Neck pain, maybe from press?

[djbell]

Over the last few weeks, I have a lot of pain, like an electric shock, when I turn my head, particularly if I tilt my head back a tiny bit. For a week I thought it was because of bad squat form, but I had some related acute pain when I was sloppily doing a press yesterday.

Here's my plan: skip Friday's press (but do everything else), deload 10% next Monday, and get my form straightened out.

Does that sound good?

[August West]

I had something similar develop last week - I felt a pop on the right side of my neck while pressing, and had very little range of motion for several days after.

Sounds like yours has gone on longer and could be more serious, but here's what worked for me: stand with your back to the wall and put a tennis or lacrosse ball between your trap/upper shoulder (on the side where it hurts, if there is only one side) and the wall. Roll it around and lean against it to apply pressure. Doing this a few times a day had an immediately noticeable loosening effect on my neck. I took about 5 days off from pressing and squatting, and went back to it yesterday with no problems. Good luck.

[djbell]

Off from squatting! I hope the coach doesn't see this!

Thanks for the comment, it's always nice to hear someone had something similar and survived. I'll report back in a week, hopefully I'll be cured.

[taffer]

I had some neck pain, not like the one you are describing, but I got a really sore/stiff neck after training.
Basically what helped was warming up well before training (dynamic warm ups for shoulders and upper back)
Also a big problem for me was my form, the bar was too high on my back for squats, and my shoulders weren't pulled together enough for bench. Concerntrate on getting your shoulders back when you squat so you can rest the bars on that "shelf" and not have it so high.
For bench make sure the pressure is in the right place, not on your neck, but on your shoulders (which should be pulled back)

[bgates1654]

I had that same thing as post #2 and resolved it the same way. Laying on the ball against the floor provides more pressure, if you can stand it, and is easier to relax into.

[tamvvtli]

I have this problem before from heavy press! I went to see a chiropractor, he said it was a nerve pitch in the neck. He crack my neck then it felt better within couple of hours, also do some neck strech on top of that to improve quicker recovery. So far im feeling 99% better.

[steelo]

Ditto all this. Mine was on the left side, felt during pressing. Lacrosse ball rolls, and more focus on shoulder girdle warm-up seemed to help tremendously.

[Carnivroar]

I get it from time to time, too. Usually it's gone in 2-3 days.

[Mike O.]

I've had recurring problems with this type of neck pain, often brought on by pressing. Ice, chiropractor, rolling, stretching, traction* all helped a little, but didn't stop it from recurring. The thing that seemed to finally solve the problem was changing my pillow for a thinner one. Hasn't happened since.

* Lay on the floor, legs straight, hands at sides, lift head and heels a half inch, hold 10 seconds, x3, once a day.