Prolonged Headaches From Crashes

Hey what's up? We'll I've been off the water now for about 4 weeks due to a few injuries I suffered learning raleys. I took a few faceplants like most people probably due learning this trick. Anyways, I was out trying them on a Saturday. I landed a few, and ate it on a few. I was absolutely fine when I came off the water. The following day, I went out wakeboarding. I didn't really try any tricks because I was just getting warmed up. A minute or two after being out there, I started to get a really stiff neck. So, I dropped the rope and decided to end my run. When I came in, my neck got really really stiff. It was hard to even turn my neck for about the next 24 hours. That slowly went away as the week went on. Anyways, about a week later, I started getting these dull headaches. I've been getting them almost every day since (and it's been about 3.5 weeks now). I'm guessing this is just a severe case of whiplash. I went to a massage therapist and they said that the muscles in my neck are all knotted up. Anybody else ever experience headaches that last this long?

Were you wearing a helmet, and/or neckbrace like the ones used for barefooting?

go see a doctor!

Nope, wasn't wearing a helmet or neckbrace. Yea, I'm guessing I should probably see a doctor at this point.

Greg,

You have the beginnings of a concussion. Many times the neck will tighten after a few hours. The knotting up is bad but your back disks are out of alignment and need to be fixed. Either a chiropracter or therapist is needed to get the back put back into alignment. The headaches should go away after your alignement is corrected. Your symptoms sound identical to mine after learning the raley and now I am friends with my chiropracter.

But for me it seems that my back gets out of alignment easier now. I think you have to work on getting the back in shape so it does not reoccur so easily.

Find a doctor who deals with whiplash often. It will amaze you after a few visits how you will feel normal again.

I did a very similar thing trying toe 5's. I can see how the back can affect it since I had back issues and still do from 2 years ago. My headaches are just now going away after a couple weeks.

I second a chiropractor. You will get some awful headaches from your neck not being in alignment.

Same thing happened to me...was a buldging disc in my neck. An MRI, few trips to the chiro and 8 weeks of therapy fixed it right. I started wearing a helmet and all is good now -haven't had a problem with my neck since.
Go see a Dr.

I'm going to the doctor's on Friday morning. I will probably request to have an MRI done. We will see what he says.

I saw my physiotherapist last night. I mentioned to him about the possibility that the neck was out of alignment. He didn't think that was the case. He checked me out and discovered a tight joint in my left shoulder, and some tightness around my hair-line at the back of the head. He said that was the cause of my headaches. Apparently there are 4 levels of whiplash, and I have level 3 (due to having neurological symptoms). Anyways, I'm not counting anything out, but apparently level 3 whiplash can last from 6 weeks to 6 months so.... who knows.

Ok so I went to the doctors today. He also agrees that it is whiplash. He is going to send me in for an x-ray and CT scan.

Here is something interesting though. Like I said, the physiotherapist told me that the headaches were due to some tightness in the neck right below the hairline. So, about a week ago, I ordered one of those muscle-stimulators that they use at the physiotherapists. I received it last night and used it for about 15 minutes. I also used it on my neck again this morning for another 15 minutes. I had a very minor headaches for about an hour when I woke up, after that, it had completely gone away (and has been gone the whole day). I hope that this isn't just a coincidence. Anyways, it cost me about $133. If it keeps working like this, it will be money well spent.