Tender C7 Vertebrae After Squatting

Where your lower cervical connects to your upper back, everyone has that bony lump, I believe its C7. it is right about where the bar usually rests when I do back squats. When I squat, the bar rests on my back muscles and I guess it touches the c7, I guess I haven’t been concentrating on it to notice that much. It is sometimes a bit tender after squatting but it never hurts. Is it possible for this bone to build up under the pressure of the bar constantly resting on it? Or am I just crazy? Mine is bigger than anyone in my family’s and is really visible when my neck is bent forwards. From now on I’ll try to put the bar lower on my back but I am wondering if anyone else knows what I’m talking about?

edit - i found a pic displaying what im talking about.

C7 has a more prominent spinous process that slightly bifurcates at the tip. In other words, it has the potential to “stick out” more than the others.
I’m assuming you’re fairly thin, probably have slightly kyphotic posture for this to be evident.
Try to take in a deep breath, chest held high and keep your shoulder blades “pinched together” when you squat. Try to position the bar lower on your back if possible. Until you develop your traps more, you might consider a towel wrapped around the bar of minimal thickness. Too thick and the bar will roll off your back. Avoid the big thick zip-on pads and goofy manta-ray devices. We all know those are for pussies :wink:

Hey man, thanks for the reply.

I’m actually not thin and have a pretty well developed back compared to the rest of my body, which you might find odd considering my problem. My posture is so-so and getting better.

I will try keeping the back tighter as you mentioned during squatting, but I believe I’ve found the problem. I do calf raises on the dreaded smith machine, and I just realized that when I’m shouldering the bar with the smith, I get lazy and let my back loosen. The bar is also thinner and digs in alot more compared to the free bar. Coupled with the amount of weight I use for calf raises, I think it is causing my the problem. this problem has only reoccured after I started doing calf raises on the smith, so I’m certain that is it. I’m going to ditch the smith calf raises for standing dumbell ones or something similar.

And I’ve never used the pussy pad! hahah

thanks