Painful, stiff neck.

[MWB]

The left side of my neck has been painful and stiff for about a year. I've had an x-ray that showed some arthritis & an MRI that show nothing. (Good)
But It is heaven to have that part of my neck massaged. Deep tissue massaging when the pressure is immense. The other side of my neck hurts if it's massaged that hard.
And after it's massaged so hard, the person doing it has to stop, as their fingers & wrists get tired and painful.
So what I'm asking is, how can the painful side of my neck take this immense pressure & feel fabulous?
The Drs & physio says it's not harming my neck.

[filthiestfis]

Did you swallow viagra by mistake?

[Velvetee]

Perhaps you have inflamation in the Cervical Vertebrae discs, so to protect them the muscles spasm and harden, so need more pressure to break down the fibres than the other side, which is not as tight.

[MWB]

Velevtee - is having an inflamed cervical vertebrae disc cureable?
Or is it like arthritis where you just manage the pain?

[MWB]

Not a prob knobbs.

And actually I also get tingling in my fingers & pain in my left arm. The first time I got that pain, I had a little panic attack as I thought it was a heart attack! lol.

[Velvetee]

Knobbsworth, do you have Ankylosing Spondylitis? I don't really think you can cure the problem, but it may be relived through Physio or Osteopathy. Exercise can also help to improve flexibility of the fused joints, perhaps something like swimming, also checking your posture is good, a Physio can also help you with that.

MWB. I don't have any medical knowledge to say you have inflamed vertebrae discs, your problem may be as a result of Arthritis or something like Spondylitis.

It might even be something simple like poor posture or sleeping in a bad position. Many people, including myself suffer from back and neck pain, mine is primarily because of poor posture and until it is corrected, I will get little relief. I would imagine any inflammation is curable, once the problem causing it is resolved.

[Eve]

Ankylosing Spondylitis is different from normal spondylitis.

I've got arthritis and am hypermobile (joints move more than they should so I damage easier) get a lot of pain and stiffness in my back and neck and have ribs which pop out of place and the bits between my rib cage swell up and hurt like hell.

I'm on Sulfasalazine and Amitriptiline for it as well as codine when the pain gets really bad.

I can take normal anti-inflammatories like aspirin or ibuprofen but find voltarol gel is good (don't overuse as it started thinning my skin) and the Curaheat packs you can get from Boots.

I see an osteopath regularly who works wonders. It's pricey but sooo worth it, just frustrating that it always comes back again.

He does some seriously hard and painful manipulation but it works and no pain no gain!

Posture is a bit thing though! I began to suffer when I was at uni (bending over books and the deli counter I worked on).

You can get special cushions to sit on and a lumbar roll. I have one on my work chair and it helps a lot.

Pilates is very good for posture in general and make sure you move a lot, especially your neck in your case. Yoga is good too.

Get a series of exercises where you roll your neck in all different directions. An osteo should be able to show you some good ones and the pressure ones which are fantastic (turn your head to one side, put your hand against the other side of your face and gently push back towards your hand).

Another good one they taught me was to stand up straight and roll your shoulders back as often as possible. It's very telling when you try and move your arms about before you roll your shoulders back then after, amazing the difference it makes and makes you realise how much bad posture restricts your body.

Also try and relax as much as possible to tension doesn't make it

[Eve]

Ps, make sure you are properly hydrated as your joints need to be as well - I take a good EPA (essential fatty acids) supplement recommended to me.

It'd always bugged me as I drink loads but still always felt dehydrated but they have made a huge difference.

[DONNA1458]

I have a hot stone massage which helps ease tension and saves my massagers fingers!!