Persistent Head and Neck Issues After Skydiving

[bluepelican 0]

I'm assuming this is futile, but I'm hoping that someone might have some information regarding my situation. I went skydiving for the first time almost three years ago. Everything went smoothly; there were no issues at all. As best as I can remember, I had a headache immediately after the jump. I assumed that this was normal and maybe just had to do with the quick altitude change, air pressure, etc.

Three years later, I still have a persistent daily headache along with a stiff/sore neck and mild fatigue. It's a constant, dull, warm pain that starts in the neck and goes up the back of my head. It's essentially a classic tension headache only it is highly unusual for this type of headache to have a sudden onset and become so persistent. I've been to several doctors, a neurologist (MRI normal), three chiropractors, two massage therapists, and an acupuncturist, and nobody has been able to put their finger on the source of the issue. The headache has gone away completely on two occasions, each time for several weeks, before returning. The first time it went away was after about six months of working with a chiropractor and massage therapist. The second time was after I decided to start doing yoga five times a week. However, like I said, the headache came back after a few weeks. Massage therapy and acupuncture both were able to put a dent in the headache and stiff neck, but things are always back to "normal" within a couple days.

At this point, I've pretty much given up on doctors. I'm assuming that this is something with which I'm just going to have to live. Anyway, the point of this post is to see if anyone has dealt with anything similar, might have some idea as to what happened, or might have some sort of insight into this whole thing. Thanks.

[crotalus01 0]

Have you ever been tested for Lyme disease?

As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

[bluepelican 0]

Nope. I have considered Lyme disease as a possibility, but the symptoms aren't quite the same, and I don't recall ever having been bitten by a tick or having any sort of rash. Also, the headache started immediately after my jump which seems to be a pretty good indication that that is where this whole thing started.

[crotalus01 0]

You might want to get tested for it - one more thing to scratch off the list if it's negative. FWIW rash does not always present in Lyme, and your other symptoms match.

As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

[monkycndo 0]

One possiblity.

50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

[rwieder 0]

This may sound "Out There" to you, but considering the fact you mentioned the head ache right after the sky dive tells me you may have injured your nerve endings in your kneck, or maybe at the L-4 / L-5 section of your lower back. This can lead to the symptoms you related. By the way, and don't answer this if you don't want to, your not diabetic or you? If I may, my suggestion would be to have a nerve conductivity test done. It's called a "Electromyography" or EMG. This would be something you haven't done yet, and may just provide some answers your looking for. Best of luck.

Best-
Richard

[bluepelican 0]

It doesn't sound "out there" at all. Those are actually the two areas that the chiropractors kept treating, but they couldn't get their adjustments to "stick". I will certainly look into doing an EMG, although I'm not quite sure how the results would help as far as coming up with some sort of effective treatment.

And no, I'm not diabetic. Actually, one of the most frustrating things about this is that I'm relatively young (27) and take really good care of myself. I have a very clean diet, I exercise and/or do yoga six days a week, etc., yet I wake up feeling like an old man every day and don't have nearly the amount of energy that I should.

[rwieder 0]

Quote

It doesn't sound "out there" at all. Those are actually the two areas that the chiropractors kept treating, but they couldn't get their adjustments to "stick". I will certainly look into doing an EMG, although I'm not quite sure how the results would help as far as coming up with some sort of effective treatment.

Thanks for not thinking I was insane for mentioning the EMG. I was sweating bullets! I'm not quite sure what the prescribed treatment for you would be, but I do know it's treatable. I had the EMG done b/c of a back injury due to over use of steroids and power lifting back in the day, which equated into major pain every day. They actually found a herniated disc at L-4 / L-5 I had the surgery and I'm all good now, back to all my old stunts. (Which I should not be doing) But hey, one ride, right??

Best-
Richard

[FreeFallFiend 0]

Are you female? Has anyone mentioned Fibromyalgia?

Fiend

I am about to take my last voyage, a great leap in the dark. - Thomas Hobbes.

[ChrisD 0]

It is soo easy to do Yoga and miss stretching that one muscle that may be causing an issue.

For your consideration:

Find a sports medicine therapist that can measure you accurately for and differences from your L/R sides.

A caution for heavy yoga users is that too much yoga without working on your strength can cause issues....Theer is such a thing as too much streatchin. And I'm not speaking about that bullshit sweedd study about stretching and performance.

You may in fact have one muscle group that despite a lot of yoga is not getting stretched. There are zillions of small muscles that get overlooked. Change your stretching routine with someone that does things differently...

Yoou may also want to consider some neck exercises....


I have a number of neck issues, many were discovered by a casual MRI. I spent time with the bone benders and found them to be a waste of time for me. I also found that by spending time with one medical group we were consistently missing some of the small stuff, that wasen't so small. It wasn't until I changed doctors and their particular place of PT, that I started to find more knowledgable staff that tried things differently....

For years I was instructed to do this or that, PT wise, so I sign up for a health club membership that included a recent physical evaluation where the people measured every bone and muscle group. They found one shoulder muscle that was about 1/2 inch different and suggested some kind of funky neck stretch that no one in the last 6 years had even thought to do, that every Pop Warner Football kid does every week.

I fucking wanted to go back in time and hunt down evry shit head bone bender and MD that had fucked me over by suggesting this or that...

I'm tellin ya in three weeks I was rid of pain that I had carried for years. I can tell almost instantly when I'm not doing my neck stretching the right way or I have just plain forgotten to do them for a time. It's a pain in the ass to go to the gym when yo don't want to... Doin the neck muscle building exercises is annoying, but they do work!

Remember some muscle strains are permenant but that dosent mean there isn't stuff you can do to mitigate the injuries...

AND I am so bullshit that so many doctors overlooked the obvious for so long...
C


I have actually had some EMG tests,... yo want to avoid them!!! Spend a year doing anything and everything else...before you willingly sign up for EMG testing....But hey, in some cases EMG tests do find actual nerve damage, that can't be located by other means,... but I understand in this day and age detailed MRI studies should be done first...

But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."