Every so often I will wake up like this. Why is it that when I turn or tilt my head to one side, I feel like I can’t move it and I experience a lot of pain? Is something getting in the way or is it just muscle that doesn’t want to move anymore?
In: Biology
In my experience, pretty much any time when I “slept on my neck funny” tends to come after an intense shoulder + traps workout.
I had a particularly bad strain in my neck once that persisted for several weeks. I brought it up with my physiotherapist and they told me what should have been obvious; typically it’s not that you strain your neck from sleeping on it wrong, it’s just that the tissues you damaged during the day will set and constrict when you’re lying immobile for a bunch of hours.
For someone like me, I probably didn’t stretch enough and tore a muscle. For someone who doesn’t regularly hit the gym, something as simple as picking up a heavy object or wearing a backpack can put enough strain on your traps/shoulders/neck to cause a minor tear that you won’t feel until the next morning.
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