for the last 6 days, i've woken up with a pretty stiff neck. it hurts on one side. i sleep on a futon, but i figure that'd mess with my back more than my neck. i've tried sleeping with no pillows, and all different pillow rearrangements. i've done yoga - by night time, my neck feels much better, but then i wake up with it hurting all over again. i also play martial arts - but i've been trying to be easy on my neck. i might splurge for a massage. i do have air cond. in my room, but my head is not directly underneath it. given the above info, i wonder if i might've pulled a muscle or something more 'interior' than simply sleeping funny 6 days straight? what to do about this seemingly perpetual problem? how to fix and avoid this discomfort?
sounds like muscle spasms in the neck which can be so severe that you cant even turn your head. The most likely culprit is the head position while sleeping. You said you've tried all sorts of pillow arrangements, maybe try sleeping on the floor with one pillow. Drinks lots of water, caffiene aggravates muscle spasms, apply heat (if you dont have a heating pad, fill a long sock with dried beans, heat in microwave and put it over the area). Massage will also help.
i don't think it's spasms - it's a continuous pain - the pain actually starts in my upper left back. i got an hours massage tonight - let's see how i feel tomorrow. my neck and back still hurt though - especially when i sneeze!
Yeah, I've had it. Thought it was a pinched nerve or something. Took muscle relaxants for a week and it went away. Next time it happened I changed to one pillow and it worked.
it's called torticolis, it's a common neuralgia ...it's on the cervical nerves...you need to exercise your cervical region..nerves get caught between your vertebres... try anti-inflammatories and physical therapy for head and neck
2 types of Torticollis : Spasmodic - (a neurological condition resulting in muscle spasms) and Congenital (present at birth- shortening of the neck muscle). But just plain old muscle spasms are the common culprit.
my friend told me to try valarian root? a natural muscle relaxer. the massage made me feel 80% better.
Well, be careful. I started to have a stiff neck suddenly a long time ago and it turned out to be aseptic meningitis. I started to have numbness on one side of my mouth-the doctor told me to immediately go to the hospital, and it turned out I had the aseptic (viral) meningitis. If you start having any numbness or dizziness, stuff like that, go to the doctor right away. I've got arthritis in my neck now, so that's a chronic thing that I've had to learn to manage. Neck and back pain that's bad that has a sudden onset can sometimes be an indication of something serious, so if you start having any neurologic sympotms, get to the doctor right away. Also, valerian made me sick when I took it, and everybody else I knew that took it had a similar expeience. Anyway, good luck.
get a better pillow. And don't sleep with your arms above your head. I'd highly suggest you see a chiropractor, just beware of the ones who want you to come in on a regular basis, or who take xrays and such. If they did their job right, you wouldn't have to come back for a long time.
yeah, i'll check out the chiropractor, since that's what everyone's been tellin me. geez - menengitis? no numbness for me, thank goodness!
someone else made a post like this ages ago my only experience with neck stiffness that came out the blue was chicken pox, it took about 2 weeks to manifest itself.i was about 20 when i got it.
