Wry Neck
Have you ever suddenly woken up with a stiff and painful neck? Maybe it was a restless night sleep? An uncomfortable pillow? Maybe you woke up suddenly at 3a.m, quickly turning your neck to the bedside clock thinking it is time to get ready for work? Maybe you do not remember?
Wry neck is a condition where you can develop neck pain and restriction of movement, commonly to one particular side. Pain can be localised to the neck, or may travel into the shoulder.
Wry neck has three main causes. It is thought that the symptoms are mainly caused by either locked joints, muscle stiffness and spasm, or from discs in your spine.
The most likely cause of wry neck is a locked facet joint. Facet joints are joints located at the back of your spinal column. These joints allow for smooth movements throughout the spinal vertebrae and thus through the neck. Sometimes, these joints can become stiff through traumatic injury or overly quick movements, because of wear and tear over time, or they can simply get locked at the end of a movement. Most movement can aggravate the pain as movement irritates the locked joint.
Treatment by a physiotherapist will comprise of a range of treatment techniques including soft tissue massage and joint mobilisations to reduce swelling and normalise joint movement respectively. Wry neck is always associated with residual muscle swelling and spasm, especially when caused by trauma. It is quite akin to how an ankle swells. Joints and muscles around the neck can swell too!
While most facet-joint wry necks can be unlocked quickly and swelling can reduce within a week, it is important to continue physiotherapy in order to rehabilitate and strengthen your neck muscles. As you probably have not moved your neck properly for 1-2 weeks, surrounding muscles have no doubt, already started to weaken. Unfortunately, inadequate rehabilitation due to early discharge by either the patient or the physiotherapist, is a big reason for regular re-occurrence of wry necks
What to expect if you visit a physiotherapist for your facet-joint wry neck:
- Relax the muscle spasm with manual therapy techniques such as massage, gentle stretches, or with electrotherapy
- Unlock the joint using facet joint techniques
- Regain full range of motion, again using facet joint techniques, along with passive stretches and dry needling
- Regain full strength of surrounding muscles, both superficial and deep, through prescribed and specific exercises.
- Restoring correct head and neck posture.
If you or anybody you know currently has a stiff neck or has a history of re-occurring stiff and painful necks, please do not hesitate to contact and book an appointment with one of our physiotherapists here at Back in Motion, Point Cook, where we can help to assess, treat and eliminate that frequent nagging pain, once and for all.
Author: Amand - Physiotherapist from Back In Motion Point Cook
References:
Clinical Edge. (2019). Clinical Edge - 5 Minute Physio tip - Acute wry neck diagnosis & treatment. [online] Available at: https://www.clinicaledge.co/blog/5-minute-physio-tip-acute-wry-neck-diagnosis-treatment [Accessed 12 Feb. 2019].
Healthline. (2019). Wry Neck (Torticollis): Causes, Types, and Symptoms. [online] Available at: https://www.healthline.com/health/torticollis [Accessed 12 Feb. 2019].
Physioworks.com.au. (2019). Wry Neck. [online] Available at: https://physioworks.com.au/injuries-conditions-1/acute-wry-neck [Accessed 12 Feb. 2019].