Neck, shoulder & thigh injuries.

[Emanuele]

Hello Jimages,

Could you tell us if, a part from the localised stiffness on neck and shoulders, you have experienced any other kind of symptoms such as headache, pins and needles or even numbness radiating in part of you right arm? Could you remember if you did any particular movement which gave you this muscle pulling in the neck/shoulder? What about your range of motion in your neck? Can you put your chin to your chest? Do you have any difficulty in turning your head to the right/left (you should be able to have your chin almost parallel with the shoulder, looking over it)? Any restriction in lateral flexion? Is there anything that make you feel your neck better or worse? Do you have daily pattern in pain or stiffness of your neck/shoulder?

for what concern your thigh, how did you injury it?

Be careful with excercise at gym, strenghten a muscle does not mean always support and give relieve to a joint.

Regards

Emanuele

[Jimages]

Thanks for your reply.

I do not experience either pins & needles nor numbness. I do suffer from migraine head-aches, though I believe this to be unrelated since I've had a history of migraine long before my troubles with my leg and neck. And this is more stress related and sometimes diet related.

As for the origin of the neck problem, although I can't be certain, I believe it was an awkward flinch type movement that came when I was at best mentally fatigued and probably physically tired as well due to working a night shift. I held a door open for a colleague, who seemed to accidentally nudge into me. It sounds daft I know, but my mental reaction seemed to be out of sync to my physical reaction and it caused a jerk like spasm in my neck shoulder.

As for motion, this isn't too bad. I can turn my head from side to side, and just about rest my chin on my chest, though to push it all the way in these motions does make it feel tight. I feel most discomfort when leaning over things or crouching down to pick something up (even though I don't thin I unduly stretch it), for some reason this causes my neck to feel tight strain, something that never happened before this injury. Sometimes if I've flinched my neck actually feels as though it's an elastic band someone has twanged.

There isn't any particular pattern to it, though it tends to feel worse towards the end of a day, and also naturally feels at it's worst when I'm under stress at work, especially if I'm having to stretch up to reach something, leaning over something or stooping down to pick something up.

It generally feels slightly better if I'm partaking in careful structured exercise, i.e when I've taken steps to warm up my muscles before hand, if feels most at risk doing general day to day things that your shouldn't have to waste time warming up for.

As for my thigh / hamstring, this a much older injury that I can't really put my finger on. It may have originated from my school days, possibly some 15 years ago when I pulled it quite badly during a 200 metre sprint. It eventually seemed healed, though on occasional I felt tenderness whilst cycling. It was only when it consistently felt aggravated by use of my exercise bike when it really became a problem though. It had always been fairly manageable and never really bothered me until about a year or two ago.

I'm well aware of safe posture with regards to lifting things, i,e no twisting, keep a load close to you, keep a straight back and lift with your legs etc, and my back isn't a problem, so I am at a loss to explain my neck problem.