I'm a little sore in my neck from tandems, but video is the worst... Most guys I know are more injured and beat up (in the neck) from flying video. I had a hard opening video diving that caused me to black out, broke my audible, and herniated two discs... I ended up with paralysis down my right side and in bed for two months. Quit video diving for good and got a tandem rating. Since then, I mostly have trouble in my back unless the packers are slacking... if they don't even up the risers then I get twirled and spanked on opening and then my neck gets sore, but the injury itself is from video diving. Facing into the wind direction on deployment can help though. Best practice is to do a regular routine of neck stabilization exercises to strengthen the supporting muscles in your neck. I've also found that tucking my neck down (bad form) next to my students head on opening reduces the strain on my neck if I'm having hard openings. Obviously heading and stability are priority, but you can tuck your chin a bit and still fly the opening. Lets be real though, when you're working you have no control over your openings... so it's easy for stuff to add up, but most TIs seem to have neck injuries left over from video days.
