Man this is some bullshit. Need your help bros (weird neck injury)

[cachexic]

I know this is the type of thing I should see a doctor about, and I am. A friend of mine is a chiropractor and I will be contacting him, but I figured this gathering place of experienced lifters would be able to offer me some insight.

A little while ago I was doing squats. Having a great workout. Energy and morale was high. Wasn't doing crazy poundage. Was doing the same weight I was doing the two previous leg days. So I'm on my last set and on repetition 7 or 8 I start nearing failure. So my energy is high and I want to go for that extra 2 or 3 reps to really get the legs some extra stimulation.

Well I guess I stiffened up my body too much or just pushed it too hard (though it didn't feel like it, I usually lift at this intensity with no problem) but I hurt my neck. Now look, I've pulled my neck twice in the past, and both times it was a very sharp pain and it greatly reduced my neck mobility. For three days after or so I would not be able to move my neck. And when you rotate your neck there is always a certain point where the pain is at a maximum.

This was NOT like that. Instead of a sharp pain, it was a dull ache. And it doesn't increase if I move my neck around. It's static. And this very dull, annoying ache really only turns into pain when I'm mid-set. Once the repetitions start getting difficult, the pain mounts, and I have to cut my set short. And when I'm not working out, there is no pain. It's as if I have no injury at all.

Two days later, chest/tri/shoulder day. I do my weighted dips, and immediately once the repetitions get difficult the neck ache comes right back. Fuck. So I have to do bullshit machines and other exercises that put no stress on my neck just to get some muscle stimulation and not make it a total waste of a workout.

So I took four full days off of lifting. Now today, back/bi day. Go in there, start off with deadlifts. Repetition #5, neck aches. Fuck. Did some body weight wide grip pull ups, which hurt just a bit, so I stopped. Did seated cable rows, which did not put stress on my neck. So I did four sets of those, some two-armed dumbbell curls and left. I couldn't do anything else.

I don't know what I'm going to do. I already took four days off and there was no improvement. This is terrible timing because, well...I'm in the thick of my first cycle. This is the prime period of my cycle and it's being ruined by this injury. So I'm really goddamn perturbed.

 

[wtw11171]

I'm sure you can get alot of help on here if someone decides to chime in. I feel your pain bro. Ive been off for about 2 weeks now becasue of a herniated disc and Im going out of my f**kn mind. I got the ok last nite to workout if I can take the pain. My issue is the disc fragment is pressing against 2 nerves, one being my sciatic, and my left leg is a little f**ked up. So no squats here. Had a shoulder injury the end of the summer that put me back a month or so as well. Now you can either just go lite for a while and see what the doc says or just take the time off. You gotta listen to the body bro. not that you wanna hear that but thats what ya gotta do. Good luck man. You'll be in my prayers. Sorry but thats all I have to offer. Pax.

 

[cachexic]

I'm sure you can get alot of help on here if someone decides to chime in. I feel your pain bro. Ive been off for about 2 weeks now becasue of a herniated disc and Im going out of my f**kn mind. I got the ok last nite to workout if I can take the pain. My issue is the disc fragment is pressing against 2 nerves, one being my sciatic, and my left leg is a little f**ked up. So no squats here. Had a shoulder injury the end of the summer that put me back a month or so as well. Now you can either just go lite for a while and see what the doc says or just take the time off. You gotta listen to the body bro. not that you wanna hear that but thats what ya gotta do. Good luck man. You'll be in my prayers. Sorry but thats all I have to offer. Pax.

Sounds like your situation is much more severe than mine.

It's really frustrating not being able to train as hard as you want. As soon as I felt that neck pain kick in mid-deadlift my heart sank.

This is such a bad time for me to deal with an injury. From my understanding the majority of my strength gains from my cycle are going to be happening in these next 2-3 weeks, and I just have no idea how long this will take to heal.

At least with a pulled muscle, once the pain is gone you know you're good to train again. With this I can't feel any pain until I start training, so I don't know when it's healed. What if this shit doesn't heal for a month or longer? I'm gonna waste my whole first cycle. This is so shitty.

 

[Creation]

is the pain in the top of your neck in the back?

could be elevated blood pressure, something similar happened to me

 

[cachexic]

is the pain in the top of your neck in the back?

could be elevated blood pressure, something similar happened to me

Difficult to remember. I can't feel it now because I'm not lifting.

It was a dull ache, not a sharp pain, so it's hard to pinpoint. I don't think it was the top of the neck though.

 

[buselmo]

i've had neck pain for over a year now... sometimes it's that dull pain that's just there and doesn't change even i move my neck around. it started that way... then progressed to shooting pains from my neck to the back of my shoulder blades, like lightning bolts... It'll get worse if you don't treat it bro... trust me.
most cases aren't caused from lifting heavy or shit like that... i got 3 people at work with the same shit. too bad medical care here is crappy... basically you get the whole "yeah, it's pain... here, take some paracetamol..." it's most likely in the bone or nerves...
one thing that helped though... orthopedic pillows. and save up some money and buy a good matress... you won't know how important those things are until you try them.

 

[cachexic]

Thanks buselmo my fellow arab. But I really think this was from lifting heavy. I haven't had any sort of pain/injury in about 6 months. But right when I tensed up my whole body for those last few reps I fucked up my neck somehow.

Hopefully the diagnosis isn't bad. I'm gonna be devastated if I can't train the way I normally do for a long time.

 

[wtw11171]

cachexic:

The best thing to do for now is heat and ice off and on. Have your primary write up a referal for an MRI and find out exactly what it is. I have to take my photos to my chiropractor today so he knows what to do. I'll be thinking of ya bro. You're in my prayers.

 

[cachexic]

Yeah I'm keeping heat on. Thanks for the advice bro.

Seeing the chiropractor tomorrow morning. Keepin' my fingers crossed.

 

[Amazon Doll]

You could have an impinged nerve. If you get weak or tingling in any muscles in your traps, delts, pecs or tricep, get it checked out

 

[cachexic]

Well, saw the chiropractor. He could tell right away I was tensed up/something had gone wrong. He did a few different motions and cracked the everloving SHIT out of my neck. Never knew my neck could crack 1000 times in one movement. He started laughing at how tensed up I was. Said it probably was a compressed nerve and it should be better now. He said if it comes back in a week or whatever come back and he'll do it again.

So I asked him if I could go lift now and he said yeah sure. Well I just did. I had high hopes but unfortunately the pain was still there. It was diminished a bit, but it still stopped me from lifting the way I wanted to. And that annoying little ache distracted me the whole workout.

Here's the thing though. Today in the gym I was able to pinpoint the pain. It is indeed at the very top of my neck; pretty much right before where the back of my skull starts. So now I'm thinking about elevated blood pressure, like Creation said earlier in this thread. Sigh...

But if it was blood pressure, wouldn't it have been a gradual type of thing? This pain started mid-squat right out of the blue. As if I had hurt myself. Wouldn't pain from blood pressure come into play in a different fashion?

I'm young, eat well and do 4 hours of cardio a week...is it possible my 6 weeks of testosterone use is to blame for this possible elevated blood pressure?

I need to test my BP.

 

[cachexic]

Talked to my chiropractor on the phone just now. Told him the pain was down a little bit but mostly still there when I lifted. I also mentioned blood pressure. He said I was reading into it too much, and to come see him again. So.

 

[1love]

Yeah, you might be reading to much into this. Just check your bp and monitor it. Which you should be doing anyways.:action:sm But see what the doctor can do for you first. At worst you continue your cycle out with lighter weight, higher reps and a clean diet and plenty of rest. You should still see gains. There are many on here that only train high volume and grow just fine while cycling or at least are happy with their results. Or you can taper off or stop your current cycle and start your pct (if you had one planned) but that seems pointless as long as the injury is not serious or life threatening. And start again when your able to lift the way you want to. It's not the end of the world (it sucks we know) but worry about your health and possible damage to your self physically first, before worrying about your current cycle and gains, which can be done again later if need be. Who knows, it may only take a week or two of rest and you will be back to normal. Just don't keep pushing it until your all clear or it will never go away or even become worse. Stay positive.

 

[cachexic]

Yeah, you might be reading to much into this. Just check your bp and monitor it. Which you should be doing anyways.:action:sm But see what the doctor can do for you first. At worst you continue your cycle out with lighter weight, higher reps and a clean diet and plenty of rest. You should still see gains. There are many on here that only train high volume and grow just fine while cycling or at least are happy with their results. Or you can taper off or stop your current cycle and start your pct (if you had one planned) but that seems pointless as long as the injury is not serious or life threatening. And start again when your able to lift the way you want to. It's not the end of the world (it sucks we know) but worry about your health and possible damage to your self physically first, before worrying about your current cycle and gains, which can be done again later if need be. Who knows, it may only take a week or two of rest and you will be back to normal. Just don't keep pushing it until your all clear or it will never go away or even become worse. Stay positive.

That was a good post. And good advice.

I naturally changed my training to lighter weight higher reps. And exercises that don't put pressure on my neck. I worked my shoulders pretty well today. Couldn't do military press of course though. Did bodyweight dips for chest and tri, which was all right. Fly machine I could do also for chest. Could work traps without pain too.

Just can't do my big free weight movements. Which is disappointing.

 

[wtw11171]

Glad to hear that cachexic and I hope everything works out for ya bra. My shit is bad. The news I got today was not what I wanted to hear. Apparently my chiro said my herniated disc is the 2nd worst hes ever seen and how I have very little neuro damage is amazing. He said I should not even be walking. Maybe I'm a tuff SOB or just plain lucky but he said it is going to be a hit and miss with me and if he cant help I should have the surgery. I was like WTF? Not what I wanted to hear. Keep me in your prayers guys.

Warren

Well, saw the chiropractor. He could tell right away I was tensed up/something had gone wrong. He did a few different motions and cracked the everloving SHIT out of my neck. Never knew my neck could crack 1000 times in one movement. He started laughing at how tensed up I was. Said it probably was a compressed nerve and it should be better now. He said if it comes back in a week or whatever come back and he'll do it again.

So I asked him if I could go lift now and he said yeah sure. Well I just did. I had high hopes but unfortunately the pain was still there. It was diminished a bit, but it still stopped me from lifting the way I wanted to. And that annoying little ache distracted me the whole workout.

Here's the thing though. Today in the gym I was able to pinpoint the pain. It is indeed at the very top of my neck; pretty much right before where the back of my skull starts. So now I'm thinking about elevated blood pressure, like Creation said earlier in this thread. Sigh...

But if it was blood pressure, wouldn't it have been a gradual type of thing? This pain started mid-squat right out of the blue. As if I had hurt myself. Wouldn't pain from blood pressure come into play in a different fashion?

I'm young, eat well and do 4 hours of cardio a week...is it possible my 6 weeks of testosterone use is to blame for this possible elevated blood pressure?

I need to test my BP.

 

[1love]

Glad to hear that cachexic and I hope everything works out for ya bra. My shit is bad. The news I got today was not what I wanted to hear. Apparently my chiro said my herniated disc is the 2nd worst hes ever seen and how I have very little neuro damage is amazing. He said I should not even be walking. Maybe I'm a tuff SOB or just plain lucky but he said it is going to be a hit and miss with me and if he cant help I should have the surgery. I was like WTF? Not what I wanted to hear. Keep me in your prayers guys.

Warren

Wow Warren, that sucks. I hope the best for you and make sure you rest and quit being the tuff guy. How soon could they get you in for surgery? Or how many times will he attempt other methods before relying on the surgical procedure? Whats the recovery time like? Whatever it is, take it easy bro. We don't need you out of commission for good when it comes to your health.

 

[wtw11171]

Thanks 1love, I appreciate the words bro. As I have said in my own and other threads, I am on prednisone and they are going to try injections first. The ortho made the procedure sound non evasive but I am meeting with a neuro next week for a second opinion. The ortho gave me the go ahead to work out and my chiro rolled his eyes at that and said hold off a bit. The surgery will put me back for 6 weeks. I dont know what to do. There are just so many fuckn problems that occur with back surgery. I really going out of my ever living mind.

Wow Warren, that sucks. I hope the best for you and make sure you rest and quit being the tuff guy. How soon could they get you in for surgery? Or how many times will he attempt other methods before relying on the surgical procedure? Whats the recovery time like? Whatever it is, take it easy bro. We don't need you out of commission for good when it comes to your health.

 

[1love]

I hear ya, stay strong. I would relax on the working out for now. My prayers are with you. And in time it will all get better. Yeah, I just read your other thread. I remember my wife going nuts when I had to have surgery to remove a chunk of my ass that got infected and they told her I may never walk the same. I understand where they are coming from by telling us the worst case scenario, but sometimes they can hold back a little bit. I"ll post on your other thread and look for updates over there instead of hijacking this one.

Cachexic, just modify your training for now, keeping yourself at minimum risk for further injury. Once it heals completely you can switch to a heavier routine. And if it doesn't heal during this cycle, just push the next cycle to the level you want. Don't sweat it.

 

[cachexic]

Yeah well the chiro said that this WILL go away which was a relief. I didn't know if this was going to be one of those things that I would have to deal with on and off forever. One of those injuries that keeps comin' back, ya know.

Warren I would be losing my shit too if I were in your shoes. But I would not even be thinking about going near any weights if I had your condition bro. My mother had the same problem when I was a kid and she had the surgery. The doc told her the same thing; that she should not even be walking. So like 1love said, take it real fuckin' easy until the storm has passed. Wish you the best of luck with your situation.