Neck issues HELP please

disj

Hi Guys

So, while I am young enough I have some real issues with my back/hips/knees/shoulders/neck. This was kind of ongoing for a while but the neck thing really just creeped in the the past year or just a little more than a year.

Basically, I have some kind of neck issue and have been seen a physio now for ages. When i initially went to the doctor it was with a pain in my arm that I couldnt explain but it felt like I had damaged my elbow or something. Anyway, it turned out this was coming from a neck issue, this same neck issue has also been responsible for ongoing headaches/migraines and in general is a nightmare.

My biggest issue now is that it is effecting everything i do. I am in a job where i am at a desk typing pretty much all day and it is getting really bad again. There is also a commute with this job which isnt helping. I am worried that this is never going to get fixed and honestly the discomfort i am in has me nearly in tears on a frequent basis. As this role I am in now is new I dont want to just moan etc but it is beginning to flare up to a bad place again.

I havent really taken an extensive period of time off to try and recover mostly because I dont know how I would afford to. I genuinely dont know what to do, I do my physio exercises every night and they had been working but this new role with the commute seems to be making it worse again. The pain and issues never went 100% but i felt i had them under control somewhat for awhile there.

It is effecting my sleep also, I never feel like i have a proper nights rest and i would love nothing more than to just have one good night sleep as I am totally exhausted. I feel so drained and i am scared this will never get any better. My physio is great but I am starting to think that it is me stopping myself from recovering. The neck thing even effects my ears where they often feel kind of blocked or something - its hard to explain.

In terms of how I sleep, I invested in a new mattress and new pillow which has been of help but again since I started this commute and new job I feel any good work i had done is slipping away.

At the same time, jobs are hard to come by and trying to find one where they would be totally understanding of my predicament seems tricky to me. Maybe I am being too worried about all of that but why hire me when they could hire some one else? Also, jobs in my immediate location are hard to come by.

I dont really know what I am getting at here, i suppose if anyone has undergone the same thing or knows someone who has and could offer some advice or help that would be great. I dont like moaning or making a big deal out of things but I am genuinely in a lot of pain and if I could find someone who has gone through something similar it would help.

I amnt 100% sure on what caused this, as I said I have been having back/knee issues from a young age, maybe 16 or so but the neck thing only in the past few years and its really just gotten worse in the past 2 years or so. I cant pinpoint an exact accident or anything to cause it.

Any advice appreciated, I apologise for bad grammar, poor punctuation and a generally sloppy post!

BlueFairy

I've had my fair share of neck issues over the last few years so I feel for you. If you've been seeing a physio for quite a while with no improvement then it might be time to have it investigated further, so chat to your physio or GP about getting some scans done to make sure that there are no underlying problems that need to be resolved. Talk to your doctor about the fact that you have ongoing joint problems at a young age, that needs to be looked at too.

Talk to your physio about your progress, if you're still in that much daily pain you need to have a serious discussion about where things are going with your treatment. It may be time for a new physio if you're not getting anywhere.

In terms of self care:

- on your long commute don't spend all the time looking down at your phone/book/tablet, instead listen to podcasts/music/books on your phone to keep you entertained

- in general spending a lot of time looking downwards at your phone or other devices can cause a lot of neck problems, so minimise the amount of time you spend in that position

- do your physio neck stretches throughout the day, not just when you're at home. Sitting for longs hours at a computer all day can be really damaging to your neck, so make sure you stretch regularly and get out of the office for exercise on your tea and lunch breaks. A yoga class can help a lot.

- use a heated neck pad while you're in the office or resting at home. I have one that I pop in the microwave at work and then sit at my computer with it in the office, it helps a lot.

- talk to your physio about getting a tens machine, it might be a good purchase for you

- check with your dentist to see if you are grinding your teeth in your sleep, or even during the day. Jaw clenching and grinding can contribute a lot to neck and shoulder pain.

- watch your posture at your desk at work, make sure you have yourself set up so that your seated posture and how you use your computer isn't contributing to the pain. If you use a laptop or computer at home, minimise your time on it and make sure you're using good posture while using it. Make sure that your seats at home are also helping you keep good posture, some sofas can be terrible for your neck and back!

- make sure you're not sleeping on your stomach or in an awkward position for your neck

- if your physio isn't giving you a massage, look into indian head massage in your area, it might help a lot to regularly schedule one

- remember that stress can contribute majorly to muscle tension and pain in the neck, so doing a daily relaxation practice like meditation can help majorly when you are feeling so stressed and worn out. Minimise stress in your daily life as much as possible and make sure that you get exercise and eat well. You sound like you have a lot on your mind with your health, counseling might be worth considering as a means to work through this bad patch

cerise

Good advice bluefairy. Definately get an MRi done on neck. It could be referred pain from that or you could have a shoulder issue or tendinitis. All needs to be checked out. A physio should not be giving you exercises until they see the results of a scan as they could make things worse as happened with me.

Posture is so important. Pilates classes is good for that and strengthening yr core.

TheJaff

Sounds suspiciously like Ankylosing Spondylitis. Ask your GP to test you for it or refer you to a rheumatologist.

kissmequick

Get a sore neck amongst other things a lot. Hot Water Bottle didn't help. Heat didn't help. Sprays didn't help. The curer-of-all-cures Deep Heat, nope no help! But, wearing a SCARF helped lots!! Was writing down absolutely everything there a while back, and with the seemingly-regular occurrence of my sore neck, I couldn't fathom why nothing I tried wasn't working, but it was only afterwards I realized/fathomed, what I had been doing differently on one bad occasion, and remembered I had been wearing a Scarf at that time when neck was sore!

I have since got something wonderful in my local Euro-Shop called Master-Plast. It's a Gel. It works wonders. Well for me it does anyway.