Neck and Shoulder Problem

[Elfie]

So. For two weeks, I've been having major problems with one shoulder, as I mentioned in another thread. I thought I was doing something wrong, and decided to retrain on certain movements to make sure I had the technique correct.

Well... after a little hair tossing and a little zaar... not a lot... just a little... now both of my shoulders ache non-stop and I can only move my neck in one direction - forward- and only slightly. About halfway forward, the pain starts. If I try to move my neck in any other direction, I get more pain. The pain is in the muscles of my neck and shoulders and reaches down to my shoulder-blades. This is not normal, run of the mill exercise burn. I'm used to that. This is something else... and I hate doctors. I hate them. This pain has been interrupting my sleep, I can barely lift anything over 5-10 pounds. It just sucks.

Have I injured myself? Whip lash? Muscle strain?

 

[Yame]

Get thee to a doctor!

 

[Marya]

if you really can't stand MDs go to a physical therapist. But your description makes your condition sound very serious, you may need Xrays to determine the extent of the the damage.

Marya

 

[Elfie]

Man... I was afraid y'all would say that. I can't possibly get to a doctor until Friday... the husband must work and we only have one car. I will go, though. If it's not gonna go away on its own, I guess I have to. I was hoping someone would say they'd had a similar experience and it was just muscle strain. Thank you, though!

 

[Greek Bonfire]

It could be muscle strain. While you are waiting to go to a doctor (and you must go), try an OTC pain medication and see if that helps. This is just for temporary relief.

 

[Maysoon]

So. For two weeks, I've been having major problems with one shoulder, as I mentioned in another thread. I thought I was doing something wrong, and decided to retrain on certain movements to make sure I had the technique correct.

Well... after a little hair tossing and a little zaar... not a lot... just a little... now both of my shoulders ache non-stop and I can only move my neck in one direction - forward- and only slightly. About halfway forward, the pain starts. If I try to move my neck in any other direction, I get more pain. The pain is in the muscles of my neck and shoulders and reaches down to my shoulder-blades. This is not normal, run of the mill exercise burn. I'm used to that. This is something else... and I hate doctors. I hate them. This pain has been interrupting my sleep, I can barely lift anything over 5-10 pounds. It just sucks.

Have I injured myself? Whip lash? Muscle strain?

Have you tried Pilates for your injuries? believe me Pilates will beat any Doctor. If you know of any Pilates studios in your area try, the instructors will be glad to assist you with your injuries....here's a link to get started with exercises you may want to try Good luck!
Free Pilates Exercises for Pilates Training, Instruction and Practice (Pictures)

"I must be right. Never an aspirin. Never injured a day in my life. The whole country, the whole world, should be doing my exercises. They'd be happier." - Joseph Hubertus Pilates:clap:

 

[walladah]

Elfie, i hope that you are fine by now

but do you remember whether your neck and shoulder area was aching just at the moment of the "wrong" movement or afterwards?

from the symptoms you describe, it might also be a cold, after you did head-rolling for zaar and then you did not keep warm the head and neck area.

You catch such a cold if a) you are sweating and you open the window, air-conditioning, etc b) you are sweating and you stop dancing without putting on a jacket or an extra top c) you dance heavily dressed and the clothes (f.ex. on shoulders) keep sweat and you do not put them off quickly - the sweat gets colder as the clothes dry on you!! d) you just were sitting between two open windows/doors, etc.

If you have such a cold, even a mild one, the muscles are "frozen" somehow, so even a usual movement might cause an internal muscle injury. So, you might have caught the cold a previous time and 2 weeks ago you just did the hard movement.

Muscle cold is a serious condition and it needs warm, mild exercise and lots of care not to get a cold again.

However, to decide about the cold, you need to talk with a physician anyway. In my home village they would recommend a mild massage to you, but i refrain from recommending anything, given that it is better that you talk with an expert in this case.

Take care and get well!

W.

 

[Elfie]

Have you tried Pilates for your injuries? believe me Pilates will beat any Doctor. If you know of any Pilates studios in your area try, the instructors will be glad to assist you with your injuries....here's a link to get started with exercises you may want to try Good luck!
Free Pilates Exercises for Pilates Training, Instruction and Practice (Pictures)

"I must be right. Never an aspirin. Never injured a day in my life. The whole country, the whole world, should be doing my exercises. They'd be happier." - Joseph Hubertus Pilates:clap:

I do pilates and yoga every day. They are part of my regular exercise regimen. It's pretty painful even lifting my arms beyond a certain height. I have been trying to stretch the pain out, but it isn't going away.

but do you remember whether your neck and shoulder area was aching just at the moment of the "wrong" movement or afterwards?

from the symptoms you describe, it might also be a cold, after you did head-rolling for zaar and then you did not keep warm the head and neck area.

You catch such a cold if a) you are sweating and you open the window, air-conditioning, etc b) you are sweating and you stop dancing without putting on a jacket or an extra top c) you dance heavily dressed and the clothes (f.ex. on shoulders) keep sweat and you do not put them off quickly - the sweat gets colder as the clothes dry on you!! d) you just were sitting between two open windows/doors, etc.

If you have such a cold, even a mild one, the muscles are "frozen" somehow, so even a usual movement might cause an internal muscle injury. So, you might have caught the cold a previous time and 2 weeks ago you just did the hard movement.

Muscle cold is a serious condition and it needs warm, mild exercise and lots of care not to get a cold again.

However, to decide about the cold, you need to talk with a physician anyway. In my home village they would recommend a mild massage to you, but i refrain from recommending anything, given that it is better that you talk with an expert in this case.

Take care and get well!

W.

Mmm. I've never heard of a muscle cold before. I know certain athletes (such as baseball players) have to keep their muscles warm - which is why you can see a sweaty pitcher wearing a jacket it the dugout. I bet this is why they do that.

For the first shoulder problem two weeks ago - my left shoulder started first - it was during the dance. I executed a move (I think it was a head circle with some snake arms) and got a very hot and sparkly sensation in the shoulder. After I was done dancing and had relaxed, my shoulder muscles and neck muscles on the left side completely stiffened up. I started stretching that side every chance I got over the next few days and didn't dance at all - only drilling hip moves and torso moves. After three days it seemed to be relaxing, and though I still had pain I could at least move.

Then, I danced again after the third or fourth day. It brought a little stiffness back, so I tried working on executing head and arm moves properly. Especially the zaar. I kept the movement small, drawing a little "circle" with an imaginary pencil on the end of my nose - slowly at first and picked up a little speed after making sure I wasn't causing any more pain than the residual of the stiffness. I circled to the left a few times - painful but possible, then switched to the right. All seemed fine. Went to bed that night and woke up the next morning unable to move my neck or either of my shoulders. They've ached constantly since then and the muscles feel like hot stone slipped inside my skin. I haven't had a decent night's rest since this last incident and I'm back to just drilling the hips and torso.

I've been stretching as much as I'm able and using hot compresses alternating with cold on the muscles. This is what I was told to do with my last muscle strain (which was lower back... that happens when a very little lady picks up 400+ pounds), but it hasn't been helping much. I think I'm gonna have to go to the flapping doctor. Which just thrills me to no end, if you can't tell. /sarcasm LOL!

 

[walladah]

Elfie, maybe you should stop

changing cold and warm around the neck and leave it to recover.

But if you ache in the entire area of neck & shoulders, then it might be probably a cold (it sounds simple but it is not).

What it needs is a) talk with a doctor to make sure that there is any other problem and b) to wait several weeks to heal. Sometimes, colds like this take months to heal...

Get well!

 

[LadyLoba]

Update/Checking...

How are you feeling???

 

[Elfie]

Actually a bit better. I'm able to move much more in the shoulder/neck area today... I did a nice, long stretch last night that included lifting my head up and elongating my neck. Something popped... have no idea what... in my neck and it was like instant relief. I'm still not top form, but it'll do. I can pick up my youngest child with no pain at all (He's 8, so it's not like I'm picking up a toddler or anything LOL!) and while I still can't do head circles quickly, I can go slowly without pain. I'm thinking I may just need to build up my neck and shoulder muscles before I try any zaar-ing again.

I am still going to go to the doctor though - I dunno what that popping was and if it was misalignment or anything, I'll need to take extra care not to repeat it.

 

[Farasha Hanem]

Even after you recover, maybe you should leave off zaar-ing, at least for awhile, sweetheart. That has me worried.

 

[Elfie]

Doctor's appt. is tomorrow after my son's therapy. I'll hopefully know more of what the problem is then. I think I will stick to normal head snakes/slides until I learn how to do these properly 100%. No more zaar-ing for a good, long while.

 

[adiemus]

It sounds to me like you had a muscle strain, which can happen when you do a new movement that your body isn't used to. Best treatment? RICE or rest, ice, and because it's your neck and shoulders you can't do either of compression or elevation! Add in some effective pain relief (an anti inflammatory and analgesic like ibuprofen and paracetamol) and even some rub on voltaren gel then once the initial pain settles, heat and gentle stretching will be all good.
Unless you have tingling or numbness, or maybe loss of sensation or power you won't have done any neurological damage, so it's sure to settle down. And if you decide to do Zaar again, make sure you're well warmed up first and that you've been shown correct technique.

 

[Bellydance Oz]

Actually a bit better. I did a nice, long stretch last night that included lifting my head up and elongating my neck. Something popped... have no idea what... in my neck and it was like instant relief. .

If something popped, it's quite likely you had put your neck out of alignment.

When you do that, it's usual for the pain to radiate to your shoulders and even down your arm. It's a really weird kind of sparkly feeling.

Sounds like you've "popped" it back in again, but there could still be damage to the disc.

Zaaring is very dangerous if you have any kind of weakness in the neck. It can even cause a stroke!

Avoiding Injury from Belly Dance

 

[Greek Bonfire]

I have permanent neck problems, mostly soft tissue. I find that yoga helps a lot too as well as pilates. But as Bellydance Oz said, zaaring can be dangerous and shouldn't be used very much.

 

[Elfie]

Well, the doctor said that she thinks it was a combination of problems... slight strain and pinched nerves and perhaps some misalignment as well that I "self-corrected" as she put it. She's sending me to a chiropractor and I had x-rays today after my appointment. She told me that if I experience that sort of pain again I'd better come to her immediately and not try to wait for it to go away.

One nice thing: she said she admired the fact that I was exploring other cultures, but when doing something that involves heavy neck movement, it was best to take it slow.

So, I suppose I'll know more once I go to the chiropractor. The doctor gave me some very weak muscle relaxers to use "only when needed" until I see the chiro, and some prescription strength ibuprofen with anti-inflammatory.

 

[Farasha Hanem]

Thank you for keeping us updated on your condition, Elfie. Take it easy, and let us know what the chiropractor says. *hugs*
Bellydance Oz, thank you so much for that link, and thank you, Shira, for writing the article on avoiding injury. I hope all of us reads it, adheres to it, and reviews it often.