Military neck

Hi BM,

Apologies for the repost from Pain and Rehab Forum.

I’m truly asking a question after a conversation with a friend earlier today. I will try to be as detailed as possible.
This friend is physically active but not extremely, she mostly does fitness, as going to the gym 2 or 3 times a week. Mostly bodyweight stuff mixed with some yoga, stretching, cardio, trying to get her first pull-up, etc.
Nothing extremely organized, a little bit of feeling for this or that exercise here and there. No history of crazy past injuries, no contact sports.

She had some discomfort in her upper back/shoulders/neck area, so she booked an appointment with a physical therapist for a massage.
The physical therapist diagnosed her with Military neck, advised her to get an x ray, confirmed Military neck. Told her if she doesn’t treat it, she could have to go “under the irons” later in life.
Gave her some exercises to correct it, I.E one of them is lying down on her back for some time, with some cylinder or bottle under her neck, to kinda give it the right curvature? I hope I’m making sense.
Plus she forbid her to do X Y Z exercises. The only one I remember was the high bar squat, because it hurt my feelings when I heard it.

What I struggle with:
This person went in for a massage, she wasn’t suffering the pains of hell, she had some discomfort, and now after the massages she is quite all right.
I assume she should be able to do everything that does not give her any pain. Is this thing really that dangerous?
I understand you couldn’t possibly give a detailed answer without knowing all the data and pics.
Thank you for your time.​

Wow, that’s quite the story. Hate that your friend went through all that, as it will require some significant “unlearning” to get back to full activity. Shame on the physical therapist, as ordering an x-ray, making a diagnosis based on imaging, and interpreting the imaging (?!?) is outside their scope of training. This is in addition to the language used. Completely inappropriate.

In any case, I cannot comment on what your friend should do as I do not know their situation and they aren’t here asking for my opinion. I do not think having long-term restriction from particular exercises due to acute pain is appropriate.

I thought that was a very fair and balanced answer. I’m not surprised!
Thanks for your time, Jordan. Best wishes to you and the whole BM crew.