Pain in the neck

As Steve said, try a snorkel for a while & look DOWN not forward. Keeping your head down is different from what I learned back in the 60's.It really does make a difference.

Funny thing is, that's another thing I've been working on.....looking down more. If anything, I've been looking down much more than ever prior to and during the neck pain. Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using Tapatalk

I get this pain often, and it is terrible. I find that my neck is most sore when I swim with my head position too high. When I focus on looking at the bottom of the pool, the neck pain subsides. I also find that icy hot and a massage helps untie the knots in the muscles ( I have a hand held massager that works great). In college, part of my physical therapy for my shoulders was to swim more backstroke. I also find that warming up and down with backstroke helps a lot.

Get a snorkel and let those muscles heal. In meantime you can reanalyze if swimming form is causing this, just fatigue, or even something like a pillow. I once had neck pains - I surprised to find netflixs was the cause

Another thing it could be is transient pain from a pinched nerve under your scapula. Get a massage and have them focus under there or to do it yourself, take a tennis ball, put it between your scapula and a wall and work it up and down. If you find a knot, press on it gently, but firmly, just enough to hold tension on it. Work on it a few days and you may find that the knot and your neck pain should go away after a bit. Ice/ibuprofin as well.

Any better this week?

Since you mention the shoulder and the neck, something is getting squeezed and irritated - neck muscles or rotator cuff muscles most likely. When I experience this, I put ice on it immediately after the workout and ice a couple more times during the day and try to avoid hyperextension of the neck (at the computer also), which can pinch the nerves. Doing some external rotation with resistance bands will help stabilize the rotator cuff muscles. Amazingly, I often find long stints at the computer hurt my shoulder/neck more than swimming so I purchased a brace to retract my shoulders so I don't get impingement while typing... Good luck!

I often find long stints at the computer hurt my shoulder/neck more than swimming so I purchased a brace to retract my shoulders so I don't get impingement while typing... The computer at the desk is torture

Thanks Swimspire, this is really interesting. I have changed asymmetrically, as my right arm had been slipping and spilling water, whereas the left had been pretty solid. I've been working on digging hard with my right. I also have been trying to keep my head down ....maybe too far. Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk

In addition to following medical advice from your doctor, do you have a coach or independent stroke technique analyst to take a look at how you are swimming? There could be a variety of reasons for your pain. We at Swimspire often work on developing swimmers' symmetry in the water - the right side must be equal to the left in strength and balance. Since you have recently changed your stroke, and are heading towards a more symmetrical stroke, the muscles on your left side might be weaker, and so you might be pushing them too hard after years of being neglected. Or, you might be attempting to correct your stroke, but actually are swimming incorrectly. If your head position is too far down, for example, you could be putting even more pressure on your neck. This is why it would be best for you to get your stroke analyzed and seek guidance on how best to change your stroke without continuing to injure yourself. A coach or independent analyst will be able to see if your stroke is causing the pain, or whether it is something entirely independent of swimming. Good luck!