Neck pain woke me up at 4am!!! Cannot move!

Bones, joints and muscles
1

Ive been up since 4am due to a sudden neck pain. Its so painful that the pain literally woke me up in tears, i have limited motion and cannot move my head to the right at all!! the pain also hurts when I bend my head to the left to stretch out the right side.

The pain is so severe that it is making me nauseas. Ive taking Co-Codamol & put on deep heat. I also own an electric massager which i have been using to help. Ive now broken this due to overuse :frowning: (been using it for 2 hours) & ive reduced the pain down from a 9 to a 7.

My whole right side of my neck, shoulder and arm feel weird, like sort of a tingling, heavy sensation … its hard to explain. My question is what else can i do to help relieve some of this pain? And is this caused from just sleeping awkwardly? I’ve had stiffness in my neck before from sleeping awkwardly but never has it woken me up from sleep or been this bad.

I now feel worried because I have to call in sick to work as there is no way I can drive safely with my limited range of movement. Can anyone help? I dont want to be off work for too long as I go away on holiday in 5 days

2

Hi Annalise, so sorry to hear about the pain you are in. I have had a reoccurring neck injury for about 4 years now. Is this the first time you are experiencing this neck pain or has it occurred before?

3

Have you lifted or done any strenuous exercises lately? My neck injury started when I ran a fun run with my little girl and she got tired so I put her on my back - like piggy-backing her and the next day I could not move my head and neck at all. This happened 4 years ago and to this day about once every 3 months it plays up and gets painful and stiff. Massaging machines do help, anti-inflammation tablets help but the only way my neck comes right is when I go see my Chiropractor for a few sessions. She does acupuncture, re-aligns my spine by clicking it and uses a massager that gives off UV warm light I have a slight slipped disc so that is why mine keeps playing up every now and then. So it may just be that you are sleeping awkwardly, or the pillow you using is not giving your neck the support it needs or alternatively you possibly did an exercise that has put strain on your neck.