Another Pain in the Neck

Do you remember way back in May '08, when I went to Washington and came back with a neck that wouldn't work? Well, I've managed to do it again, but this time without having to leave the country. I woke up on Tuesday unable to move my head without an intense burning pain shooting from my neck to my shoulder and then through to my chest. Sounds like fun, eh? I'm not quite sure what set it off this time, but it's probably a combination of stress and the fact that I had spent the entire weekend prior to that with my head turned at a 45 degree angle.

It's getting much better, thanks largely to my fabulous chiropractor, but I still don't have the full range of motion that I previously enjoyed (we're working on that). As a result, I've spent the last week having to explain to people why I couldn't turn my head to look at them. And you know what struck me as funny? Every single person - seriously, every single person - knew exactly what would make my neck better. I've been told to rest it, to make sure that I keep using it as much as possible, to ice it, to heat it, to stretch it, to massage it while stretching it, to avoid massaging it altogether, to take muscle relaxants, to take anti-inflammatory pain killers, to see an acupuncturist, to drink a particular kind of herbal tea, to get a type of electro-stimulation therapy...

I appreciate the fact that everyone was trying to help. Every bit of that advice was well intentioned and no doubt helped the person who gave it to me at some point, but the range of the remedies is just hilarious. At least to me :)