Thanks Hiker. If you must do shoulder exercises, your neck must be supported all times. Some exercises show the person with lying on their stomach, or bent over and neck free. All these will recruit neck muscles.

I learnt what I told you about bent over rows when i did them - my shoulderblades would burn because the overactive neck muscles would go hyper. However, if i squeezed my blade back and down, while standing up, the same pain wouldn't occur to the same degree.