I'm so frustrated!! I've had neck (trap)and upper back pain for almost a year now. It would come and go. Now it is "going" almost constantly. I went the medical route first....muscle relaxers, anti-inflammatory drugs and rest....for about 2 weeks. It helped temporarily. (I HATE taking muscle relaxers....they make me feel tired and lazy!)The minute I stopped taking them and tried to swim, it came back.
I went to a chiropractor. He did X-rays and said my neck was straight. It is supposed to have a slight backward curve...sort of a natural "shock absorber" for your spine. He also said my neck (cervical spine) is shifted big time to the left.....explains why it hurts on the right! :doh: He said my trap muscles have been doing all the "shock absorbing" and had many knots in them on both sides. He also said my pec muscles were too tight and pulling my traps I've been going THREE times a week to get adjusted by the chiropractor. I've been stretching, icing and not swimming. The only thing that has helped is massage...and that's not in my budget! It doesn't seem to be getting better.:shakeshead: :cry: I finally went "swimming" Thursday to try to stretch it out. The doctor said it was ok as long as I didn't push it! I thought I would just kick a lot. I did try to swim some EASY strokes. It tightend up real fast! I ended up kicking on my back and doing a lot of vertical kicking in deep water. Any advice?
Parents
Former Member
Beth,
I will PM you on this.
Must be something in the GA pool water b/c I've had a very, very similar experience to yours. :doh:
Basically since last March (and June was when the pain started), I've had continual headaches, occasional ocular migraines, and to your post, very stiff neck and upper back/ trap pain. I lost a lot of mobility in my neck area and had terrible neck pain.
Went to an MD and recently started with a chiropractor. Both concluded via Xrays that I (like you) have lost curvature on my neck (which I saw on the Xrays.) They said my big traps aren't helping my neck any. Guess these big shoulders are actually not so good for us!? I also had an MRI which came back normal. The doc wanted to give me codeine and no muscle relaxers (she's against relaxants but not strong painkillers for whatever reason) which I declined.
So, I'm pursuing the chiro route for now. I too went 3x a week for about 4 weeks. I will say my headaches stopped as did my migraines (it's been about 5 weeks.) I'm on zero OTC or other RX meds which is fantastic. I also had a decrease in pain and an increase in my range of motion which is awesome. I also had to go through two different chiros before I found the right one.
The only thing I'm struggling with now is that when I start to push my swim workouts (and I'm still nowhere near what I was doing), my body starts to have trouble like my left arm and palm tingles and my neck and left wrist gets stiff. Did I mention that I had to stay out of the water for two weeks?! And, when I do swim, I can't push it. So I feel your frustration!
I'm going to see if I can eventually start pushing it in the pool. If not, I'll pursue the PT/ Neurologist route. I'm starting to think that my body is telling me not to push it the way I did in the past. . . Sux to loaf all these practices.:cry:
Keep us posted. Try different docs if you aren't getting the results you want.
It's uncanny how we are experiencing such similar symptoms. I do wonder if and how much swimming is contributing to this condition. . .
Always,
:cane::cane:
Beth,
I will PM you on this.
Must be something in the GA pool water b/c I've had a very, very similar experience to yours. :doh:
Basically since last March (and June was when the pain started), I've had continual headaches, occasional ocular migraines, and to your post, very stiff neck and upper back/ trap pain. I lost a lot of mobility in my neck area and had terrible neck pain.
Went to an MD and recently started with a chiropractor. Both concluded via Xrays that I (like you) have lost curvature on my neck (which I saw on the Xrays.) They said my big traps aren't helping my neck any. Guess these big shoulders are actually not so good for us!? I also had an MRI which came back normal. The doc wanted to give me codeine and no muscle relaxers (she's against relaxants but not strong painkillers for whatever reason) which I declined.
So, I'm pursuing the chiro route for now. I too went 3x a week for about 4 weeks. I will say my headaches stopped as did my migraines (it's been about 5 weeks.) I'm on zero OTC or other RX meds which is fantastic. I also had a decrease in pain and an increase in my range of motion which is awesome. I also had to go through two different chiros before I found the right one.
The only thing I'm struggling with now is that when I start to push my swim workouts (and I'm still nowhere near what I was doing), my body starts to have trouble like my left arm and palm tingles and my neck and left wrist gets stiff. Did I mention that I had to stay out of the water for two weeks?! And, when I do swim, I can't push it. So I feel your frustration!
I'm going to see if I can eventually start pushing it in the pool. If not, I'll pursue the PT/ Neurologist route. I'm starting to think that my body is telling me not to push it the way I did in the past. . . Sux to loaf all these practices.:cry:
Keep us posted. Try different docs if you aren't getting the results you want.
It's uncanny how we are experiencing such similar symptoms. I do wonder if and how much swimming is contributing to this condition. . .
Always,
:cane::cane:
