black_roses1
New member
hi everyone,
I have an ongoing chronic neck injury & want some tips as to how I can increase my upper-body strength without hurting myself.
Injury:
I've had chronic neck pain for over ten years. I've had x-rays & MRI's all of which came back clear. I've been to multiple doctors & specialists but no-one can give me a definite diagnosis, although I suspect it's muscular. The neck pain also causes severe headaches which are the main symptom & the most difficult to manage - sometimes the headaches are that bad that I wish someone would just knock me out. Therefore I like to do what I can to take as much care of my neck as possible to avoid the headaches - it makes it very difficult to hold down a full-time job when I have a blinding headache all day every day. I take what pain-killers I can but when the headaches are bad, pain killers don't even touch them. I just have to tough it out.
I think the problem was caused by straining my neck & shoulder muscles when I took up a new sport. Unfortunately I've never been able to fix it.
I'm yet to find a doctor that takes the problem seriously. They all seem to have the attitude of 'oh you just have a headache, go home & take a paracetamol'. I've wasted so much money trying many many doctors with no luck. Therefore I'm kind of on my own in terms of pain management & I have just had to figure it out by trial & error.
Objective:
To gain some upper-body strength. I'm really lacking in upper-body strength as I find it really difficult to do any strength training without hurting myself. The biggest problem is that my neck never hurts at the time, it's always the next day, & therefore I can never tell until the next day (when I've given myself daily headaches for as long as it takes for me to get to accupuncture). I've tried personal training, but again, as I can't tell at the time that I'm actually hurting my neck I stopped doing that.
eg I tried to get the ball rolling yesterday & did two push-ups. In the course of living my life I also helped to move a few folding tables. Today I can hardly move my neck.
I can't continue to play my sport because I'm simply not strong enough in my upper body. Yet as per above I can't even do a couple of push-ups without hurting my neck, so I have no clue what to do.
Any tips would be appreciated.
I have an ongoing chronic neck injury & want some tips as to how I can increase my upper-body strength without hurting myself.
Injury:
I've had chronic neck pain for over ten years. I've had x-rays & MRI's all of which came back clear. I've been to multiple doctors & specialists but no-one can give me a definite diagnosis, although I suspect it's muscular. The neck pain also causes severe headaches which are the main symptom & the most difficult to manage - sometimes the headaches are that bad that I wish someone would just knock me out. Therefore I like to do what I can to take as much care of my neck as possible to avoid the headaches - it makes it very difficult to hold down a full-time job when I have a blinding headache all day every day. I take what pain-killers I can but when the headaches are bad, pain killers don't even touch them. I just have to tough it out.
I think the problem was caused by straining my neck & shoulder muscles when I took up a new sport. Unfortunately I've never been able to fix it.
I'm yet to find a doctor that takes the problem seriously. They all seem to have the attitude of 'oh you just have a headache, go home & take a paracetamol'. I've wasted so much money trying many many doctors with no luck. Therefore I'm kind of on my own in terms of pain management & I have just had to figure it out by trial & error.
Objective:
To gain some upper-body strength. I'm really lacking in upper-body strength as I find it really difficult to do any strength training without hurting myself. The biggest problem is that my neck never hurts at the time, it's always the next day, & therefore I can never tell until the next day (when I've given myself daily headaches for as long as it takes for me to get to accupuncture). I've tried personal training, but again, as I can't tell at the time that I'm actually hurting my neck I stopped doing that.
eg I tried to get the ball rolling yesterday & did two push-ups. In the course of living my life I also helped to move a few folding tables. Today I can hardly move my neck.
I can't continue to play my sport because I'm simply not strong enough in my upper body. Yet as per above I can't even do a couple of push-ups without hurting my neck, so I have no clue what to do.
Any tips would be appreciated.