Head, neck & back
January 24, 2019
Unsure if this is all connected but I’m left in quite a lot of pain at the moment. I injured my lower back during strength training around 3 months ago. After taking it easy, it felt like the issues had subsided but it still keeps presenting itself when I perform certain movements (single leg deadlifts for example, equally when going on long walks, jogging, dancing etc). It’s a sharp pain right inside the base of my spine/pelvis also felt in hip and maybe even glute area.
Second issue is neck related which started a couple of weeks ago. My neck feels so stiff, I can hardly support my head – it feels like certain positions are pressing down on nerves causing me to keep having to rest my head against something to take pressure off. This hasn’t improved in 2 weeks despite seeing a physio for treatment – they diagnosed this as neck fatigue however there is a definite sharp pain when I tip my head left/back which radation around the left side of my neck. In addition I have been suffering awful headaches, light headedness and general pain through the left of my head, behind left ear and base of my head. Right side seems to feel fine, this is all centred around the left.
Not sure if these 2 issues are related or separate!
Any advice greatly appreciated!
Jess
January 24, 2019
Hi Jess
When you win the lottery (!) you buy a boat and house – 2 separate things, but a single central event.
This is pretty much what you’ve done, and it’s very common to see patients with back and neck pain. The reason why you’ve got an issue at the top and bottom of your spine is because the middle bit (your thoracic spine) is really, really stiff.
Now I get it that this might sound odd considering your neck feels stiff – but I think you feel stiff muscles in your neck (not the joints in your neck) trying to protect your neck that moves too much because your thoracic spine is too stiff – it pretty unusual to feel stiff joints (without trauma) as they don’t move and give little “reception” back to you – exactly the same thing is happening with your back
You need to improve the mobility of your thoracic spine – and this is great confirm or deny type treatment. Improve your mid back movement and you’ll have less neck stiffness, and if you don’t then we need to regroup.
Don’t expect immediate results but give it a blast for 5 days and you’ll see a decent, positive change.
So don’t stop going to the gym and exercising just do it with better form, better control, less reps….quality not quantity.
Have a look at these:
Jess was very appreciative!
Wow thank you so much for this!! Really appreciate the detailed response and advice. I’ll try these stretches out for the next few days and check in with the results.
Again – thank you!
