When to return to work. Torn neck muscle and heavy lifting?!


Question: Hey, I was wondering when a good time to go back to work would be. I was in the hospital with a bad sprain/muscle tear in my neck on Saturday. They prescribed me oxycodene and 600mg of motrin 2x a day. It's Thursday and still bothering me a lot. I'm 21, a full time college student and a part time worker on Thurs-Sunday. I do a lot of heavy lifting 50lbs + all day. My job requires me to do a lot of over head lifting/twisting. Could I possibly hurt myself further by going into work this weekend? The money is not an issue since I haven't been out of the house in a week to spend anything. I just do not want to get on the bad side of my managers. I already called in sick for this weekend, but I feel bad.
-Still have limited range of motion in my neck... although its getting slightly better
-muscle spasms on occasion.
-Difficulty driving.
-Throbbing pain while not moving. Moderate-severe when I move it too far.

Thank you very much.


Answers: Hey, I was wondering when a good time to go back to work would be. I was in the hospital with a bad sprain/muscle tear in my neck on Saturday. They prescribed me oxycodene and 600mg of motrin 2x a day. It's Thursday and still bothering me a lot. I'm 21, a full time college student and a part time worker on Thurs-Sunday. I do a lot of heavy lifting 50lbs + all day. My job requires me to do a lot of over head lifting/twisting. Could I possibly hurt myself further by going into work this weekend? The money is not an issue since I haven't been out of the house in a week to spend anything. I just do not want to get on the bad side of my managers. I already called in sick for this weekend, but I feel bad.
-Still have limited range of motion in my neck... although its getting slightly better
-muscle spasms on occasion.
-Difficulty driving.
-Throbbing pain while not moving. Moderate-severe when I move it too far.

Thank you very much.

Yes you definitely need to get a doctor's note to take to work. My guess is you are going to have to quit that job. You may not be able to work in that capacity for at least 6 months. Possibly more. Acupuncture is a great idea , but may I also suggest consulting a chiropractor? If you don't see one and get the proper adjustments your neck will likely heal incorrectly, and later in life arthritis could and probably will set in. I know as the same thing happened to me.

Good luck and God Bless!

You mention muscle spasms well that`s your body trying to protect itself from further damage and I had the same thing happen to me and I was off work for 7 Months and at times I can feel the muscle hurting so I would say you wont be able to continue in your job of heavy lifting for a good while

You should get a doctor's note and take it to work with all of the limitations that go along with it. This way they know that you will be out a while and may hold your place.

You would most definitely hurt yourself again if you return to heavy lifting too quickly.

Take a acupuncture treatment. Beside use a finalgon cream.

Did you hurt it at work? If you did then you should file a workers comp claim - that way if you can't go back to work for a while you will still get some protection and your medical bills would be taken care of. The only way its going to get better is if you give it time to heal. IF there is an actual tear, they may have to operate. Trust me when I tell you that a re-injury can be worse than the original one.





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