Brand New to the Forum, but have been following the BM crew for a while and attended seminars.
While squatting I tweaked my neck and upper back. I have had many back tweaks over the years from Lifting and MMA and the general advice of decreasing the load and continuing on with training has served me well. However, this back tweak is much more painful then past ones. I am going on 36 hours of no sleep, and prescription pain pills have had no effect. Even raising my arm to brush my teeth is extremely painful, to the point it is almost unbearable. Is there a chance something more serious is going on here? (Loaded question I know!) Should I still try and get some training in? Any basic movements with or without a load I should be trying? Is this a case where I should just lay off completely? Thanks.
Hey @Grizzly welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear about the recent symptoms.
Can you elaborate about the onset of symptoms?
Have you sought consult with anyone since onset of symptoms?
I know you mentioned pain, but what specifically are you experiencing in your upper back/neck and arm.
Thanks for getting back to me. I have seen my GP and he really did not know what to think exactly. He gave me lidocaine shots all in my upper back and neck, which did nothing((I got those this morning). He also gave me Meloxican and cyclobenzaprine hcl.
My neck and back have been feeling tight (reduced range of motion and bit tender to the touch) over the past few weeks, put I have been training weights and BJJ pretty hard, so I didn’t think to much of it. Sunday night I had a pretty poor nights sleep and work up with the neck and upper back more stiff than normal. I went to the gym as planed and started to squat. In all of my warm up sets I felt a bit of discomfort in the racking and un racking of the weight (even the empty bar). As I increased the weight the discomfort remained about the same, a bit of a sharp pain in the left side of my trap and lower neck. I got up to my working set (330lb) and the sharp pain was still there at the racking and un racking, but again no worse. On my third set when re racking the weight I felt a sudden very sharp pain and had an instant spasm in the upper back and neck. I tried to move around and shake it off, but decided to call it good on squats. Went on to the Bench Press where I used a much reduced weight (155lb) and did my planned sets and reps. This again was a little tender in the racking and re racking but the weight moved fine. The pain through this whole time in the gym was sharp and constant with an occasional spasm. I also had pain move down both arms to my finder tips. I finished up my benches and went back to work. At work the sharp pain gained in severity until it became extremely painful to even look up. The sharp pain was constant with occasional spasms that would make me nauseous. I keep trying to move around at work by walking around the office and moving my arms and neck. But everything just keep getting worse. Laying down is more painful than sitting and sitting is more painful than standing.
My doc did take some Xrays as well no results back on those yet.
Poor posture is probably the main cause. Here is a video I found that may help you find what is causing your neck stiffness. http://www.spine-health.com/video/video-what-cauaus-a-stiff-neck
Neck exercise is the most effective way to improve it. In addition, the upper back and neck heating pad can relieve pain and is worth considering.