Hello.

Sorry to hear what happened. I know that you will improve!

Backstory: I was surfing, duckdived and surfaced, fiberglass kayaker rode the next wave into my head. Whiplash all the way back underwater. That was november 09. Pretty bad PCS. Then 7 months PT for neck.

2 years later surfed again and reinjured my neck PT 5 more months If i remember right.

General thoughts: neck issues are huge! Not everyone here has them, I didn't really believe that most of my problems; headaches, etc. were related to the neck but they are.

I learned. Never ever do anything to aggravate your neck! Ever! Time will heal it. Once you are better with your physical therapy you can do light stretching.

Keep it loose so it doesn't spasm and keep it as flexible as possible over time. Heat will relax the muscles, I still use the heating pad and put it up to the bottom of my head to include the muscles that go over your head.

Ice helps some people with the pain, but in my case it would make it worse due to spasms. Your muscle memory will easily go back into trauma mode so it is easy to reinjure your neck, just be careful.

Other than that, I was once at the same place as you looking for something to speed up the process. I never regretted passing on the neck manipulation.

Hang in there! Less is more for necks, your Physiotherapy sounds just what you need. I can tell because the symptoms are resolving after. That is a huge indicator that your neck is contributing to your symptoms. Once I started gentle PT, it was very gentle, it got better for me.

For me, I didn't want to get my neck adjusted. I just learned to listen to that gut feeling. I even posted a thread just like yours before and learned about the risks. Yes, a stroke is very unlikely but reinjuring your neck is not. No one wants to go backwards with their symptoms, your ligaments and muscles just need rest.

Take care.In mho, you should wait longer before trying anything big, just looking at your history it hasn't been too long. I know it feels like forever but it is too soon to do anything drastic. Plus, there will always be the option to try something later.