Can pulling a tight suit over the head cause neck pain?

Question

Hi doctor,

I had pain when pulling a tight-fitted wetsuit over my head and that caused severe pain for four weeks. It got better but it has now been four months and I cannot turn my head left or right as it hurts. The neck is stiff and I fell somewhere around the C7 vertebra. I have pain with what feels like a bulge and saw. I am sleeping on my right side with an arm under my head hurts after a short while but sleeping on the left with my arm up is better. I just want someone to click me back into place. I am a professional deep diver and this is not good for me. Please help.

Thank you.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

In my opinion, what you had is a minor strain and dysfunction in your neck. Nothing to worry about. A small muscle, while you try to pull up that wet suit, causes spasms and pain which have not relaxed and disturb the structures as it is still in that dysfunction mode. It is not actually letting the alignment restored in the bone and muscles. All you need to do is try and get them to its normal length.

I recommend icing your neck frequently like 15 minutes once every two hours. Gently massage your neck so that you feel comfortable there will be areas that are tight and painful knead them gently to help them relax. Gently stretch the neck muscles like bending the neck forward, backward like looking at the ceiling, and side bending. Do some neck retraction and chin-tucking exercises.

Kindly do these exercises and let me know how you feel. Then we will go to mobilization and strengthening to regain the strength of the muscles.

I hope this helps.

Please let me know if you need any help.

Thank you.