Help - Neck Injury

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Here are some questions I filled out on my neck injury:

  1. When did the pain begin? 5 weeks ago
  2. What were you doing at the time? Or did the pain come on gradually over time? I started doing a new exercise. Heavy shrugs with a slight lean forward or it could have been max effort bench presses.
  3. Where, anatomically, is the pain? Upper left trap, left side of neck.
  4. What does the pain feel like? Sharp? Dull? Aching? Stabbing? Shooting? Dull and aching. If I suddenly move, its sharp.
  5. Is the pain constant, or intermittent, or only on certain motions? Hurts on and off half of the day.
  6. What motions make your pain worse? Turning my neck left or moving my neck left to my shoulder. Turning my neck right, chin towards middle of chest, and putting pressure on the left side of my neck.
  7. What, if anything, makes your pain better? Hot/cold shower, advil, and icy hot. Chin tucks.
  8. Does your pain radiate to any other part of your body? No.
  9. What things could you do before, that you cannot do now because of your injury? I can’t lift any upper body movements.
  10. Have you ever injured that part of your body before? If so, how? No.
  11. Is your pain getting worse over time? And if so, how much worse over what time period? It’s getting a little better.

I went to the chiropractor for 2 weeks, which made it worse. So, I stopped going. Right now I am getting treated at The Scandlon Sports Medicine Clinic at my college. They said it is most likely muscle irritation. This pain is a tough one to crack. I am only able to lift legs and do running. One day I lifted 50lb logs and split wood for 20 mins. Haha that was a bad idea.

I tried some strengthening exercises such as barbell overhead and squeeze traps, face down on incline bench with light dumbbells and raise, and scap pushups. (pushups caused more irritation then others so I stopped.) It didn’t have much of negative or positive effect. I’m not sure where to go from here. Any input would be helpful. Thanks Ricky.

2

Don’t know how much this will help but:
I had a similar injury. Except it happened when someone fell into the Hammer dip machine I was working on. Right side shot up when he fell on it, flung my right arm up and I heard a crunch in my upper right trap.

Exact same pain you describe. Only thing that sorta helped was Biofreeze gel and lots of it throughout the day. I tried to train around it but it wouldn’t heal.
I was able to do leg press work only (the one that doesn’t require plate loading) to upkeep size on my legs, but otherwise it took 3 weeks off from training for the pain to dissipate. But a full 6 weeks of going easy on trap included exercises.

Totally sucked, but it’s all better now. My advice is do as little as possible so it heals properly and you don’t get a bum injury that haunts you for years on end.

3

Hi. Sorry about your PN.
Since it’s been 5 wks. with some aggravating periods I say it sounds like a disc.

Not knowing age and accident Hx, or job Hx makes any concrete Dx impossible.
You could get films,an MRI would answer the question better.
Keep Motrin at high level 1800-2400mg/day,Ice alot. Do nothing that bothers it.
In my practice I’ve found light vertical neck distraction takes the load off.
With less pain you can be more active(and careful).
Dr. Tim

4

What is vertical neck distraction?

N Thanks for the replies I’ll take everything into consideration. As for my condition, it has not improved at all.

5

That sounds awful, man. I’m sorry you’re going through that.

This may sound totally retarded, but have you tried massage at all? I didn’t catch in your post whether you had or not. It wouldn’t be a cure-all, Idon’t think, but it might feel a little better.

Def get some xrays or something. Dr. Tim suggested MRI - do it. At least you’d know what you’re delaing with. Feel better.

6

[quote]Champr23 wrote:

In my practice I’ve found light vertical neck distraction takes the load off.

What is vertical neck distraction?

N Thanks for the replies I’ll take everything into consideration. As for my condition, it has not improved at all.
Yes.
[/quote]

7

ThatGirl. A massage really doesn’t do the trick. Yeah, I tried that one. haha.

I’m going to see an orthopedic doctor at my college this Tuesday. Yesterday, I tried convicing the athletic trainer to hook me up to the electric stimulator for my treatment. It was a no go. He said, “You don’t use it when the injury is close to the spine.” Then, I’m like haha thats good news because thats what my chriopracter did for 2 weeks. Welp, I’m done with my story. LaTerZ.

8

Hey man, you have a neck strain. I actually have one right now too. This is the second time it’s happened to me. But 5 weeks later, you should be about healed.

I’m not sure if the chiropractor you went to was any good, and many aren’t, but if you find a good one, they really do work wonders.

The one I go to is the Atlanta Falcons injury guy, and he is amazing. Go to a more expensive one. Usually the cheap ones rush everyone through, make frequent mistakes, and generally do the same thing for everyone.

I know exactly how you feel, as I’m feeling it right now. About a week ago, I had to take 3 days off school because I could barely walk it was so bad. I’ve been to Dr. Willing about 4 times since, and feel 90,000,000x better.

Best of luck with your rehab!

9

Keep in mind that without a physical assessment it is very difficult to truly pinpoint the location or type of lesion (injury) and the structres that are affected. The following information would at best be an educated guess.

Based on your described signs/symptoms (location, movement restrictions, pain description, lack of radicular symptoms) it would seem like your pain is due to irritation of certain muscle tissue (possibly the levator scapulae or less likely the upper fibres of the trap) moreso than disc, joint or nerve injury.

You stated that your pain onset was during heavy shrugs with forward lean or possibly max effort bench. . Both these positions may put the LS under some serious tension, especially when the load is high (eg. if head is lifted up during the bench press).

Stay away from any exercises or movements that seem to increase the pain or cause flare ups. So, for now, stay with very light loads and no scapular elevation under loading (shrugging, wrist unsupported keyboarding or any position where you bring your shoulders toward your ears). Work on scapular setting (rows with shoulder blades set and depressed etc) and gentle active range of motion exercises with your neck (in the pain free range).

Depending on how badly the tissue is irritated (stretched/torn), you should find significant relief in about 4-6 weeks once you let things settle down. The key to getting back to regular lifting is to slowly progress the loading allowing sufficient tissue recovery.

Hope that helps.
dc

10

I’m no professional, but I had a similar injury very recently for the first time. A friend of mine is a physical therapist and he gave me some advice which seemed to help, which I’ll pass it on to you:

If you sleep on your stomach, stop. It’s supposedly better to sleep either on your side, or your back, with a pillow that supports the neck.

Get lots of rest. Using ice and heat for 15 minute intervals, for as long as you can is helpful in bringing down inflammation, reducing pain, and promoting recovery.

Massages do also help promote recovery, even if they don’t feel as if they help immediately.

Motrin, 4 tabs, three times a day. WIll also bring the inflammation down. If you do this however, drink lots of water as it can be hard on your liver.

Lying on your stomach, and propped up on your elbows, lower your head as far as you can to your chest, without putting undue stress on the injured sight. Just let it hang for several seconds,relaxing the muscles, and then raise your head and attempt to look at the ceiling, for several seconds. Again, here don’t do anything that feels harmful, but try to get a good stretch. If you have a protruding disc, my understanding is that this will help push it back into place. Do a set of say, 10, several times a day.

Arnica. Have the massage therapist, or your wife, girlfriend, dog, whatever, rub this into the injured area.

Other than that, rest, rest, rest and wait.

Hope that helps

-J

11

Princepaul I try to do most of what you listed already. Thanks for the reminder.

Dra good advice. I thought about it more and I believe it was ME bench that caused the injury. I may have lifted my head off the bench. What happened was I was going for a PR for 1 rep. It was 185lbs, 15lbs more than I have ever done. I almost got one rep. I just missed it by 5lbs.

Then, the hardcore lifter I was with wouldn’t lift the bar up until I did 2 more reps. pshhh. I’m like take it up! They burned soo bad. To summarize, I wasn’t expecting the last reps and was doing anything to get the weight up.

I have been doing light seated rows, taking 6 motrin a day (1200mg), taking 10-15 regular fish oil caps (finally getting Flameout restocked soon), arnica 2 times daily, icy hot 1 time a day, and ice or heat 10-15 mins 1 time a day.

The injury is not getting any better, but this is the first week I really have been milking it. I have been trying to avoid everything that will make it worse. I am really trying not to sneak in much upper body work, but its hard.

12

Go to a doctor for godsakes. This may be one of the rare instances that a chiropractor might help too.

13

Nevermind, I see you tried that. Just rest then. Your body will probably be able to heal itself just fine with rest and time.

14

I went to the orthopedic doctor. He assessed me for one minute with some basic tests. I abruptly got sent in for an x-ray. It came out normal. He told me I have a neck strain/spasm. I expected answers, but I got sent packing with no new info! Grrrrr.

A week goes by and last night it finally hit me! I didn’t have a neck strain. I had an upper trapezius strain. The injury is located right at the upper peak of the shoulder blade inserting into the trap.

I recently discovered, a sharp pain occurs when I retract my shoulder blade and turn it in the correct way. Hence, my inability to do scap pushups. So, I thought a bit more. When I am driving, I favor my right arm and even use the arm rest for entire drives. Could this info be relevant?

So, I know what your all wondering. How did this just breeze right by the chiropractor, athletic trainers, and an orthopedic doctor? It’s not a simple answer. My theory is that my trap strain is causing my neck to pickup undue slack that it can’t handle. The inflammation covers the entire area deceiving one into thinking the pain is from the neck itself. My ROM in my neck is limited at times because it creates pressure on those trap muscles/tendons. The injury is persistent because when I use my left arm or overuse my already hardworking neck muscles/tendons inflammation, stiffness, and pain kick in.

Today, I just started to sling up my left arm with an ace wrap to prevent any movement from occurring. It’s feeling better. Only the future holds the answers.

15

Have you tried ART?

16

[quote]Champr23 wrote:
I went to the orthopedic doctor. He assessed me for one minute with some basic tests. I abruptly got sent in for an x-ray. It came out normal. He told me I have a neck strain/spasm. I expected answers, but I got sent packing with no new info! Grrrrr.

A week goes by and last night it finally hit me! I didn’t have a neck strain. I had an upper trapezius strain. The injury is located right at the upper peak of the shoulder blade inserting into the trap.

I recently discovered, a sharp pain occurs when I retract my shoulder blade and turn it in the correct way. Hence, my inability to do scap pushups. So, I thought a bit more. When I am driving, I favor my right arm and even use the arm rest for entire drives. Could this info be relevant?

So, I know what your all wondering. How did this just breeze right by the chiropractor, athletic trainers, and an orthopedic doctor? It’s not a simple answer. My theory is that my trap strain is causing my neck to pickup undue slack that it can’t handle. The inflammation covers the entire area deceiving one into thinking the pain is from the neck itself. My ROM in my neck is limited at times because it creates pressure on those trap muscles/tendons. The injury is persistent because when I use my left arm or overuse my already hardworking neck muscles/tendons inflammation, stiffness, and pain kick in.

Today, I just started to sling up my left arm with an ace wrap to prevent any movement from occurring. It’s feeling better. Only the future holds the answers.[/quote]

Ok, this may sound odd, but it sounds like you have a strained and lengthened upper trapezius and/or overactive and strained levator scapulae muscle (it lives beneath the upper trap). I like what said in your post about resting your arm on the arm rest when you drive as well as using the ace wrap to support the shoulder girdle and unload the injured tissues. Even though it has been a while, your body has just not had a chance to heal.

Here’s a simple test…

Look down, look up, and then turn your head right and then left. Note which of these movements are restricted and give you discomfort. Now, prop your upper arm on an arm rest, pillow, or whatever else gets your shoulder blade to elevate PASSIVELY (i.e. without the upper trap doing it). While resting in this position, repeat the head movements and see if anything has improved. If you can move further with less pain, it is likely that the upper trap or levator are primary culprits. If so, it is imperative that you start propping your arm throughout (i.e when driving, at work, when sleeping, etc.) the day to unload these tissues and allow healing. After a traumatic strain, simply having the weight of you arm pulling down on you shoulder girdle everyday is keeping the injury irritated.

If you try the above test and it helps, let me know and we might be able to figure out a little more.

Hope this helps.

17

C Law. I have not tried ART.

Ugluk thanks for the feedback. As for your test, I did it. When I hold my arm in a rested position with the sling, and at the elbow, I gain noticeable ROM to the left side and have less pain. Now I haven’t removed the sling and tried to see if the other way causes pain because I already have had a couple months of this. :O!

18

Hey all. The injury has got better. I’d say by 20%. This is after 4 days of an arm sling. After thinking for awhile, I suspect I have major tendon damage or a tear in my top left trap.

I’m not even sure how to deal with this, which is frustrating. I tried to figure out what was going on back there and when I try to get my left trap to fire it either doesn’t work correctly or my body is stopping me right when I start because that is where the injury is.

I stopped taking my motrin at the beginning of the week because it was making me like a zombie.

I wasn’t able to even feel anything. I think I need some type of plan of attack to approach this. Right now, I’m kind of all over the place. I guess this is the only place that offers reliable advice. Thank you.