Greetings,
I'm a long time TMS patient. I'm slowly recovering from a "real" frozen shoulder injury earlier this year. That has caused a fair amount of muscle tension in my shoulder and neck area, but I'm at the point where it's not really bothering me that much anymore and my range of motion is slowly improving on its own. I stopped doing physical therapy and exercises a while ago.
Anyways - a couple of weeks ago I noticed the left side of my neck was unusually tight in the mornings when I woke up, which I figured was due to sleeping in an awkward position or just some residual tension from the frozen shoulder which can cause tightness all over. No big deal. Several days ago, it felt a little worse, but didn't really bother me. However, a new symptom appeared in the middle of the day: my neck "pops" whenever I turn my head to the left and then pops again when I bring it back to the center. I'm not sure what could have caused it - I remember trying not to baby my neck one morning when lifting my head off the pillow, but don't remember anything super painful or traumatic happening.
This is not an occasional pop, but it happens every single time I do it. I did some research and it seems like "crepitus" due to gas bubbles is common and harmless, but I don't think that's quite this, because that will come and go, whereas this happens every time. Dr. Internet suggests it could be beginnings of arthritis where the bones / joints are rubbing against each other due to wear / tear or perhaps some tendon is snapping against something. But I'm only 45 so don't think I'm ready for degeneration yet. It makes sense that if I have some overall tightness in the area (perhaps due to stress) that could lead to a tight ligament / tendon expanding and snapping something, but I was wondering whether anyone ever had a constant and consistent clicking sound that went away on its own.
It doesn't hurt to move my neck but it's extremely annoying.
I appreciate any advice.
Thanks!
I'm a long time TMS patient. I'm slowly recovering from a "real" frozen shoulder injury earlier this year. That has caused a fair amount of muscle tension in my shoulder and neck area, but I'm at the point where it's not really bothering me that much anymore and my range of motion is slowly improving on its own. I stopped doing physical therapy and exercises a while ago.
Anyways - a couple of weeks ago I noticed the left side of my neck was unusually tight in the mornings when I woke up, which I figured was due to sleeping in an awkward position or just some residual tension from the frozen shoulder which can cause tightness all over. No big deal. Several days ago, it felt a little worse, but didn't really bother me. However, a new symptom appeared in the middle of the day: my neck "pops" whenever I turn my head to the left and then pops again when I bring it back to the center. I'm not sure what could have caused it - I remember trying not to baby my neck one morning when lifting my head off the pillow, but don't remember anything super painful or traumatic happening.
This is not an occasional pop, but it happens every single time I do it. I did some research and it seems like "crepitus" due to gas bubbles is common and harmless, but I don't think that's quite this, because that will come and go, whereas this happens every time. Dr. Internet suggests it could be beginnings of arthritis where the bones / joints are rubbing against each other due to wear / tear or perhaps some tendon is snapping against something. But I'm only 45 so don't think I'm ready for degeneration yet. It makes sense that if I have some overall tightness in the area (perhaps due to stress) that could lead to a tight ligament / tendon expanding and snapping something, but I was wondering whether anyone ever had a constant and consistent clicking sound that went away on its own.
It doesn't hurt to move my neck but it's extremely annoying.
I appreciate any advice.
Thanks!
