Ways to Relieve Acute Pain from Crick in Neck
Sprained Ligaments, Stiff Muscles Usual Culprit for Common Ailment
Sprained Ligaments
Doug Kelsey, who writes “The View,”
a blog for a Sports Center Physical Therapy publication, says that when
the neck is bent to one side for an extended period of time, the
muscles and ligaments stretch and can keep stretching to the point of
tearing. The tear can be mild or severe, and the resulting pain and
limited motion can last for a day or so or up to two weeks.
A Crick in the Neck: What's the Story?
Have
you ever heard the phrase, "I must have slept wrong"? How do you sleep
"wrong"? I didn't know there was a right and wrong way to sleep. I
thought you lie down, close your eyes and off you go into nappy's house
for several hours. Maybe that's why I'm tired some days. I've been
sleeping wrong.
Usually when a person shows up in the office with their head
tilted to one side unable to move comfortably in almost all directions
is when I hear, "I must have slept wrong". You may know this
condition as a "crick in the neck". Many people mistakenly believe that
the "crick" is a muscle strain and therefore that massage or stretching
will help rid themselves of the problem. I think the spine is one of the
regions of the body where muscles get blamed for a lot of problems. We
generally don't do this in the chest, for example. I have never heard
anyone say "Well, the reason you have chest pain is your chest muscles
are too tight. We just need to rub them or stretch them and you'll be
fine." Or, how about abdominal pain? Can you imagine stretching or
rubbing your abdomen when you have gall bladder disease?
There are two types of "cricks":
- Pain in the neck
- The pain is around the shoulder blade.
In both cases, when you move your neck a certain way, you hurt a lot in one or both of these areas.
I have written other articles on pain in the shoulder blade,
so today, I'll explain the crick with pain in the neck. The pain in the
neck version is mostly from a sprained ligament. Here's how it happens.
You fall asleep with your neck bent to the side more than usual (like
on a fat pillow while lying on the sofa watching a movie). The position
gradually stretches your neck muscles then begins to stretch the
ligaments in your neck (specifically the capsular ligament and annular
ligament). If you stay in the position long enough, you will sprain the
ligament. A ligament sprain is a tear in the tissue ranging from mild to
severe. Whenever you sprain a ligament, you will evoke an inflammatory
response: the tissue swells and is painful. The swelling makes it
difficult to move and the heightened sensitivity to motion from the
inflammatory agents makes a normal motion, like turning your head,
painful.
If you're wise, the acute stage of inflammation typically last 10-14
days. If not, and you continue to injure the healing tissue by being too
active, you will experience symptoms for a longer period of time. As
your tissues heal, your pain will subside and motion will increase. But,
sometime after the injury is when things seem to go wrong.
The biggest mistake people make is treating pain instead of solving pain.
Pain is not the problem. Your injured tissue is the problem and if you
don't understand what those tissues need (and why would you unless you
have studied it?), you will search for something to chase the pain away.
Completely understandable, but still a mistake. Things like Advil,
Motrin, Aleve can make you feel better but as the pain abates,
temptation rises. You resume your normal routine without constraint but
if you stop taking the drugs, you notice your neck hurts. You say "Ahh,
it's nothing. It hurts a little but it will go away." Hmmmm.....does
it? Does your neck feel really normal? Can you do what you enjoy without
reaching for the Advil?
You're probably wondering, "Well, what should I do?" Here's a tip. If
you have a crick in the neck, whatever you do, don't stretch. Imagine
stretching a sprained ankle. Probably wouldn't help much. It's the same
problem in your neck. Respect the pain, slow down, and allow your body
to heal. Easy gentle motions performed in a supported position will ease the discomfort and improve your movement.
Exercise, especially aerobic, within the limits of your discomfort
(and, this is not a contest to see who can be the next Braveheart) will
help your body move through the inflammatory cycle and heal. Once your
motion is normal and you have no symptoms, you can then gradually return
to other forms of exercise.
I get some light-hearted teasing from my team because I have a habit
of saying, "It's just not that hard". Well, it's true. Overcoming a
crick in the neck is not very hard when you understand a few basics like
tissue healing. OK. So, now you know. And, you know my position on
mistakes: a mistake out of ignorance is just a mistake. A mistake when
you know better is stupidity. Be smart.
Because we receive so many questions about neck pain, neck noises,
neck cracking, etc., we will be adding two new seminars next year. One
for health care professionals and one, that's free, for the public. Both
seminars will unravel the mystery of neck pain. We will be posting the
seminar dates soon, so sign up as soon as you can because I'm sure they
will both be full in a hurry.
Hope to see you there. In the meantime, be well.
Make today count.
Doug Kelsey
http://sportscenteraustin.blogs.com/the_view/2005/10/a_crick_in_the_.html
