Text Neck

Pain & Rehab Forum [Moderated]
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1

Hello,

I woke up with my neck muscles so stiff I couldn’t lift my head. The pain is a SOB. This time it is the left side, 3 months ago it was the right side.
Admittedly I am on my phone too much, I work long uneventfull night shifts so the root of the problem is not too far fetched.
I googled the symptoms in english and found Text Neck, although my symptoms are not as severe yet that it involves my disks/headaches nor tingling in my fingers. As far as I know it is just overtightened muscles.

My questions being:

During these episodes of pain, should I push through and train? Training with altered exercises is not really possible as every upper body exercise will cause pain.
Will rest shorten the duration of pain? Last time I took a break from training and it still lasted for 4 weeks…

After the pain is gone, does it make sense to do any neck muscle strengthening specific exercises (on top of the necessary behavioral changes ofcourse)?

Anything else that can prevent this from happening so often?

Thanks for taking the time and kind regards,

Jens

2

During these episodes of pain, should I push through and train? Training with altered exercises is not really possible as every upper body exercise will cause pain.
Will rest shorten the duration of pain? Last time I took a break from training and it still lasted for 4 weeks…​

I would recommend remaining active, although this does not necessarily mean aggressively “pushing through” pain bordering on intolerability. In other words, you may need to modify your activity and loading in the short term. This is discussed further here: Pain in Training: What To Do?

After the pain is gone, does it make sense to do any neck muscle strengthening specific exercises (on top of the necessary behavioral changes ofcourse)?​

I can’t say with confidence that this is necessary in your case, although I have limited information about you & your history. Further individualized recommendations would probably be best handled via a consult with our team.