Sore neck - how to make it better?

[el_chester 4]

i had a faster-than-normal opening yesterday. My neck whip-lashed and now it hurts quite a bit. I have limited movement before the pain is too much. What is the recommended course of action to make this better?

Massage?
Pain killers?

I want this to go away fast!

--
Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

[mr2mk1g 10]

Get physiotherapy. It works wonders, feels great, and shortens recovery time significantly.

If there's no one around with exp. a simple sports or deep tissue massage will be better than nothing. Explain what happened, put it in terms they’ll understand like compairing it to a whiplash injury. Explain the mechanism of injury (which way your head moved etc) and they’ll know what to do.

Take anti-inflammatorys and try not to do anything that aggravates the pain.

[Reginald 0]

I never believed in chiropractors before I started skydiving. But after a hard opening or two, I do.

1. Get massages
2. See a chiropractor
3. Take an anti-inflammatory (Advil is an excellent anti-inflammatory), take the maximum recommended dosage and take it on a regular schedule.
4. Light stretching of your neck. Talk to the massage therapist or chiropractor about this. It helped me immensely

The best thing I’ve done to help with what used to be pretty bad neck problems from skydiving is regular stretching of my neck and strength training for my neck and upper back. It’s worked wonders I tell you.

"We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

[AndyMan 7]

See a doctor. Neck pain caused from whiplash can be indicative of significant injuries.

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[goose491 0]

Drop a cinder block on your toe... then you won't notice the pain in the neck anymore.

Seriously though. I would recommend seeing a massage therapist. The neck muscles are serious business.

My Karma ran over my Dogma!!!

[AggieDave 6]

Here's the deal, it happened to me literally a year ago, exactly the same thing. HARD opening on a stiletto and then pain and very limited movement.

I went to my chiropracter, he X-rayed to check for bone damage, then sent me home to go through some icing cycles for the next 5 hrs to get the muscles to stop spasming. Came back, he spent an hour working on the spasms then put me back in alignment. It ended up exactly like he told me. He said that I'd have to come back 2 or 3 more times over the next couple of weeks to get everything back to normal perminantly, since the muslces will continue to spasm off and on that long, pulling my neck out of alignment again.

He didn't even charge me for the extra time he spent or the X-rays.


So, find a good chiropractor, if they're talking about visits for months, run away, and let him/her work on ya. This is what they're pro's at.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[hooked 0]

I totally agree you with you on this one! Find a good chiropractor, they really do wonders. In fact, I'm due to see mine.....headaches are more frequent lately.

J

--------------------------------------
Sometimes we're just being Humans.....But we're always Human Beings.

[IanHarrop 42]

You're going to need a young woman -- preferably about 20, she needs to be naked and you're going to need vegetable oil, a big sheet of poly, music, and candles.

Put yourself and the rest of the ingredients into a dark room mix well for 10 hours.

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[wmw999 2,514]

I had one of those at the Dallas bigway camp we were both at. It put my chest-mounted (low, too) into my chin. I took Advil (good for inflammation), and did lots and lots of gentle neck rolls (roll the head around in gentle circles), and rubbed it myself. That was as I was going up for the next load, and the several after that. By starting immediately, and gently, it was a whole lot better than if I'd just kept it in one position. But every 15 minutes or so, for the next several days.

When I had a much worse one a few years ago, exercise eventually took care of that, too. Gentle neck exercise -- rolls, and then turn your head as far left, then as far right, as you can, first looking straight, then up.

But if you even begin to suspect real problems, go to a doctor.

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[argon 0]

Please-Please take my advice. I am very disabled subsequent to a spinal injury. Make DAMN SURE YOU ARE X RAYED AND SEEN BY AN ORTHOPAEDIC SURGEON-before ANYONE manipulates you. I had two substantial lower back L4-S1 injuries-second of which resulted in a spinal fusion(7 hour surgery). After the first inury I was convinced a chiropractor was the way to go. To make a long story short-all the forceful adjustments destroyed my facet joints and it was all down hill from there. First-do not rush your recovery,get good advice and let yourself heal fully and remember it doesn't take long to lose muscle tone and strength. Go easy,do it right or you WILL end up fucked up and miserable or worse. Good Luck.

***********
Freedom isn't free. Don't forget: Mother Earth is waiting for you--there is a debt you have to pay...... POPS #9329 Commercial Pilot,Instrument MEL

[flyangel2 2]

I'm sorry you are in pain. But as other poster said, see someone about it.

It's not going to go away over night. Take it easy.

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[Squeak 17]

I had the same thing last week, physio was of limited help, so I went to an acupunturist (sp) and it was MUCH better that day, and in 2 days it's all good

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[ltdiver 3]

Quote

Get physiotherapy. It works wonders, feels great, and shortens recovery time significantly.

I was going to say, "quit necking", but your response is much better.

A proper diagnosis from a qualified orthopedist followed by physical therapy can greatly reduce your time of recovery. Plus, as P.T.'s we love to educate you on proper ways of avoiding injury again.
ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[EDYDO 0]

A couple of experiences for whatever it may be worth.

I had a scuba diver friend who visited a chiropractor and he was sent from there directly to a medical doctor with a broken neck. The adjustment finished off a problem that he had when he arrived. Within months he killed himself because of the pain.

I personally visited a chiropractor 25 years ago for neck pain and during adjustment, he injured my lower back doing adjustments. I feel that pain daily when I first get up.


I had a firend/physio check me out prior to gall bladder surgery 20 years ago. I avoided the surgery entirely because that wasn't the problem and he found it. The back has "hot spots" where muscles kink or tense up. You locate these spots by pressing deep with one or two fingers until a sore spot is found. Then, that spot is deep massaged. It will get really sore on that spot. After a couple of days, the neck and back pain goes away entirely.

I can't be that different, so if it helps me, it will help someone else as well.

Ed

[skyhighkiy 0]

chiropractor...all this stuff....

how do you know there's something wrong w/ your bones?

chances are more likely than not that you've sprained a muscle in your neck.
get an x-ray to make sure nothing is wrong w/ the bones...because, as these people have testified, it'll lead to nasty things, and these kind of injuries are often slow developing. If you're not going to get x-rays, monitor for these things:
increasingly less movement in the neck
change in level of consciousness
severe pain or pressure
tingling or less of sensation
partial or complete loss of movement of any body part
unusual bumps or depressions
seizures
impaired breathing or vision
nausea or vomiting
persistent hehadache
loss of balance

if you see any of these, go get checked out IMMEDIATELY.

if you're not gonna see a doctor, at least GEt lots of sleep and try to keep your head supported as you sleep on your side (big pillow/neck pillow)
thihs will give your body lots of time to work on a muscle that's in its natural state (uncontracted and not stretched).
Remember that a sprain is a condition where a ligament is stretched to the point where some of the collagen fibers are torn.

if nothing's wrong w/ the bones, just ggive it down time and let your body heal em up.

BE THE BUDDHA!

[el_chester 4]

Thanks everybody for the replies. Particularely those who PM'd to see if I was ok - that's nice coming from people one has met just a couple of times or not even met.

I did go to an ortohpaedist (sp?) before doing anything, he did x-rays and everything is fine with my bones.

I then went to a phisiotherapy massage which did wonders for the muscles.

I have all of my mobility back. The pain is almost gone. From most replies I suppose most of the cases you've experienced or talk about are much more severe than mine. Mine was a minor thing, I'll be in the air again on Monday (Yey!, taking the week off to go jump!).

--
Be careful giving advice. Wise men don't need it, and fools won't heed it.

[steve1 5]

I was having one hard opening after another on my new hornet. I started psycho-packing and really rolling the nose. Now it opens almost too slow. You might want to get another canopy that opens slower also.

As far as chiropractors go, I had to go to one because of neck injuries due to some of these hard openings. It seemed to help. And then it would happen all over again. I am a little leery though of chiropractors. Another friend went to one a few years ago and ended up with a fractured neck due to the chiropractor's negligence.....Steve1

[flyangel2 2]

Glad you are doing better

May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey

[ergirl 0]

I recommend that:
1. you ice for the first 48-72 hours and then you can alternate heat and ice.
2. Definitely ibuprofen 600mg (that is 3 over the counter, as long as you do not have stomach problems or allergies to NSAIDS) every 6 hours
3. Light easy stretches
4. Deep tissue massage.
5. Muscle relaxers will also help but you have to have a prescription

"Life is not measured by your number of breaths, but by the moments that take your breath away."