Can being pushed in the back cause damage?
 

I know I'm probably overstressing about this, but I'm sure a lot of PCS sufferers can relate to that. I need some reassurance and I wanted to ask you guys after lurking on the forum for a while and noticing how nice of a community this is.

Last night I was hanging out with friends at a get-together. A friend of mine walked into the apartment, I cracked a joke about him and a few seconds later he slapped/pushed me in the back with both hands on my shoulders. I was in a seated position and I went forward a bit since it was an unexpected and firm slap/push. The whole night and this morning I kept thinking as to whether it may have made my head worse by giving me whiplash or something. I'm so sick of overstressing about stuff I'd not think twice about in my pre-PCS condition, but here I am asking this anyway..

That push would not have hurt your brain. If you have a very sensitive neck, it may aggravate your neck muscles, but I doubt it.

If you did not notice your neck muscles tighten up right away or wake with a stiff neck, you are OK.

Just anxiety talking.

The only reason I got concerned about it in the first place was because I felt like it flared my symptoms up, but that could be the anxiety. When I asked him about it today he said it was a friendly pat, not really a push, though it was firm. So maybe I just overestimated it.

I didn't really wake up with a stiff neck different than any other day, I've been having neck pain since my concussion anyhow. I did have sort of sore shoulders I noticed, though that could be from my 30-min run yesterday. I do get shoulder pain from running sometimes. Plus it was the 2nd time I've run in a week after not having run for 5 months.

Thanks Mark.

As I said, anxiety talking. When we find ways to avoid these thought processes from the start, we do much better.

Dear Donnie,

I can relate to what you are saying. I do find that even a severe jolt to my body can trigger symptoms but I must also agree with Mark in that anxiety of previous brain injury can force old memorised symptoms to resurface.

Try and think about how far you have come in your progress and hold onto that. You can only get better.

Take care but keep airing your worries here xx

Today's topic of anxiety is whether I slammed my head too hard on my pillow mid-sleep. I like to sleep with one arm under my pillow. I also toss and turn a lot. I was laying on the right side of my head so I lifted my head and put the left side down instead and remembered my arm is under the pillow. It's not like I slam my head down on my pillow when I turn but it's not slow-mo either. So now I've been thinking about this since I woke up. The worst is I have to re-enact things sometimes to convince myself it wasn't anything at all, but then I get worried about the re-enaction. Ridiculous.. I think I may need to go see a psychologist.

I would not re enact anything. Then no reason to be worried about it..

It sounds like you might benefit from some good PT for your neck muscles..
Trigger points and muscle spasms should be checked into..

Yeah, I try not to. But then it becomes hard for me to convince myself that it was nothing to worry about. It's like a double-edged sword.

My neurologist did want me to do PT, but I haven't given it a try yet. I have been to a chiropractor twice who did some adjustments but I didn't see any benefit from it so far (been 2 weeks since first adjustment), so I don't think I'm going back. One thing I notice is that my head always feels better if I'm having a good neck-day, per se.

Anxiety often shows up as muscle tension in the neck and shoulders. Getting help with your anxiety may go a long way to helping resolve many issues you are struggling with.

Good sleeping posture may be helpful at providing those good neck days, too.

Thanks Mark. When you say getting help with anxiety do you mean just therapy or SSRIs?