Neck, shoulder & thigh injuries.

Hello.

For quite some time now I've been having problems with my left thigh and also my neck and shoulders.

I suspect the leg injury started out as a hamstring strain, I understand that these can take up to 6 weeks to recover and that ice/heat/elevation is advised in the recovery stages. However, in spite of any kind of recovery it never seems to gain any strength and the slightest awkward movement can set it off again. I had been regularly putting in sessions of between 30 to 45 minutes on an exercise bike until I decided that each session was probably aggravating the injury and so I stopped. I try various stretches and even wear a strap/compression sleeve intended to help warm the muscle and reduce risk of further injury. It still hasn't returned to a state or strength that would give me confidence to return to cycling though.

The second problem, and definitely more distressing is a problem I'm experiencing with my neck and shoulders, typically on (though not limited to) the right side. I think I can trace this back a year when I experienced a strain due to fatigue having completed a night shift at work, I must have been tired and cold, and I felt a muscle pull. I thought this would probably heal itself in a few days, but if anything it didn't and over the next few weeks my neck and shoulders actually deteriorated to a state that they were permanently stiff, heavy and in huge discomfort. They have since improved so that they are rarely actually painful but they are usually uncomfortable, more so if I'm under stress. As with my thigh, my neck and shoulder seems to be in a constant state of being on the edge of relapsing and often it does, it takes the smallest flinch or awkward lean over something to set it off, which then results in tightness in the muscle and the feeling of the neck actually straining, and usually lasts for weeks before it starts to subside.

To compound this, with both injuries I experience clicking in the cartilage and joints which I suspect could be the onset of arthritis, though when I visited my GP surgery with a complaint of similar clicking in my left knee, they were completely unconcerned and told me not to worry.

Since the clicking of the knee I have regularly taken Glucosamine Sulphate, and rather more lately in light of my neck troubles Cod liver oil, often with added vitamins.

I keep pain killers to a minimum because I only feel slight relief by taking them, and I do seem quickly build up a resistance to pain killers and stimulants leaving feeling that I do not benefit from them, hence I rarely take them.

I am reluctant to return to visit my GP about this, mainly due to the reception I received last time, and have been intending to visit a private physio, who charges £35 for half an hour. Alas, I'm usually in an overdraft and have not been able to commit funds to this and am yet to book an appointment.

I wonder if anyone could offer a opinion on my troubles, and any advice? If only to confirm or dispel my theory.

I have recently restarted some exercise including rowing machine and light weight training in the hope that it might help strengthen my neck again and hopefully not further damage it. I know to put good effort into warming up and down prior to and after exercise, and also alternate between various types of exercise, i.e on one day I'd do rowing, and then weights on the next. Keeping fit is something that is very important to me, yet my injuries prevent me from maintaining a useful routine and I find my quality of live suffering for it.

Thanks in advance.

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

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.

Do you think your work is physically demanding or do you spend lots of time in front of a PC? Where exactly in your shoulder is your stiffness? between shoulder blades? over them? or more focused in the shoulder joint itself? or combination of the 3?

To have a better understanding of what it's going on, a proper clinical examination needs to be carried out. Irritation/inflamation of the capsule surrounding the zygoapophyseal joints (the little joints which articulate your vertebrae) can sustain a previous muscular strain and/or affect muscles such the cervical erector spinae, levator scapule and rhomboids if the segments involved are C3-C4 for the former and C5 for the latter mainly(via the dorsal scapular nerve). This is obviously just an hypothesis and as already said further investigations are needed. Osteopathic treatment, in your case, could be very effective and possibly resolutive.

Wish you all the best

Emanuele

I'd say it's a combination of the 3, it's not always the same from day to day. When I first experienced the injury it even seemed to move about day from day, now it's slightly more localised to the right side between the neck and shoulder in particular though not limited to it.

I work at a mental health hospital, so although there can be plenty of physical activity during the day it's rarely physically arduous. Usually it's the mental stress that compounds the problem because it causes tension, especially in my shoulders. Usually I'll begin a shift feeling relatively comfortable, but soon start experiencing a kind of cramp feeling in the back of my neck and a lot of cricking and snapping of the carthilage when I'm carrying out tasks such as making a bed, or unloading a linen tray and stacking sheets onto a shelf.

I also feel a kind of pulling strain in the neck when getting up from laying down or getting from sat in a sofa.