The relationship between activity in ocular muscles and activity in neck and scapular muscles that stabilizes gaze is well known. However, it is uncertain if ocular load per se contributes to increased muscle activity in the neck and scapular area. Sixty-six participants performed a fixation task under three different conditions: binocular with minus lenses (-3.5D) and monocular with minus lens (-3.5D) and neutral lens (±0D). Ocular accommodation and trapezius muscle EMG were measured. Multiple regression analysis showed that response diopters accounted for 11.6% (p=0.009) of the variance in EMG in the binocular condition. In the monocular conditions, there were no significant relationships.