Neck strain getting worse day to day

Pain & Rehab Forum [Moderated]
1

Hi All,

Thanks in advance for any insight. I’m on my 3rd BBM template (strength 1), going into week 4.

In week 2, I felt a neck strain on my press. Felt minor and I continued on as I regularly would have. Went through all the steps as discussed by Dr. Baraki, and felt pretty good. It felt quite minor.

I finished the week with minor discomfort in my neck, but it wasn’t bad. It seemed to be improving day to day, as neck strains always have for me. Flash forward a few days into early last week, and it began to seem as though it was getting worse. I adjusted my training as needed to finish the workouts with minimal pain. Training adjustments have not appeared to affect the pain one way or another, and the pain has continued to get worse. I do not think it’s related to my training at this point.

Unfortunately, here I am, almost 2 weeks later, and it’s worse now then any time so far. I’ve had plenty of neck strains, but all have healed themselves in a matter of days. This particular strain is heavily affecting my sleep. I can find a comfortable spot to fall asleep in, but I wake up within a few hours time with my left neck and entire left arm just throbbing. I can’t find a position where this doesn’t happen.

I’ve been managing the pain with NSAIDs, which help. My concern is about the healing timeline. Is this common for a neck strain? Does it make any sense that this is getting worse day-to-day, rather then better without any additional trauma to the area?

I’m confused on this one. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again and take care

2

Hi, sorry to hear that you’ve been experiencing this, hopefully we can help. Since it’s been about a week, how has it felt since you posted? Have you seen any change in symptoms or patterns?

It can definitely be common for neck pain to fluctuate day to day, and week to week, but I wouldn’t say it’s in any direct relation to healing. The fluctuations speak more to the unpredictable nature of pain and the numerous factors that can influence your experience of it. Fortunately, we can typically focus on a few modifiable ones to make a difference. Continuing to train and stay active, within your tolerance, is definitely a positive factor, so keep that up. For sleep, have you been able to try any alternate positions or strategies to assist in getting more comfortable?

Lastly, despite it being two, maybe three weeks now, there’s still plenty of time for your situation to improve, as we know most acute episodes of pain resolve with natural history (up to 6 to 12 weeks, depending on the study).