Question
I was working out 2 days ago when i seem to have injured myself.  I was doing bench press with free weights that I would consider heavier than i usually push, but i was getting a spot.  On my last one I pushed as hard as I could and all of a sudden felt a sharp pain in the back of my neck, it was more at the top of the neck, just above where my hairline starts, so basically where the neck joins with my head.  The sharp pain went away after about 10 minutes but it was replaced with a minor throbbing pain, this eventually went away only to return the next day for about 30min after having intercourse with my g/f (the throbbing pain was similar to the pace of my heartbeat at the time).  After lifting a couple box's today, I ran up the stairs with them and all of a sudden the throbbing sensation returned in the same spot for about 5min. It's not that painful, and eventually goes away though it kind of worries me that maybe it has something to do with a blood vessel.  Hope you can help!

Answer
Hi Darren,

You relay a good history but I need a few more things answered before making any recommendations.

1) Do you have any nausea, blurred vision, headaches, loss of coordination?

2) Age/weight

3) Blood pressure/resting pulse rate if available, even a recent history of an accurate reading.

If these things are unremarkable, it is unlikely a vascular component is viable. If that is the case, a biomechanical problem is likely, this includes nerve irritation at C0/C1 (base of skull and 1st cervical vertebrae) or cervical curve loss secondary to muscle spasm and nerve compression causing facet imbrication/inflammation and pain.

I would see a Chiropractor that comes highly recommended and have it evaluated. This being the case after more serious possibilities are ruled out.

Hope this helps!
Dr. Timothy Durnin
drs.chiroweb.com