Hey everybody,
I was doing lat pulldowns yesterday (NOT behind the neck) and on the last rep of my last I felt a pain in my neck.
I stopped working out immediately and now I can’t look up or side to side. I’m pretty sure it’s a strain.
Anybody have this happen ot them? How long should it take to recover? Anything i can do in the future to protect against it?
I really hope I’m still able to go heavy on the pulldowns after this…
[quote]abominabelsnoman wrote:
Hey everybody,
I was doing lat pulldowns yesterday (NOT behind the neck) and on the last rep of my last I felt a pain in my neck.
I stopped working out immediately and now I can’t look up or side to side. I’m pretty sure it’s a strain.
Anybody have this happen ot them? How long should it take to recover? Anything i can do in the future to protect against it?
I really hope I’m still able to go heavy on the pulldowns after this…[/quote]
I did this same thing a long time ago. I was pulling down with a wide grip to the front. My head was turned slightly to the left and I felt the pull in my nech and trapezius.
Ice it and try to go lighter until it heals all of the way. And make sure you keep your head straight when you pull. BenGay, icy hot, or some other rub helps loosen it up until it heals.
I would also reccoment stauing away from heavy lifts that may affect it for awhile. I couldn’t do heavy shrugs or DL for about a month.
i strained my neck once like that but it wasent doing lat pulldowns. in the morning i cracked my neck on purpose and i did that. and my neck was like stuck to the left and i couldnt look any other way. i went to the doctor and he had me heating it and trying to move it
little by little when i heated it. it was back to normal within a few days just a little uncomfortable. hurt liek hell the first day though
Tey these stretches which have done wonders for my neck 
Sit on a chair, hold the underneath of the chair with your left hand, & then lean to the right to feel the stretch in your traps on the left. Then take your head back carfully into extension & look over (slowly) to the left & the right whilst in extension. Keep the stretch on the traps & put your head down carefully into flexion & again look slowly to the left and right whilst in flexion. Repeat with your right hand under the chair.
These stretch your sternocleidomastoids, scalenes, & suboccipitals. Go careful & be progressive. You will discover & relieve all sorts of nasty bits
Was your head turned to the side during the exercise? That could very well be the cause of your strain.
Thanks for the advice, I guess I will have to go light for a while although it pains me to even type that…
Neck injuries commonly happen while doing pull-ups because people tend to stretch their neck to force their chin over the bar on the last few reps, when they should really focus on pulling their chest to the bar.
Maybe something similar happened to you with pulldowns.
[quote]olliedog wrote:
Tey these stretches which have done wonders for my neck
Sit on a chair, hold the underneath of the chair with your left hand, & then lean to the right to feel the stretch in your traps on the left. Then take your head back carfully into extension & look over (slowly) to the left & the right whilst in extension. Keep the stretch on the traps & put your head down carefully into flexion & again look slowly to the left and right whilst in flexion. Repeat with your right hand under the chair.
These stretch your sternocleidomastoids, scalenes, & suboccipitals. Go careful & be progressive. You will discover & relieve all sorts of nasty bits :)[/quote]
Thanks alot, I will definitely do this once i can actually move my neck again!
[quote]superdad4 wrote:
Was your head turned to the side during the exercise? That could very well be the cause of your strain.[/quote]
I think I was looking up at the weight move upward as I pulled down. I have a bad habit of doing that…next time, I need to look dead ahead…
I’ve woken up with a pinched nerve in my neck and had the same symptoms,1 week and a tube of muscle rub and i was fine.Though I have always been curious as to what I did in my sleep to cause it.
Olliedog, thanks for this. I strained my neck last week on a max DL attempt and it has been bothering me since. These stretches help a lot.
[quote]olliedog wrote:
Tey these stretches which have done wonders for my neck
Sit on a chair, hold the underneath of the chair with your left hand, & then lean to the right to feel the stretch in your traps on the left. Then take your head back carfully into extension & look over (slowly) to the left & the right whilst in extension. Keep the stretch on the traps & put your head down carefully into flexion & again look slowly to the left and right whilst in flexion. Repeat with your right hand under the chair.
These stretch your sternocleidomastoids, scalenes, & suboccipitals. Go careful & be progressive. You will discover & relieve all sorts of nasty bits :)[/quote]