Neck Pain

I'm a 24 year old male.  This morning I went outside with a friend and decided to go swinging for the first time in years.  When swinging I leaned back and felt this sharp pain in my neck.  I immediately stopped and was in pain and have been in pain for the rest of the day.

The pain started and increased until I was unable to move my neck very much beyond looking straight ahead and turning it to the right about 75 degrees.  I have been unable to move it beyond about a 5 degree turn to the left without shooting pain on the right hand side of my neck concentrated in two local regions which I'll describe below.  There was still pain associated with moving it in an up and down motion where my chin can touch my chest with only relative discomfort, but angling it to where I'm looking stratight ahead involves pain and angling it to where I'm looking up and straight ahead is entirely out of the question.  The location of least pain/relative discomfort is angling my head slightly down and to the right.

I've had occasional neck problems in the past involving soreness when sleeping wrong, etc., but rarely if ever this bad and not with such sudden onset.

--000000000--
-00000000000-
-00000000000-
-00000000000-
-0000000LL00-
---0000LSL---
----000LS----
-000000LSSL0-
0000000000000

While I'm no artist, this gives the approximate location of my pain looking straight on at the back of my head.

S stands for where it hurts when I'm looking dead straight ahead.  

L stands for the additional places it hurts when I try to move it to the left.

The funny thing is that when I raise my right arm to an upright position, the pain is reduced, although this has become less effective throughout the day.

I've had neck pain before, and currently I'm between jobs and have no healthcare, so I'm extremely hesitant about going to a doctor because I'm worried about it being listed as a pre existing condition if I go anywhere for it before I am on my new company's health plan.

Therefore I wanted to know if it was possible to wait it out, what may help relieve it, what items might suggest whether or not it was a serious condition rather than simple neck pain/pinched nerve, and anything else you could think of.  Also, I wanted to know if it was a good idea to attempt to stretch it even though it's painful, or if it was a better idea to leave it in the location which involves the least pain.

Thank you very much,
-Lyle

[Forum-M.D.-DT]

Thank you for visiting the family practice forum.
It really sounds like you pulled a muscle in your neck. Most likely part of the Trapezius muscle.
Understand, without an Xray or MRI we cannot say for sure in this forum whether or not there is any "anatomic" abnormality (such as a slipped disc). However, with a slipped disc, people more commonly have pain which 'radiates'. (i.e. in this situation, when you turned your head the pain would go into your arms/fingers).
You are describing a localized pain in the neck which began after an activity which likely put some increased stress on the neck muscles.
I am not a big fan of cervical collars. They tend to do nothing more than making everything get stiff. If you came to my office with the symptoms and medical history you describe, the first plan would be the use of an anti-inflammatory medication such as "Advil", moist heat, rest and "gentle" range of motion exercises. (I also like "IcyHot").

(Please note: do not take advil or other NonSteroidalAnti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDS), if you have a history of peptic ulcer disease, kidney or liver problems, are currently taking aspirin or have had an allergic reaction to NSAIDs in the past)
Symptoms which may indicate a more "severe" injury include radiating pain, as I described above, nausea, dizziness, vision changes or severe headache.

I hope this proves helpful!!

[Jodilynn]

I am really starting to worry about this neck pain that I have.   It is a shooting pain in the same area of the right side of my neck... It has continued for the last yr and a half, occuring once in few months to everyday a couple times a day... The pain lasts for onlt a few seconds but since it's in the same place every time it's freaking me out!  I plan to see a DR but I need to be reassured NOW... I am under quite a bit of stress and i smoke about 5 cigarrettes a day... could it be cancer or a clogged artery in my neck??? Please tell me it's just that I sleep funny!!!!   Jodi