Neck Pain from Squatting

Bigger Stronger Leaner Injuries and Rehab
1

Just back from the gym and I need some advice quickly.

Due to some dumbass using three(yes, three) pieces of equipment in the gym I was at, I was relegated to the shittier of the power racks we have. The closest I could get the bar to my sternum was kinda high but it wasn’t causing any issue besided being mildly irritating to rack the bar.

Anyways, I finished off the last set of squats and went to rack it, but seeing as I was quite fatigued I had a bit of trouble and I had to turn my head left to see if the bar was going onto the supports properly.

This is where I heard a ‘crunching’ noise in my neck along with a sharp pain. I now have great difficulty turning my head left and cannot ‘cock’ it to the left at all.

This is a major problem for me as I have work tonight and tomorrow morning and cannot afford to lose those wages unless absolutely necessary.

Has anybody had such experiences or even heard of how to best treat these injuries? Will it go away in the short term or could it be a long term thing that will seriously disrupt both my training and life?
Should I be using ice-packs or heat packs?

I have no access to a doctor or pharmacy at the moment because it’s a bank holiday over here and everything but the biggest of chain shops and restaraunts shut down on these days.

It’s probably worth noting that because off the idiot using the two bars we have that have any grip, I was using very thin one with no grip. So despite chalking up a lot, my hands had slipped out on the bar meaning my upper back was nowhere near as tight as it should be.

Any help offered is very much appreciated.
Regards,
kev.

2

Anybody…?

3

I have had a few clients do this on accident when they were quick to rerack. In my experience it was coming from the scap area, meaning that they kind of shrugged the weight higher onto the neck and caused excessive tension.

Anywho, I believe this is somewhat familiar with a good weight and bad reracking issues (accidental). If its muscle use heat if its joints use ice. Id say alternate between heat and ice (so Ice for 20 mins then wait until the area is room temperature then heat for 20 - wait until room temperature then repeat). It could be a combination of muscle strain in the neck and joint inflammation. bring down the inflammation (motrin and cut grains from your diet) and recover. You should ice/heat as much as possible throughout the day. If its bad and you need it fixed then do the (recovery) work. Also make sure your cavles, hams, ass, and back (upper and lower) are stretched and loose. The back is just a large piece of interconnected muscle and if your calves are tight your neck can hurt. So make sure the muscles attached to the neck are loose and not pulling on them causing additional discomfort.