Neck pain

[Summerdays2014]

Hi,

I fell down the stairs on Saturday morning, hurt a bit at the time and gave me a bit of a shock but I thought I was ok. Took my son out on Saturday and Sunday and was running around and playing with him as normal. Then the pain in my neck and shoulder started on Sunday night. It has got progressively worse ever since and now I’m in real pain. Doc said muscular and gave painkillers but they are not working.
Is it usual for pain to get worse like this? How long will the pain last? I’ve never felt pain like it, spent the night unable to sleep in tears and am taking max doses of ibuprofen and cocodamol.
If anyone has any experience or tips I’d be so grateful.

It sounds rather like whiplash which commonly gets progressively worse and is not immediately apparent. It sounds like the doctor has called it correctly with muscular diagnosis. I have heard of people suffering from whiplash for several weeks and some people with severe cases can take quite some time to fully recover.

I think you should continue doing as you are with the pain medication. Also try heat pads, hot water bottles, warm baths and importantly, do try to keep active as resting it too much will only lead to more problems. Movement is good to stretch the muscles and encourage healing.

If it continues to be painful after a couple of weeks I would return to my GP and ask for a physio referral.

antisupermum, thank you. I do hope it won’t be weeks as it really is very painful.