So, being over 45, I slept wrong one night a couple weeks ago and now I'm practically crippled.
The ER doc said that I have a pinched nerve or cervical radiculopathy, possibly due to a slipped or bulging disk.
So the symptoms are tingling and numbness in my left ring and index finger, loss of strength in the arm, and muscle spasms/cramping in the muscles controlled by that same nerve from my neck down through my forearm like a guitar string pulled too tight. Which pulls me out of alignment, causing other muscles to work harder, spreading the problem.
The constant tension causes a painful buildup of lactic acid. About the only way to reduce the pain is to keep moving to keep the blood flushing it out, stretches, forms, weapons drills, house work...
I mean which is all well and good but I work mainly at a desk, standing, but still. Typing on a keyboard. And I have to sleep, and cuddling with my best girl is nice sometimes... All impossible without pain meds or a hot bath. I took so much ibuprofen and acetominophen I think I poisoned myself over the weekend.
So, after all that whining... What do you masters of bodywork recommend to help me stretch and straighten my neck? While I wait for my chiro and massage and GP appointments...
I'm not entirely unconvinced that this isn't actually due to overcorrecting some other fault, since I had a sort of underlying tension going on that had migrated from being chronically on my right shoulder to my left, and then when life got a little more stressful it aggravated the condition into the agony that now is my life.