You’re cruising down the Cross Island Expressway in Queens. The Taxi in front of you is going to make you late for your personal training session. It’s time to pass. You flip your blinker and snap your head around to check your blind spot.
Neck pain. Not just any neck pain.
You’ve felt that stabbing sensation. That stiffness immediately ensues. It zaps town your trap and in between your shoulder-blades. You’ve heard this song before. You’ve got a “kink in your neck”, or a “trapped nerve in your neck,” or a “neck strain.” You know it’s about to be a rough couple of days.
Your “trapped nerve in the neck” is painful. It’s scary. However, with proper care and attention to detail, you can expect to recover.
A “trapped nerve in the neck” happens when a cervical disc compresses and tears.. The medical term is called an internal disc derangement. It’s enough to cause acute inflammation in the area, but there’s no guarantee that you’ve caused the shape of your disc to change. You can hurt your disc without herniating it.
You need time to allow the acute inflammation to clear. You will be in acute pain for approximately 7-10 days, depending on the severity. Lesser pain may persist for another 5-7 days. Your main goal during this phase should be to keep your neck as straight as possible to promote proper healing. Avoid sitting down at a desk for too long or looking down at your phone. An IDD is like a cut on your knuckle. Avoid bending it to allow for proper healing. Do not stretch! This may cause further damage.
Once the acute inflammation has died down, it’s time to sort out WHY that disc experienced so much compression. I’ll give you a hint: adhesion. As adhesion develops in your neck, it will limit the flexibility of your muscles. When you lack flexibility, your neck compresses. When your neck compresses, you get these episodes of neck kinks.
Avoid stretching at home. With necks, the risk/reward ratio is too high to prescribe stretches. Because there are so many structures with so many ranges, you can do more harm than good. Unlike other areas, neck pain requires you to automatically seek professional help.
At Wildcard Spine and Sport, we specialize in fixing pain that’s lasted longer than six months, even if you’ve seen two or more providers. We are the only practitioners in the five boroughs certified to diagnose and remove adhesion. Click the button below or call the office today at 917-908-0055.