Pain in the neck

For the last few days I've been nursing a pain in the neck.  No, not my husband or son but my neck, with a pain in it.  Has anyone heard of a torticollis?  I thought not. Whilst it like sounds like it should be a Spanish egg, potato and cauliflower combo it's actually a Latin word for wry (or stiff) neck.  It comes from the Latin tortus for twisted and collum meaning neck and that's probably the very last time you'll get a Latin lesson here. Now, I'm a pretty good amateur doctor and believe I can diagnose most minor ailments but this was a new one on me.

Torticollis occurs as the result of an injury or simply by sleeping in an awkward position. The sufferer may find that upon waking, it is extremely difficult to lift one's head and/or incredibly painful to move it.  

So it was that last Friday, I could barely lift my head from my pillow.  To the best of my knowledge, I hadn't injured myself so no doubt I'd contorted during the night to bring this on. Any movement merely served to heighten the excruciating pain  in the left side of my neck which was radiating upwards into my head via the inner workings of my left ear.  I had an important meeting arranged up the M1 and despite my husband's pleas for me to cancel it, I took some heavy duty painkillers and stupidly drove the thirty miles there and thirty back again in huge discomfort. I resolved to stick to the main roads to avoid sleeping policeman and it was lucky that I didn't have to make any sudden movements or turn my head too much during the drive.  It wasn't until that particular journey that I realised quite how far one's head is thrown backward during any sort of acceleration - however gentle.  Try it, it'll surprise you too.

I'd managed to get an appointment with a physiotherapist that same day.  He diagnosed the problem immediately and, it seemed to me, ignoring my moans and rather loud groans, proceeded to enthusiastically pummel and pull me around.  This, I have since discovered, was a good thing because I now know that physical therapy manipulations of the neck have been shown to help aid recovery and reduce healing time in torticollis cases.  But you do clearly need someone who knows what they're doing.

Since then I've had four sessions of physio and can now rotate my head from side to side although shaking it or putting my left ear down to my shoulder (why would I want to do that anyway?) is still out of the question.  Sleeping through the night hasn't yet been possible although I'm optimistic about my chances any night now.  I'm told it should be completely back to normal within the next few days but I'm not sure I believe them.

I've posted this up here because should you ever wake up with similar symptoms, do make sure to get straight to the doctor for pain-killers, anti-inflammatories and a referral to a good physiotherapist.  If you've got a partner who will cook, wash up and do the housework too, take maximum advantage.