Quo vadis, neck?

[flexagon]

The left side of my neck has been hurt now for a LOT longer than I like to think about, probably a couple of months. It's tied together with some pec tightness and something near my shoulder blade, but I mostly feel it in my levator scapularis.

I knew yoga made it worse. I knew kettlebell workouts made it better. I knew it was capable of withstanding quite a few massages and clinging to life like a limpet.

Last Friday's yoga class was clearly the last straw for it. I spent a lot of Saturday on the couch trying all kinds of pain-killing and muscle-relaxing strategies, swearing off yoga and just swearing. (Also falling asleep with a cat on me and a good book in my hand). Out of everything -- cardio, ibuprofen, self-massage, gentle motion, drinking, resting -- I'd have to say alcohol does the best muscle-relaxing. Sunday was better -- I did kettlebells with lots of extra emphasis on the fluid, swingy movements. Today I think I'm resting again.

I also just realized I think the culprit is upward facing dog. As of today, if I extend my arms or elbows down by my sides and a little bit back and press them downward, it hurts: my lats pulling on and (over)stretching the tight little muscle in my neck, which is totally overpowered and can easily get pulled.

So do I try a vinyasa class in which I avoid up dog entirely and see what happens, or simply swear off yoga for a month -- knowing that whatever the bad thing is assuredly DOES happen in yoga at some point and must be avoided? At the moment it feels too risky to experiment. I want to be okay so that I can focus on handstands this summer. And -- am I being reasonable here? -- pressing up over my head doesn't irritate what I currently have going on.

I'm leaning hard toward shelling out the $900 for three months of online coaching from Ido Portal. I know what you're thinking: that's expensive. If I hadn't met him / worked with him in person fortwo evenings I might wonder if this was a scam, but I did. He's the real thing, both for teaching and doing. I got interested in this after seeing a video by one of his students, which is not particularly artsy but shows a static 60 second handstand after 3 months of this same online coaching. The guy claims his previous PR was about 5 seconds. Anyway, this is Ido:

He requires a monthly video submission for review, which seems good to me: real accountability.

Here I am last weekend doing a spotted, mostly controlled press-down. Thanks to the youtube video editor for letting me stabilize and crop this online... that was actually pretty nice.

Comments

[silentq.livejournal.com]

I've almost always got tight spots in my neck. I have a U shaped microwavable pillow that I use almost every night around my neck for targeted heat, it seems to help loosen things up. I also have a contoured pillow that seems to support my head/neck better than a regular fluffy one. I can recommend Richard at Massage Therapy Works in Davis as being really good at loosening up muscles filled with trigger points - you won't enjoy it though. :, I was going twice a week for a few weeks to get my legs approaching okay before a big hike and I credit him for how well I did on it. It was Integrative Bodywork that I had done and Richard was really good at coaching me through the tough bits.

[flexagon]

I forgot to say thanks for this comment. I just read a bunch of reviews of Massage Therapy Works, and it sounds like both Richard and Bob are considered really good by a lot of people. I'm going to check them out.