Stiffest stiff neck in history of stiff necks

[CopperBolt]

Had a debiitating stiff neck since roughly sunday morning. Cant turn my head to the right properly making driving a pain as I have to turn my whole upper body. Doesnt seem to be easing as they usually do after a day.
Rang the GP this morning who unsurprisingly were booked solid all day after theyd only been open for 10 minutes.
Nurse at the GP is going to ring me back tomorrow morning apparently.

Ive tried deep heat on it but it just doesnt get "hot".

anyone got any tips?

tempted to ask me boss if I can f*** off home but had 3 days sick already this year so not good.

Sorry for the moan.

[mikal83]

Good hot bath with salts and a massage...............ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[tribalsurfer]

mikal83 said:

Good hot bath with salts and a massage...............ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Definitely this and sleep tonight without any pillows at all.

[colin_p]

Give this bloke a ring...

[twing]

I feel for you, it's horrible. Heat pads and Volarol gel work best for me.

[MOBB]

Have a look at levator scapulae syndrome on google, I’ve had a stiff neck for a while and it flared up big time last year

Took ages to figure it out as I slipped a disc in my neck around the same time so symptoms were confusing

Caused by poor posture and can be excercised and stretched out over time

[21TonyK]

Not sure if its all hospitals but those local to me do a self referral physio clinic. Literally turn up early and you'll probably see someone there and then.

Last year I was in a minor car shunt and I went to a sports physio afterwards as similar to you I couldn't twist my neck properly.

One session and it was much better.

[57Ford]

I have a poor posture whilst working at my desk and often suffer from an almost frozen neck. I find that standing up and doing gentle alternate rotation of the arms and shoulders like a cricket bowling movement helps loosen the area (must be gentle rather than flailing madly else more damage could occur!).

[Robbo 27]

I went through this 6 months ago but managed to get to see a physiotherapist. Pain and numbness ended up going down my arms. She gave me a series of exercises and a set of movements of my head and neck, some only a half inch of movement, within a few weeks I was pain free again

[CrunkleFloop]

Next time you take Viagra remember to wash it down fully with a glass of water.

Joke aside I know how painful a bad neck is and hope you feel better soon.

[CopperBolt]

Thanks for all the input all.
Theres definitely something up with my neck as I get a pain in the spine bit sometimes if I lean back in my armchair( read nod off).

This feels more a muscular problem. Physio sounds good but how do I get to see one? Through the GP I suppose if ever get to see one.

May try the "bowling" loosening up carefully.

[Scabutz]

CopperBolt said:

Thanks for all the input all.
Theres definitely something up with my neck as I get a pain in the spine bit sometimes if I lean back in my armchair( read nod off).

This feels more a muscular problem. Physio sounds good but how do I get to see one? Through the GP I suppose if ever get to see one.

May try the "bowling" loosening up carefully.

You can get a referral to a physio from the quacks but you might be waiting a while. If its really bad just go private. They only charge about 50 an hour. Alternatively if it feels like muscular thing then a sports massage might help immediately. Probably wont fix the long term issue but will give you quicker relief.

[Biker 1]

Go see a decent osteopath. You will need quite a few sessions. I had neck trouble some 8 years ago. It repeated at least 3 or 4 times a year. I only managed to more or less beat it two years ago. Its apparently mostly due to stress/midlife crisis(!!!) Always seemed to creep up on me in the middle of the night, for no apparent reason. I still get the odd neck pain, but it hasn't locked into full spasm for a while.

[CopperBolt]

In case anyones interested thought Id update.

On the tuesday night last week 6th, I rang 111, they basically told me I needed to go to GP as Id had pain for 3 days and it wasnt clearing.
I only just managed to get an appointment on Weds with the "GP" (triage nurse in fact) as she had to move some urgent appointments trying to fit me in.

No real diagnosis that I recall apart from the trapezius muscle was really locked/stiff on one side. She put me on diazepam and a co-dodi something or other for it (£18 over the chemists for the 2) these made me woozy/tired so I was off work for two days. It did eventaully start to ease by about friday saturday. I still cant turn my neck fully to the right but I can move it at least most of the way.

Nurse advised me to look into booking a sport massage for it. How to find a good one? no idea.

Cheers all!

[Patch1875]

I have terrible posture mainly forward head and shoulders.

I get a massage once a month and I swim a couple of times a week which keeps it a bay it’s trying so fix the posture properly that’s the problem.

Edit

I also got told to be very careful at the gym as any heavy lifting on out of sync muscles will only make it worse.

[Shambler]

Is it possibly torticollis?

[CopperBolt]

Patch1875 said:

I have terrible posture mainly forward head and shoulders.

I get a massage once a month and I swim a couple of times a week which keeps it a bay it’s trying so fix the posture properly that’s the problem.

Edit

I also got told to be very careful at the gym as any heavy lifting on out of sync muscles will only make it worse.

Funny you should mention swimming. I usually go once a week but stop when the kids are off school as it gets too busy, so I havent been for 2 or 3 weeks..... Will risk going tomorrow I think for a look at least and try and get in.

[Biglips]

I get this too. Like some other posters have said it is muscular spasm usually caused by posture. Sounds trivial to others but is really painful and difficult to do daily activities such as driving. It is the same sort of feeling you get when getting leg cramps playing sport. Muscle goes into involuntary spasm. Look at all of your daily activities to see if anything you do may be triggering this eg lots of looking down at your mobile or a screen.

Tips: I changed my chair at work which seemed to be the major trigger for me. I also changed my mattress and my pillows. Massively better and only get it occasionally now. When it was really bad I got a sports massage which helps to release the spasm. Another tip if you cannot reach the area to massage it is to put a tennis ball in a long sports sock, drape it over your shoulder whilst standing next to a wall and trap the tennis ball between offending muscle and wall and move around pressing against the wall to massage the muscle area. Surprisingly effective and saves £50 on a massage. Good luck.

[MOBB]

I used the tennis ball trick for my Levator issue, then discovered these;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Original-Backnobber-Massa...

Utterly wonderful thing when it flares up, really hits the spot - makes me cry for a few seconds but then relief!!!

Grow up if you think its dirty :-)