Neck Pain

[abnk]

Hi,


I ran a search for neck in FAQ, but it didn't return any results. I hope this question has not been beaten to death here.

- Age, Gender, current training status: early 30s, male, getting back to lifting after several years

- Chief Complaint (what hurts and what makes it bad enough to seek help on the board): I started having severe neck pain two weeks after I introduced the press to my routine.

- Narrative describing the mechanism of injury: In your own words, explain what happened, what you were doing, where it hurt, how long has it been since you first injured it: It hurts worse when I lay down, especially when I turn or try to get up. It also hurts when I move my head back. The pain is in the middle and radiates to the left. The first time this happened, it seemed to go away within a week. Then I felt it again during the press and it got even worse after the workout.

- Pain (on a scale of 1-10): The night after the workout it is pretty high, with moments peaking at 9-10. During the day, it is more manageable, probably 2-3.

- Describe the pain (burning, shooting, aching, deep, sharp): Sharp, shooting pain.

- What makes it better? Standing, or slightly leaning my head forward.

- What makes it worse? Laying on my back, turning, or leaning my head back.

- How do your symptoms behave throughout the day?: I believe I covered this.

- Signs and Symptoms: My left trapezius was pretty swollen the day after my last workout. It is slightly swollen now. Also, the day after the work out, I had nausea that got worse as the pain intensified. I believe I have covered other signs and symptoms above.

I came asking here, hoping others may have experienced a similar problem. My doctor thinks it's muscular, but I didn't get much more than that.

Thank you for any help you can provide.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Is this the first neck problem you've had? Did you play football?

[Will Morris]

Pain with cervical extension that causes a shooting sensation may be indicative of a facet joint problem. When you extend the neck, you approximate the facet joints in the cervical spine and this narrows the intervertebral foramen. This also happens to a lesser extent when you rotate the neck, so the question I have is this: what happens when you extend your neck while turning to the side?

On the surface, this smacks of cervical spine involvement. Do you have any areas of skin that are numb?

[Mark Leavy]

Are you looking up at the bar as you finish your press?
If so, don't do that.

[abnk]

Is this the first neck problem you've had? Did you play football?

Thank you for taking time to reply. Yes, first neck problem. Never played football. When I picked up my daughter from her crib this morning, I lifted her above my head with my head leaning back and experienced the same pain. After searching some more, I found that you had answered a somewhat similar question before. In an attempt to clear the way for a vertical movement, I may be leaning my head too far back instead of pointing the chin down. I will read the press chapter for a third time.

Pain with cervical extension that causes a shooting sensation may be indicative of a facet joint problem. When you extend the neck, you approximate the facet joints in the cervical spine and this narrows the intervertebral foramen. This also happens to a lesser extent when you rotate the neck, so the question I have is this: what happens when you extend your neck while turning to the side?

On the surface, this smacks of cervical spine involvement. Do you have any areas of skin that are numb?

Thank you for the answer. No areas of the skin that are numb. The pain itself feels deep and it's different from what I know as muscular pain, but the swollen trapezius has me confused. I will read up on what you are suggesting.

[abnk]

so the question I have is this: what happens when you extend your neck while turning to the side?

Sorry, I failed to answer this. Side to side hurts as well, but the pain is not nearly as intense. Letting my head drop too far forward is also painful.

[Mark Rippetoe]

The pain you describe is consistent with a disc problem at C6-7 or C5-6. But if this is your first neck problem, it's probably not that.

[Will Morris]

9-10/10 pain is roughly equivalent to child birth, being the victim of a shark attack, or probably having your face eaten by a homeless man......muscular strains typically don't present with that level of pain. If you are barbell training, I would assume you have a higher pain tolerance than to report such high pain. Radiculopathies and fractures do, however, frequently present with pain that high. It wouldn't surprise me if an MRI showed evidence of a herniated nucleus pulposus or stenosis of the IVF somewhere in the C4-C7 levels.

Try extending your neck and then attempting to look over shoulder behind you by turning your head as much as possible. If the IVF is involved, this should reproduce your symptoms fairly reliably.

[Tom Campitelli]

Agreed, a 10 on the pain scale is indicative of the worst pain imaginable with death being right around the bend.

[abnk]

Are you looking up at the bar as you finish your press?

No.