Neck Recovery Time and Options
 

Hi all,

Been lurking on this forum for the last couple months and finally decided to make an account and post.

Backstory - Had my 4th and most recent concussion in May 2022. Fell from a height of about 5-6 ft onto hard floor. I am a 34 year old, male. The previous concussions were in my early twenties from snowboarding, and symptoms never lasted more than a week. This recent incident however, I dealt with anxiety, sleep issues, nausea, tinnitus (among other things)

I'm nearing the four month mark and most of the symptoms have gotten better. The main one that has persisted and I am trying to find some information on is recovery from the neck injury/whiplash. Most of my remaining symptoms I would say stem from my neck not being 100%. There are good and bad days. On bad days, I feel my neck injury manifesting as tension headaches, mild dizziness, fatigue.

Things that I have done - I have so far seen a chiropractor for four sessions about a month after my incident. He did some red light therapy and the typical neck cracking. I have since stopped going. Also did PT, but they just prescribed some vestibular and neck stretches and that was it. I feel like it might have marginally helped, but honestly, it wasn't anything I couldn't already find on Youtube.

Here are my questions:

Does the neck continue to heal after three months? I read an report that said that recovery generally plateaus after three months, and if it hasn't made a full recovery by then, chronic injury is likely. Anyone's neck continued to heal after this period?

What other options are available? I'm considering whether I should wait this out a little longer and let my body naturally heal or be proactive and seek additional help. I know people have mentioned NUCCA chiropractors. Anyone see substantial results from this?

Larry240,

Welcome to NeuroTalk.

The type of injury that accompanies a concussion is not healed by doctors and therapist. It is healed by the patient. C-1 and C-2 are not faceted vertebra like the rest of the spine. Neck 'cracking' will not cause them to settle into proper position in the facets (facets are the depressions that the next vertebra settles into.)

You need to use behavior changes and posture changes, especially during sleep to allow the ligaments that hold C-1 and C-2 in place to heal and get tighter.

They can take weeks and months and even years to fully stabilize, depending on how disciplined you are to encourage your neck to stabilize.

The chiro traumatizes the C-1 and C-2 joints. The PT does range of motion tests and exercises that are counter to stabilizing C-1 and C-2.

A NUCCA chiro can help but it will be slow and require many adjustments. I've done NUCCA and don't think it is worth the expense. Insurance will never pay for the expensive work-up done by NUCCA chiros.

Welcome larry240. :Tip-Hat:

Thank you!

Thank you, Mark! This is very interesting information. I saw in previous posts that you sleep on your back and without a pillow to promote better posture during sleep. I've tried to do this, but had to stop because I end up snoring a lot which is counter to getting a good nights sleep. Do you not have this problem?

By good posture, I'm assuming you mean no slouching, and maintaining a moderate chin tuck?