Pinched nerve, artery, or vein?

Question

I asked a physiotherapist to relieve some tension in my neck when lying down on my stomach. He told me I needed to turn around on my back and he went up behind my head and instead of giving me a massage like I thought he would, he dug his fingers into the holes to the sides of my neck and I felt him flicking around ligaments like guitar strings and squeezing something until it really hurt, he said he’ll just apply pressure here until the tension goes away. I asked him what he did and he said it’s “acupressure”. He did this almost a week ago and I felt pain in that area that day when I brought my shoulder up to my head and shortened the muscle, the next day and up until now I've began getting some heat going up my neck mainly on that side. When I tense up my necks ligaments it hurts to the left. Today I was at the gym and after a few minutes on the treadmill I had sharp chest pains. Could he have tied up or misplaced ligaments, muscles, etc, or pinched a nerve, artery, or vein? Thanks

Answer 1

He did what we call trigger point therapy. But you have to warm up the muscle and go very slowly, and your not supposed to apply very much pressure, even though it feels like a lot of pressure to the client. Trigger point therapy can be very effective in releasing muscle tension, but it seems to me he didn't really know how to do it very well. I'm sure your pain will heal and go away soon, and I don't think the chest pains are related. I think you are just bruised he can't possibly "misplaced ligaments" and if he pinched a nerve or an artery you would be light headed or have some numbness. I hope you feel better soon!

Answer 2

no he didn't do anything to arteries or veins.

he probably pushed too hard & caused the muscles to tighten in response to the pressure points.  "acupressure" should be firm, but not painful. acupressure is also just holding points, not "flicking around muscles & ligaments". it sounds like he was doing deeper muscle releases- and you need to be careful not to go too deep too quickly or it causes more pain.

get a regular masssage next time.

your chest pain is unrelated.