Acute Torticollis
What is the most common reason for my neck pain? How do I know if my neck pain is serious? How can I relieve pain in my neck? What is the fastest way to relieve my neck pain?
One of the reasons for your neck pain could very well be Acute Torticollis …
Also known as wry neck, this super-painful condition is literally a pain in the neck! Usually this strikes in the
middle of the night with unsuspecting victims waking to find that they cannot turn their head to one side and in acute pain. The pain can extend down into the shoulder and shoulder blade and/or up into the head causing headache.
While we don’t know for sure the cause, our suspicions include being cold overnight and scrunching up our shoulders and necks, stress, poor posture and having our necks positioned awkwardly for instance at the theatre or conference. Something that I have observed over my 20 years of practice is that this comes in clusters, that is I won’t see any cases of torticollis for weeks and then all of a sudden out of the blue there will be a whole bunch of people presenting with it. Even more interesting is that this seems to happen around the time of a full moon! OK so now your might think I’m a bit crazy but this is just what I have noticed!
One thing is for sure it is certainly debilitating neck pain. So what can you do for this pain in the neck?
Heat packs and massage or myotherapy can help, combined with an adjustment to realign the neck. This seems to be the best combination to achieve relief. Often 2-3 treatments in quick succession, coupled with some at home care including muscle relaxation and stretching techniques are required to fully relieve the symptoms Whatever you do don’t ignore it, it almost never disappears on it’s own.
Babies can also be born with this condition due to positioning in utero or birth interventions/trauma. The baby’s head will be turned and they will often have difficulty turning their head to feed on one side. Specialised treatment including gentle stretching of the muscle and exercises can help to resolve this condition in infants.
Whatever the age or stage, it’s been my experience that this condition resolves best with swift physical treatment rather than with pharmaceuticals.