Weird swimming neck/back injury - can't turn my head!

Triathlon Forum
1

Over the years I have become somewhat of a dominant breather on my right side. On Thursday, I was doing a hard distance set at masters, and by the time I was done I definitely felt tight in my upper back/neck, and predominately on the left side. I’ve been noticing that I lift my head a bit when I breathe on the right, and figured that was causing the strain.

On Friday at work, I did something and felt a sting in that same area. Nothing major, kind of like when you’re trying to squeeze in one last pull up, and you’re clenching all the muscles in your upper back trying to will yourself up that to that damn bar. I finished the day and didn’t think much of it, went for a 12k run after work and felt fine.

Saturday I did a long ride. It hurt to shoulder check on my left side, my neck felt really stiff trying to turn my head to the left, but other then that the ride went off without a hitch.

This morning I was jolted awake by a sharp pain in the area. Couldn’t get out of bed, hurt to move in pretty much any way, and it is not a sharp pain as opposed to a dull annoyance. 2 hours later, with help of ibuprofen, a hot pack on the area and some A535 and it’s loose enough that I can walk around, but I am stiff as a board and can’t look down, turn to the left, raise my left arm above my shoulder, and so on.

What the hell did I do to myself? Is this a common neck strain or should I be worried? The sudden painful awakening this morning was a little scary.

2

Lots of things it can be, neuro or muscular. This sounds similar to my experience. I have spi stenosis in c6, c 7. Go to a neuro or spinal doc. Usually a MRI will tell you.
Muscle relaxers and pain meds until you can see doc.
Good luck

3

I’d be more concerned if you had numbness and or tingling down your arms into your fingers.

4

I do occasionally get numbness in my left pinky and ring finger while riding long (road bike, not tri bike). Happened yesterday as well.

5

As mentioned before, you need an MRI. Last summer I had a similar experience, In the first Guppy Challenge I was swimming great. I was putting in more yardage than ever in my swimming history. Then I got a pain between my shoulder blades. I thought I pulled a muscle but then it spread up my neck and down my arm. One of our ST MD’s got me an MRI which showed four bulging discs. I scheduled a cortisone injection but while I was waiting for the appointment I saw a chiropractor who got me back in shape in a couple of weeks. It hasn’t bothered me again but I also haven’t really pushed it in the pool either.

6

The advice here is great–I have some stenosis that caused right arm pain and right finger numbness. A couple of epidural injections later and no problems for 3.5 years. It would also be helpful to look at your swimming technique to see if you are doing movements that would aggravate any structural problems. Are there specific moments / moments within your stroke that you think the movement contributes to the pain? Many swimmers hike up their elbow and/or ‘pinch’ the recovery during breathing strokes. Without having seen you swim, I would experiment with a wider, more open recovery and see if that helps.

7

try getting a massage. I had the same thing happen one day after folding laundry… massage therapist got a knot out for me and I was fine.
Hope you heal quickly.

8

I had a somewhat similar problem a few yrs ago when I started back swimming too much too soon, after an 11-month USAF deployment to AFG with no swimming at all. After about 3 weeks back in the pool, one day my left trapezius hurt so much I could barely swim 500 yds, which is usually just 1/4 of my warm-up. And, when I went out to try to ride my bike after the 500 swim, it hurt just to lean on the handlebars so I only rode like 3 miles. Oddly enough, it did not hurt to run. I got some informal, no charge advice from a chiropractor friend who told me just to rest from the sw/bk for 4 weeks, but that I could run since that did not hurt, and sure enough, after 4 weeks of just running, I was good to go on the swim and bike. Needless to say, I didn’t try to swim my normal 6000 yd workout the first day:)

I did not get any massage but TC’s advice on massage is excellent also. Hopefully, rest and massage will get your body back to normal. It sounds like you just over-stressed your upper back/neck.

9

Yeah, I’m thinking it’s more a muscle thing. It’s still sore as hell, but I went to a clinic this morning and got some muscle relaxant, which is helping. Between that and a heat pad and a few days rest I hope to be ok. A massage isn’t a bad call though. I’ve never had one, but between SBR and my profession (carpentry) I have some pretty tight muscles and weird imbalances in the upper back I should really look at addressing.

10

I have a feeling your SEM’s are over firing. The fix is rather easy and if your neck looks like a fork is sticking out that is the SEM. You need to get some acupuncture on you suboccipitals and see your PT. You will live and be just fine. DO NOT CRACK YOUR NECK!

11

Yeah, I’m thinking it’s more a muscle thing. It’s still sore as hell, but I went to a clinic this morning and got some muscle relaxant, which is helping. Between that and a heat pad and a few days rest I hope to be ok. A massage isn’t a bad call though. I’ve never had one, but between SBR and my profession (carpentry) I have some pretty tight muscles and weird imbalances in the upper back I should really look at addressing.

As long as you don’t do too much, I really think swimming is great therapy for the whole back: upper, middle, and lower, espec if you kick and swim all 4 strokes and do flip turns. Flip turns are good for keeping the lower back loose but strong:)

12

As a fellow carpenter, retired Local 45 NYC District Council, I know that we take a beating. Add training before and after work and the body gets a double beating.

Everyone on ST was pretty much telling me what they are telling you and they are probably right, but I want to repeat what the doctor told me

‘‘You need a scan to find out what is wrong before you start to treat it.’’

13

You’ve gotten a lot of good advice, the most important is to get the MRI done to make sure that there isn’t anything really serious happening.

I’m a muscular therapist so I only know about the muscular causes for problems such as yours, but I would never touch someone with your symptoms unless they were cleared by their physician. If the MRI turns out clear (it probably will, but it’s important to check), then the odds are good that your sternocleidomastoid (SCM) muscle is tight from repetitive strain. Your left SCM turns your head to the right, and the right SCM turns your head to the left.

As your left SCM was strained from all the turning to the right while you were swimming, it shortened. The problem is, in order for you to turn to the left, the left SCM needs to lengthen as your right SCM is contracting. But it can’t lengthen because of the spasms caused by the repetitive strain. It’s easy to self-treat the SCM, but you need to be careful not to squeeze your carotid artery that passes about mid-way up the muscle. If you feel a pulse, move.

Try squeezing the muscle all the way up, close to your jaw line and just below your ear. Then also treat the origination point on your collarbone (clavicle) by just feeling along your clavicle until you feel a bump that is painful - that’s the spasm at the origination point of the muscle. Put your flat fingers onto the muscle spasm and press straight into the bone, then just stay still. It will hurt if there is a spasm, if you don’t feel a tender point on the bone, then it is only the top of the muscle that is in spasm.

The three scalene muscles: anterior, lateral, and posterior, are also strained by the turning of your head as you were swimming. These muscles will pull your cervical vertebrae out of alignment and will also cause an impingement on the nerves to your neck, shoulders, arms, and hands. The lateral and posterior fibers are easy to treat with direct pressure. The anterior scalene muscle is more of a challenge (but doable) because it crosses over a bundle of nerves called the brachial plexus, and causes burning pain to go down the middle of your back. The treatment is the same, press and hold, but the pressure has to be gentle.

There are a lot of other muscles that turn your head in all the angles (back, forth, side-to-side, etc.) and they are likely all involved to some extent, but the ones I mentioned are the most common for this type of injury.

Wishing you well,
Julie