Neck Issues

Over the last four weeks I have developed a clicking and popping in my neck. I do not recall any injury, and even went back through my logs to see when I may have strained it. Nothing.

It’s definitely tight on the left side and the bones in my neck feel like they are “loose” and pop when I move my head. My theory is that I’ve pulled a trap or deeper upper back muscle resulting in my upper spine and neck being pulled of of alignement.

I had a deep sports massage last night and it really helped for awhile, but it tightened back up by this morning. I have an appointment to see a sports med doctor on Monday and will get x-rays. I have significantly ramped down my training until I get the word on whether or not I’ve got a serious spinal issue.

In the meantime, I wanted to ask you folks if anyone has had a similar problem and how long it hung on for.

Last summer I had something similar happen, but it was the result of a contact injury during a sailing race. (I’ll leave out the details, I’m just clumsy, sailing isn’t really a contact sport!)

Anyway, I felt the pull in my neck (no clicking noises, however) right where the upper trap inserts, whenever I flexed or extended it. It was treated as a “cervical sprain” with 9 sessions of PT using both ultrasound and electrical muscle stimulation. It took about four weeks to rehab, but I felt noticibly better after only 3 sessions during the first week. Best of luck to you.

[quote]gojira wrote:
Over the last four weeks I have developed a clicking and popping in my neck. I do not recall any injury, and even went back through my logs to see when I may have strained it. Nothing.

It’s definitely tight on the left side and the bones in my neck feel like they are “loose” and pop when I move my head. My theory is that I’ve pulled a trap or deeper upper back muscle resulting in my upper spine and neck being pulled of of alignement.

I had a deep sports massage last night and it really helped for awhile, but it tightened back up by this morning. I have an appointment to see a sports med doctor on Monday and will get x-rays. I have significantly ramped down my training until I get the word on whether or not I’ve got a serious spinal issue.

In the meantime, I wanted to ask you folks if anyone has had a similar problem and how long it hung on for. [/quote]

Well, if you’d stop trashing Tokyo. . .

Sorry.

How are you sleeping?

I did go through a similar thing once. It was a rather stressful time in my life and my sleep wasn’t very restful. My neck kept popping and cracking and it just never felt like it was seated right. A visit to a chiropractor did help.

Despite the fact that the problem was manifesting in my neck, it was an adjustment in my lower back that seemed to help with the problem. Working to lessen the stress of the situation helped too.

[quote]marza wrote:

Well, if you’d stop trashing Tokyo. . .

Sorry.
[/quote]

Yeah, I know. The high tension wires keep getting caught on my spines and torqueing my back.

[quote]
How are you sleeping?

I did go through a similar thing once. It was a rather stressful time in my life and my sleep wasn’t very restful. My neck kept popping and cracking and it just never felt like it was seated right. A visit to a chiropractor did help.

Despite the fact that the problem was manifesting in my neck, it was an adjustment in my lower back that seemed to help with the problem. Working to lessen the stress of the situation helped too. [/quote]

I’m thinking this is probably the case. I’ve been under a lot of stress lately and have not been sleeping all that well. That is why I started out with a sports massage first. I’ll go get an x-ray just to make sure there is not a bulged disc or other serious issue.

It’s actually feeling a little better today.