Anyone else have a really bad neck?

I was rear ended in January and have a compressed disc in my neck. I was treated by a chiro and massage therapist for 3 months, but not to complete wellness. I still had shooting pain and numbness all the way down my right arm with numbness and tingling in my thumb and forefinger :sad:. I slowly worked back into a regular exercise routine and amazingly, now that I've been lifting weights consistently for 5-6 weeks, the numbness and tingling has gone!!

I did neck/core strengthening exercises at the chiro and still stretch it often, and I'm pleasantly surprised by how much better it is. I feared never being "right" again.

Not that our situations are identical, but wanted to give you hope that it's possible. I hope your dr/physical therapist can give you counsel and guidance and you're able to keep with a solid workout.

I totally feel you on this one. I had a horseback riding accident when I was 12, and was paralyzed on one side for a couple days. After years of chiro and physical therapy, it seemed to be mostly resolved - I just had to stretch my neck every so often and get regular adjustments.

However, now (21 years later) I have started to develop arthritic spurs on 2 cervical vertabrae, and have narrowing of the space between those discs. This causes shooting pains down my right shoulder, back and arm, muscle spasms, and occasionally, near blackouts. I can't get adjusted anymore, and physical therapy would only make it worse. (to anyone who is in a similar situation, I would HIGHLY recommend carefully evaluating whether you should continue chiro ... it can make this worse. I am a huge proponent of it in most cases, but there are some situations where it just makes thigns worse. I wish I could still get adjusted!) Anyway, I am on a twice-daily low dose of pain management medication, I use ice packs at least twice a day (morning and evening, more often when I can) and if it's really bad, I just use my stationary bike.

I would definitely recommend a bike if you have access to one. I don't know whether swimming is a good option or not, personally even though it is definitely low impact, I think I might end up straining my neck even more. The key for me when it's at it's worst is to pretty much avoid working anything above my waist. Which sucks and can be super boring!

I also have had neck problems since being rear ended on an interstate years ago. It took a whole year for the torn muscles to heal, but they still flair up periodically - mostly due to stress of too much strain on those muscles. When the numbness and hurting returned, I had to stop body pump/weight lifting and go to water aerobics. You might want to talk to a doctor or physical therapist to find out if there are any particular weight lifting exercises you should avoid or modify in a particular way. I do have to pay special attention to my posture to make sure the bones are supporting my head and not just the muscles. I'm hoping to soon slowly add back in other forms of exercise. Hope you will soon be able to do the same thing.