Back of head muscle injury?

**CraigWatts** · 12-26-2011, 12:32 PM

I was doing seated military press with a bar on a smith machine. As I pressed, I was leaning my head forward, trying to get the bar more "above" me than "in front" of me.

Bad idea. I felt a ripping from my trap all way up to the middle of my head. I cooled it the rest of the day, and gave it a couple days for the injury to heal. It did, in the normal amount of time, except for one area. The very top.

For two weeks now I have been in pain, but it is in a pinpoint area. Its not the trap anymore. Its the back of my head - almost paralell with the top of my right ear, but in the middle.

I will wake up in pain some nights. It is not like any other muscle damage I've had. If I lay on that side in bed, it pulsates with my pulse. If my pulse picks up at all, due to feeling anxious, that section of my head pulsates harder with my pulse, and hurts even more. At one point I was concerned it was a blood clot.

I can't sit in certain positions upright because my head will be at an angle that pulls on that particular muscle (whatever it is??). If I stand up, it instantly goes away because the angle changes.

Strangest thing - taking pain killers / anti-inflammatories doesnt do much, but in the midst of pretty bad pain, all I have to do is rub it - like it needs a little massage - and INSTANTLY the pain is completely gone. Doesn't make any sense! 10 minutes later its like it "tightens up" again and the pain comes back.

Did some googling and it looks like it might be the: Semispinalis Capitis Muscle

Back of head muscle injury?-4850034219_13dd38a1f9.jpg

Getting very frustrating. Any suggestions?

**AndrewD54** · 12-27-2011, 06:32 PM

Well I can't really tell you what it IS but I can let you relax a bit by telling you it's NOT a blood clot. If it were a blood clot you wouldn't feel pain you would just feel numbness and or the inability to move, perform certain cognitive functions. You probably tore some connective tissue that anchors your neck muscle to your skull. bad news is that it MAY require a little cutting. I would advise a doc visit.

**CraigWatts** · 12-28-2011, 12:45 PM

This pain isnt going away. Even as I write this, it throbs.

What do you mean by "cutting" ?

Also ... what kind of doc?

99% of docs are idiots. I already know what is going to happen. Im going to walk in there. He's going to ask me how I got it. Ill tell him while working out. He will say its a pulled muscle. He will write a prescription for ibuprofin and tell me to take it.

Then he will send me home.

Suggestions on a more effective method?

The strange thing is that inflammation related things do make it *signifcantly* worse, whereas I find relief from it by eating inflammation reducing things. I had a whole bag of peanuts and raisins and chocolate the other day (mega doses of arginine in there) and spent the entire evening in searing pain.

Yet when I drink my mass-quantity juiced vegetables the relief is within a half hour, and complete.

Strange that anti inflammatory drugs do absolutely nothing. Aleve. Advil. etc...

**AndrewD54** · 12-29-2011, 08:06 AM

By cutting I mean surgery, And I doubt anti inflams will do much because it sounds like its a tear or a separation.
I would advise going to a specialist like an orthopedic spec or possibly a sports doctor who deals primarily with sports related injuries. If you make sure you tell them all of your symptoms and that they have persisted for as long as they have, and that ice and anti inflams haven't worked at all, they SHOULD take a little closer look at it. Good luck bro

**Lemonada8** · 12-29-2011, 08:10 AM

Find a doc that does manipulations (D.O)
Ur traps also attach up there, I doubt it was your semisplenius capitus that's a smaller muscle that wouldnt be strained with the movements you are describing. Can't say much more cuz of lack of info as it's the Internet lol.

**CraigWatts** · 12-30-2011, 03:20 AM

I doubt it was your semisplenius capitus that's a smaller muscle that wouldnt be strained with the movements you are describing

Well I did leave one bit out. As I was pushing up, I was pushing my head forward to try and get the bar perfectly above me. then pulling it back as I lowered the bar in front of me. This is what caused the problem ...

Can you guys tell me what specialty doctor type I should go to? I have a PPO so i can pretty much pick any specialty at any local hospital ... i just am not sure which would handle something like this and actually have the *education* and training to back their knowledge.

I dont want to go to a GP

**AndrewD54** · 12-30-2011, 09:41 AM

As I've already told you man, go see a sports medicine specialist or a physiatrist they specialize in this sort of thing an ortho would probably be ok too.

**CraigWatts** · 01-15-2012, 03:54 PM

Just an update on this. It did seem to be inflammation related. I finally took some 600mg ibuprofin and had total relief. As is typical with injuries and inflammation, its extremely important to take something that reduces that inflammation. Leaving it irritated and inflamed will only prolong the healing. So I took 600mg ibuprofin when needed (usually just once at bedtime) for about 5 to 6 days. On day 7 (total of about day 20) i no longer needed the ibuprofin. I am now about 3-4 weeks from the event and have some noticeable tingling and itching back there. This usually means (in my experience) healing is occurring. Finally. Now I only have periodic slight "ache" if i do something stupid like jerk my head around. Almost no more pain left. Thank goodness. I was worried.

**Bonaparte** · 01-16-2012, 01:57 PM

So you strained a neck muscle by doing something stupid. Not a huge deal.

**Far from massive** · 01-16-2012, 05:10 PM

Be real careful not to re-injure it. Spinal injuries particularly to the upper neck injuries can be long lasting problems. I had an asshole fvk up my neck (showing me a wrestling move) and then I made it worse by doing standing calve raises a month later and letting the wieght bounce. This was back when I was about 19 and it still gives me trouble.

**Twin** · 01-18-2012, 07:07 PM

i had a similar pain a while back. I decided to try to max out on the leg press machine and i was out of breath and felt dizzy and got an ache on the back of the head. and i noticed a few days after that, i would feel something in the back of it. i dont know what it was. but its gone now. took 2 months i think.

**CraigWatts** · 01-31-2012, 01:05 AM

Originally Posted by Bonaparte

So you strained a neck muscle by doing something stupid. Not a huge deal.

Thanks for your useful and helpful quality comments.

Actually it was a big deal.

When you go three weeks without being able to avoid nonstop throbbing pain, its a big deal.

Waking up in excruciating pain every night from sleep.

But you're the man, so yeah ... you're right ... just a little neck muscle strained ... you would have handled with more masculinity im sure.

*eyeroll*

**Sir Winston** · 03-03-2012, 03:47 PM

I have a similar injury right now. Doc simply said pulled muscle in my neck. Was referred to a Chiro. I went there and she adjusted me, which seemed to help. She has me icing it twice a day for 20 min. Ibuprofen has been the real winner though.

**StreetwiseHerc** · 07-12-2012, 12:56 AM

I'm in the process of trying to recuperate from a similar injury. Let me briefly recount my story:

Almost a year ago exactly, I was doing 1RM weighted chin-ups. I gradually progressed up to 135 lbs (plus 160 bodyweight) and did 2 reps. On the final rep, I felt a burning sensation in the back of my head in the occipital region. At the time I didn't think much of it and if I remember correctly the pain wasn't too bad the next day. Shortly after that I was doing some situps (or maybe it was crunches) and I felt a strain in my neck. Ever since then I've had a really stiff neck and traps. At the time I scaled back my workouts to basically nothing (yoga and walking).

Like the OP, I've had terrible luck in the past with doctors so I pretty much tried to diagnose and re-hab it on my own by purchasing books on neck pain and scouring the internet.

On the recommendation of a friend, I started seeing a Chiropractor who specialized in ART ("massage on steroids ?"). The ART sessions always felt great for a day or so, and improved my range of motion in all the neck movements, but I still have pain in the back of my head depending on how I sleep or if I'm sitting at the computer for a long time or anything that generally strains the neck muscles.

After suffering with this for a year and basically cutting my weight-lifting workouts out completely, I'm going to try to schedule an appointment with some sort of sports medicine specialist. Lifting weights was not only part of my "identity" (as lame as that sounds), but it was a huge stress relief and also a way to socialize with other gym-goers.

Oddly enough, a friend of mine suggested going the IBuprofen route (taking a mass-dosage for 2 weeks), but I didn't go with her suggestion because I was worried about the stomach ulcer/bleeding warning. At this point, I might re-evaluate that.

It would be interesting to hear if the OP has any updates on his progress?