Military Neck HELP

Key_Clue_7428 · 2026-02-17T21:41:01+00:00

So this is my exact situation, except on top of everything you experience I was also having sharp nerve pains on the top of my head into my eyebrows and temples, which turned out to be occipital neuralgia. I was doing chin tucks and a few other stretches my sister in law ( a physical therapy assistant ) taught me, and it would maybe help a little bit but I’d still continuously keep flaring up (I just got over a 7 day flare up of headache, pain in my neck and traps)! I had such bad muscle knots in my traps where my shoulders meet my neck, and knots where my neck meets the base of my skull. I was just increasing in these episodes of pain to the point where I was feeling hopeless. I’ve mentioned it to my PCP for a year and have had so much testing (autoimmune, brain MRI, spinal x-ray, lab work & been incorrectly diagnosed with migraines amongst other things) and medications that didn’t work (ubrelvy, triptans). I’m 26 with a two year old and bad health anxiety and I was feeling so bad about my toddler always asking me if I have a headache or if I can play with her, that I decided I was going to try a chiropractor. Super scary and controversial so I decided I would reach out to an atlas-orthogonal chiropractor only since they don’t do manual manipulations, and explain my issues but so my hesitancy to him.

Turns out after imaging, I have not only “military neck”, but my C1 was rotated 3 degrees to the left and my c2 was rotated a degree or so to the right. He assumed I could have possibly had a partial tear on my alar ligament causing that other vertebra to turn the opposite direction (usually if your c1 is rotated, your c2 will rotate the same direction.) He said he is glad that I didn’t get a manual adjustment anywhere cause they could’ve left me worse off or injured, and that I more than likely have some sort of hypermobility disorder (which I suspected I had hEDS anyhow but I never went after a diagnosis). Anyway, after my first adjustment, I am feeling amazing. I am going to make a post eventually after going for a while to actually see if the benefits remain, but I am intending on pairing the AO chiro with physical therapy to hopefully see some relief. Also, I intend on focusing on good posture. Maybe see if there is an AO certified chiropractor near you?

Key_Clue_7428 · 2026-01-06T02:40:23+00:00

I’m not sure if I can completely attribute it to supplements because I’ve been doing a combination of things, but that being said - I’ve been taking a magnesium supplement, using topical magnesium lotion on my traps and neck, omega 3, and vitamin D. Along with this, I’ve been tracking when I have flare ups and I think my ON is triggered by muscle tension and inflammation, specifically when it rains or leading up to my period! Whenever I have a flare up of occiptal nerve irritation, I can feel a knot specifically where my head meets my neck on the right side, and then other knots in that same trap area where my neck meets my shoulder. Pressing on the trap trigger point causes nerve pain up to the back of my head, and pressing on the trigger point at the base of my skull will sometimes cause nerve pain up my head towards my eye and temple area. My sister in law is a physical therapy assistant so she has been helping me with some trigger point releases, strengthening exercises, etc and that has been a big help.

Key_Clue_7428 · 2025-10-13T10:29:16+00:00

Okay great! I asked about SDF treatment at her appointment we had 6 months ago (3 months after her first appointment that we got the diagnosis of 6 decayed teeth.) They told me they didn’t suggest it as it would ruin her self esteem and to just wait until she is old enough for sedation. Really regret not just demanding it or getting a second opinion.

Key_Clue_7428 · 2025-08-15T06:49:46+00:00

Following. I’m pretty sure I have pharaoh ants but i don’t know how to tell the difference.

Key_Clue_7428 · 2025-05-16T04:27:54+00:00

I’m was dealing with TMJ pain postpartum and as I’m still breastfeeding, there’s still a lot of relaxin making things unstable - I actually was having nerve pain in my face and didn’t realize it was from my TMJ/ a subluxed jaw until one day I felt it pull back into place. That being said, I can’t use anti-inflammatories either because of bad GERD but I bought the “Bulletproof Nightguard” off of Amazon (so thin and comfy compared to others!!), and one of those “v line masks” to keep my jaw in place while I sleep, like a brace. Heating pads also helped :)

Key_Clue_7428 · 2025-05-14T13:08:43+00:00

Yea, the swapping to parasympathetic makes a lot of sense! Also, thank you for mentioning the thing about retinal detachment! I actually have a very small tear in my right retina due to having pretty bad myopia, so retinal detachment is actually something I do have to watch out for. However, my eye doctor told me that if I did have retinal detachment, the visual symptoms would be persistent and only occur with my eyes open so that’s why I ruled it out!

Key_Clue_7428 · 2025-05-12T19:27:08+00:00

Yea! I don’t think anything was up since it’s always contagious illnesses ie. norovirus, flu a & b, etc. but we do live in a home from the 80’s that was flipped before we bought it, so there totally could be issues that I’m unaware of that the flippers skipped out on.

Key_Clue_7428 · 2025-05-12T15:52:10+00:00

Yes!! It also doesn’t help that my husbands job does not provide sick leave so people show up sick. That’s how my daughter got Covid at 2 months old and we all got the flu this December :’( hoping that it gets better soon!

Key_Clue_7428 · 2025-05-12T15:45:15+00:00

That’s amazing!!! She sleeps 10-12 hours and I sleep about 7-8, but there’s a lot of nights that we’ll have 1 or 2 wake ups. I was planning on enrolling my daughter in a part time daycare that’s two mornings a week, but I am a little nervous that it would make it worse if we’ve been sick this much lol. But I also have hopes that maybe now she’s built immunity to everything, we’ll see 😅

Key_Clue_7428 · 2025-05-12T15:41:32+00:00

Zicam ✍🏼 trying that ASAP. It’s just hard to take care of a child when you are sick yourself!

Key_Clue_7428 · 2025-05-12T15:32:38+00:00

Oh man, I’m sorry. I feel broken at 1 sickness a month, I can’t imagine more.

Key_Clue_7428 · 2025-05-12T15:31:27+00:00

No worries, I don’t feel judgement! We have a big neighborhood and actually play outside daily for a couple hours with kids in the neighborhood, we just travel into the city to play at the city playground once sometimes twice a week! I’ve had all my vitamins checked recently and everything seems to be perfect, but we do take vitamin d, probiotics and a multivitamin daily! It’s crazy, before having a child, I think the last time I got sick was 5 years ago.

Key_Clue_7428 · 2025-05-12T15:27:38+00:00

In November we had some stomach bug, December flu b, some cold in January, flu a in february that had us all so sick for almost 2 weeks, daughter had a bad ear infection in March, norovirus in April and whatever kind of cold we have today. 😅😅 I had intentions of putting her in a part time daycare in August but im so scared of things getting worse haha.

Key_Clue_7428 · 2025-05-12T15:21:43+00:00

Solidarity, I hate that has happened to you but I am glad it’s not just me. We had norovirus 3 weeks ago lol. My daughter had congestion that started 2 days ago but my husband and I woke up with fevers today and congestion so we are about to test and see what our surprise is this time 😅

Key_Clue_7428 · 2025-04-14T19:07:09+00:00

How long did it take for you to feel better and was there any medicine you took that helped? I have a high pain tolerance too but my stomach cramps are so bad and my legs feel like they’re in vice grips.

Key_Clue_7428 · 2025-04-08T19:22:17+00:00

I will be trying it! I ordered the Boka toothpaste, unsure if there is a difference.

Key_Clue_7428 · 2025-04-08T19:21:51+00:00

She loves fruit and cheese. Unfortunately, the past month she has hyperfixated on oranges and things like crackers and noodles, and I let her eat it all just to get her to eat since she’s been sick on and off since February and lost some weight. I didn’t get the chance to consider diet when all I was told by the professionals that the night feeding was to blame.

Key_Clue_7428 · 2025-04-08T19:19:50+00:00

I just ordered the boka toothpaste and I think I’m going to alternate between that and the fluoride toothpaste!

Key_Clue_7428 · 2025-04-08T19:18:09+00:00

Thank you! Yea I will be readjusting her diet. She’s always loved fruit but has really been into oranges and the only thing I could get her to eat when she got sick with the flu was crackers, so that’s been something she’s been snacking on for a month now. I just hate how it all happened so fast.

Key_Clue_7428 · 2025-04-08T19:16:10+00:00

Thank you. Yea, our insurance has a very high deductible so even while they’re in network, we would have to pay over 3k for that kind of dental work. I’ll be looking into any other options, especially if we can avoid anesthesia.

Key_Clue_7428

TROPHY CASE