I was squatting high bar yesterday as I normally do and I suddenly got a pain in my lower neck and the right side of my upper-back. I think that I have pulled my traps but I, not sure as it’s never happened before so I must of positioned the bar weirdly. I can barely lift my arm at all and can slightly move my neck to the right. Could anyone tell me the best way for this to heal quickly and if I can still workout at all. Thanks
Lie on your stomach.
Elbows in front.
Bring your palms up.
Rest your chin in your palms, letting your neck stretch back.
Completely relax.
It make take a minute or two of relaxing before it releases.
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This is my first ever post here, Hope it helps. I had a similar experience back in August with high bar squats. The medical center told me that it was an imbalance between the left and right Trap. The solution I found was Icy Hot 1-2 times a day right on the neck/traps area until I could look strait again without pain and some light unilateral trap exercises on each upper body day. I continue to do some light unilateral movements to maintain the weak side of my traps about once every other week.
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Thanks, I can look straight but just not right all the time. Would you still say I could work out or just leave it until it stops to ache all together?
A) I am not a doctor so take everything I say with that in mind. If you are really concerned about this, visit an Ortho and have it looked at by a professional.
B) I tried another squat session but could’t even get up to my working set before it flared up, I decided to take ~3-5 (don’t remember exactly) days of active recovery instead. I couldn’t find any movements that didn’t cause any pain. I tried a few and settled on just doing some very light face pulls, trap raises, and rows.
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Give yourself some time to recover. Lie on a tennis ball and find the knot. The pain may be in your neck but most of the time it’s referred pain from a knot in your mid to upper back, alongside the spine or on the inner edge of the shoulderblade. If you’re feeling brave, graduate to a lacrosse ball, or my personal favorite - the golf ball. Pure pain, but it’s awesome. Do not put heat on it. Heat is for chronic pain and maintenance, but with a fresh injury and inflammation, you want ice. 10-15 minutes of direct ice, a bag of frozen peas is the best as it can contour to your body better than a bag of ice. 3 times a day. And give yourself a few days. When you do go back into it, face pulls, band pullaparts, and shoulder dislocations can help warm up the area before squats.
As always, I’m not a doctor, and even if I was, I couldn’t accurately diagnose you or treat you over the internet - nor could any other honest professional. So if it feels really bad or doesn’t improve over the next couple days, see your PCP or a PT. It could be a tweaked nerve, a pulled muscle, or a muscle spasm. In any of those situations the pain can be excruciating but it should only last 2-3 days before you get serious relief.
Thanks, it seems better today and I’ll just try and go tomorrow and see how it is, I’ll also do the tennis ball aswell.
When you’re doing the tennis ball, don’t just rub it back and forth and make yourself feel warm and fuzzy. You’re not doing a massage, you’re doing myofascial release, and it’s supposed to be painful. Find the biggest, most painful knot and dig the ball in deep before slowly kneading it back and forth/up and down, like rolling out super thick dough. I usually do my icing afterwards. Let us know how it feels.
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