Really panicked Ive permanently damaged my neck

[prettyinpink23x]

First car crash a week ago yesterday. Someone went into me from the right and crumpled drivers side. Bumper hanging off. Felt fine at time other than neck slightly sore and was shaking with shock and upset.

Woke up with neck still slightly sore but not too bad.
I'm really into the gym and keeping active and doctor said movement was best so have done my steps this week and been back in work. Tried to go to the gym today and was jumping on a step felt extreme shooting pain down neck and shoulders.

Came home iced my neck and took a cocodamol but im still in lots of sharp pain everytime I move ?

Im worried ive permanently hurt myself and my neck and feel like im going to have a panic attack about it and don’t know if I will be like this forever

Neck pain is horrid. Have you googled whiplash symptoms, see if they match?

The doctors did say it is whiplash but pain was probably maximum 4/10 until now its been aggravated after the gym and its awful

while I agree some movement is helpful, I think you possibly did too much. I would continue doing whatever the GP suggested (heat/ice), keep on top of the pain relief and hopefully you will start to improve soon.

It won’t be for ever. It happened a few days ago. That’s your panic talking. There’ll still be inflammation. Give it some time, I wouldn’t be throwing my neck around in a gym, though! Go easy, maybe some proper physio.

You’ll be okay. Chances are high that if you’d done something proper serious, you’d’ve known immediately.

Give it time.

I fell in the bath in 2018, passed out, cracked the bathroom tiles and had neck pain for along time. I thought it would never end but it did and I've never had any pain since.

I once had an incident while horse riding as a teen, didn’t fall off but nearly, and I was absolutely fine for about a week and then one morning I got up for school and walked straight into my mothers room panicking because I couldn’t move/turn my neck.

One long trip to a&e later I was told it was just the whiplash from that weekend coming out and I would be fine. I was with some rest and pain killers.

Another time I was kicked, not by a horse (luckily I guess), and my head jolted forward, thankfully I didn’t have the same inability to turn my head but the pain was bad and took months to fully go away and that was just another nasty case of whiplash- it did go away in the end though.

Wishing you a speedy recovery OP.

You should refrain from going to the gym. Hopefully, it settles down within a few weeks. If not, get some physio.

The co codamal hasnt worked and i cant put my head to the ceiling without shooting pain im so panicked that it won’t improve. I don’t know what to do. I will rest and avoid the gym but worried it won’t change my outcome now.

It will pass

I had a bad fall a couple of years ago. At the time I picked myself up and carried on, that evening I had pins and needles in my arm. Following morning , fingers numb and my neck was stiff. Went to GP, saw a physio and started to mobilise it gently . That was December . I was aware of pain - not much - like you 3 or 4/10, Went away even - still with pins and needles and numbness but I was fine . Then I carried one small bag of shopping to the car and that was it - total agony. This was March. I couldn't move , couldn't lie down, couldn't turn my neck - nothing. The pain was so excruciating that I ended up in AE at 4am sobbing, couldn't even bare the doctor to examine me. Ended up on tramadol and co-codamal to keep the pain away.

I honestly didn't think the pain would go, but it did

even though mine was a fall it was a whiplash injury and they are tricky buggers to manage

3 months under the physio doing controlled rotation and strength exercises before I was fit enough to return to work

Get in touch with your insurance company, they can get you privately treated

Do you have access to a physio? They will be able to give you appropriate exercises to stretch your neck out.

it will pass but can take a little time

They prescribed me naproxen and diazepam. Said its a trapezium muscle spasm. Naproxen has only helped slightly and im still worried it wont get better.

do i see the gp for physio or do it myself,

I can get out of bed the wrong way and tweak my trap muscle that lasts for weeks!

Give it time. Your tendons and muscles have been stretched far further than they should have with the whiplash.

Rest + ice/heat + painkillers + time = recovery

@Hyperion100 ive never had pain like this before its really set off my anxiety that things wont improve

Things will improve

Have you rung your insurance company? they can get you into a private physio and doctor at no cost to you. And that will get you not only sorted quicker, but put your mind at rest

Seriously I really do understand how scary it is. But as above , it's a muscle spasm and it will ease.Keep on with the ice and heat, the pain killers and rest. AND get onto your insurance company , let the insurers of the car that drove into you , put you right . This is why you pay car insurance

Thankyou i really appreciate it.

i will contact insurance.

this is what doctor has written:

Clinician Comments: Seen in ED following RTC on 21/6/25 - diagnosed with a whiplash type neck sprain
Pain radiation into LUL.
No numbness, weakness or parasthaesia.
No gait disturbance
No bladder/bowel dysfunction.
Pain more severe during night.
No PMHx of note.
Exam:
Alert
Normal gait
Neck - no midline pain. Tender left trapz. Good ROM with b/ rotation >45:
Neuro: Tone, power, reflexes, sensation and co-ordination all normal.
Imp - Muscular neck prian vs traumatic disc prolapse - no clinical signs to suggest nerve/chord compression.
Plan
Guidance WN
Continue own analgesia
Allow 2-6 weeks to settles
Return SOS - severe pain/limb numbness, weakness, gait disturbance or any bladder/bowel dysfunction.

not sure i can understand most of it

Basically everything normal, allow 2-6 weeks to settle, keep taking painkillers regularly even if not in pain so it keeps it at bay and any of those SOS symptoms go back to a&e

so don’t be jumping on steps! Gentle walking, stretching lower body, just leave it and give it chance to heal
try some ice or heat and see if one of those helps

Thankyou. When it says weeks to settle am I going to be in this much pain for weeks? Even the painkillers dont take full edge off and its been nearly 48 hours since the incident. Or will it just be stiff for weeks?

48hrs is nothing
imagine if you sprain your ankle, it probably wouldn’t have even bruised yet! It will ease but you need to give it time

Is it normal for naproxen and diazepam to not fully help?

It will build up in your system, make sure to take all the painkillers you can regularly, set an alarm if you need for a bit before you get up