the teres major muscle contains active trigger points.
If this muscle is overworked, all movements that require lifting the arm to the side and to the front may be impaired and/or painful.
Why? Because an overworked muscle usually is very tight and in a shortened position.
The movements mentioned above all include an elongation of the muscle as they display the opposite direction of the muscle functions.
On the other side pulling on things – pulling on a blind to open it – may be also painful because the muscle needs to contract.
Always remember: An overworked and tender muscle can give you trouble, no matter if you contract and thus “use” it, or if you stretch it.
The teres major attaches at the angulus inferior of the scapula and the tuberculum minus of the humerus.
Those attachment points make it the “little brother” of the latissimus dorsi.
The Xs in the picture below are areas where tender and trigger points are prone to develop.
The teres major muscle adducts the arm, extends the shoulder and rotates it inwardly.
Adduction at the shoulder
Medial rotation at the shoulder
Retroversion at the shoulder
All activities where you need to adduct the arm forcefully will stress the teres major muscle and thus are able to create problems if you overdo it or do not take enough rest.
Here are some examples of movements where you need pull your arms towards your body.
Locating this muscle is not too difficult.
Still, separating it from the latissimus dorsi will be almost impossible for you as they lie so close together.
But this is no problem. The teres major and the latissimus will develop problems from almost the same activities.
So, just massage the area of the teres major and do not bother if you catch the latissimus accidentally.
I would not recommend massaging this muscle with your fingers – pinching and then rolling it -.
It can be very tiring and over time you are likely to end up with tender muscles in your hand.
A little bit is ok, but do not overdo it here. Instead I recommend using a massage ball.
While massaging, you only want to work the painful spots. You can use the muscle picture for navigational issues.
Whenever you hit a tender spot, stay there and work it a couple of times very precisely.
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