Has anyone heard of a dislocated hyoid bone?????

[lulin4]

Please, please give me some direction to head in with this!!!  My 17 yr. old son complained of pain in his neck a couple of months after he flipped over a car.  he had knee injuries as well.  the orthopedic took an xray of his neck and said he was ok.
About 10 months later my son complained that while at his bus stop something popped in his throat and he couldn't breath for a minute and was forced to place pressure on it to pop it back in.  I found it very odd and kind of brushed it off and said you're ok now so.  Then a couple of months later it happened again.  His pediatrician sent us to an Endoconologist.  He had no answer and told us to see an ENT.  We saw the ENT, he stuck a scope up through his nose and down to the throat and said he saw nothing.  He sent him for a cat scan, which came back negative, so he brushed it off.  We went to another ENT who also saw nothing and brushed it off as well.  
This past week my son had his 3rd popping incident and this time the condition became cronic.  Every time he turns his head this thing pops in his throat and it is very painful and scarry.  I rushed him in to the 2nd ENT.  This time the Dr, witnessed the popping for himself.  He believes the hyoid bone is dislocating and rubbing into the cartilige of the thyroid.  
We are waiting on an auth. for an MRI.  THE PROBLEM IS AND QUESTION:

THE ENT SAID HE NEVER SAW THIS BEFORE AND SAID HE DOES NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT????
IN THE MEANTIME HE INSTRUCTED MY SON TO WEAR A NECKBRACE TO STOP HIM FROM TURNING HIS NECK!!!  
DOES ANYONE HAVE EXPERIENCE IN THIS AREA???

[Ameliaan1]

Same problem here for 20+ years! It'll "pop" out of place every few years. Stress seems to tense the muscles and make it happen more often. Or turning/straining my next in bed.

I wanted to share what works for me to quickly pop it back into place... I look up and swallow. It hurts like hell! Equivalent to popping your shoulder or knee cap back into place.

Anyways THANK YOU ALL! Trying to describe this to doctors and people for years is sooo frustrating! Especially trying to describe how scary it is when it's happening!!!  

[Lekiboy]

My 12 yr old son just had his 2nd pop in 2 weeks. According to him, it was really painful and it was hard to breathe. He said it just goesback to its place when he tries to relax.

I hope we ca have a more comprehensive explanation fom the medical community.

Glad to have read all your posts but still curious on what happened with the original poster's son...

[cheerfullman]

I am 82 and am retired from medical research.  I have had yawn-associated dislocation of the hyoid bone on rear occasions for about 10 years.  the most severe episode occurred while I was waking up in bed just a few hours ago and was finally relieved when I stood up, stretched my neck backward -- and helped the inferiorly displaced hyoid back in place with both hands.  
Until relieved it is life-threatening because the airway is misplaced and it is impossible to speak or to swallow.
I am sharing this post with my immediate family and family physician.  
Until a support group is formed and the medical community  informed  "MedHelp"  provides a critical service.

[LondonElai]

I believe this happens to me as well, I'm 19 and I havr Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (The hypermobility type, often called type III.) This is a genetic,  connective tissue disorder, and one of the main symptoms of it is joiht pain and muscle pain all over the body and dislocations, and subluxations. Please, if you are reading this, go online and get the information about this disease.  For me it was the missing puzzle piece.

[shawnrene]

I looked this up today, because after a car accident where I flipped about 5-6 times, I have had this popping of something in my throat, to the point where it is soo painful to swallow.  It takes a bit of time and believe me it is scary when in happens, but if I try to swallow real hard, it will pop back into place.  I am concerned that the seatbelt may have damaged something in my throat, but not sure if I should have it looked at?  My wreck was about 4 years ago, and this has happen about 5 times.  I fear when it does because of the pain swallowing and fear of not being able to get it back in place.  This happened last night, and today I feel like it bruised on the left where it happened.  I don't know what causes it, but I can feel it slipping when it does go, and mine goes inward towards my throat, until I can swallow to pop it back in.  

[zuraiashvili]

I have had this problem for last three years, unfortunately i don't remember exact day when it started but when i swallow, something on hyoid bone level clicks in throat, you can feel it with finger too if you touch my thyroid cartilage . it has also affected my speaking and especially singing voice, resonance is somewhat distorted. I have seen 8 different ENTs and non of them have any idea what could be causing this. Do you guys also get voice problems from this throat clicking? or any other difficulties.

[Lukey1987]

I've had this same problem for the last 2 years or so. It has only happened 4 or 5 times but I never thought it odd until my girlfriend was there when it happened (30 minutes ago) and told me that it was weird haha.

It usually happens when I'm half lying down with my chin pointed towards my chest, and I can relieve the pain almost immediately by tilting my head backwards until if pops back into place. Fortunately, it 'snaps' back in to place and the pain is gone. It's truly bizzare but I think I'll live with it, provided that it doesn't get worse.