Neck/Upper Back Injury

Hi,

I am hoping that someone can help, as I can't find an exact fit for this online nor am I comfortable with what I've been told so far about it. Bear with the story, as this might be  along one.

Background

Wednesday last week I injured myself in the gym on the squat rack. It was my warm up weight of 180kg (I weigh 116kg) and hence, I didn't give it the respect I probably should. I sat the bar, with foam padding, probably a couple of inches too far up towards my neck, resting a little on a backbone. It's difficult to explain what happened, but I did a rep and felt and heard something pop and/or snap in my upper back/neck area, about 2 inches down from the 'protruding' vertebra in your back (sorry, I can't get an exact thoracic vertebra number). I stopped the workout immediately, since things/I felt a little unsteady and decided that I would best rest it.

After this squat injury, I didn't bother to see anyone for a couple of days. I initially thought I had torn muscle fibres because of how it felt relative to a right arm bicep tear in 2011 (activity holiday, not gym), which left me unable to turn my palm face up for a few weeks and has left me with significant weakness in my right arm relative to my left. Just for completeness, nothing was really done for that aside from rest, and I got compensating injuries over the years, typically in my right forearm, left bicep or left forearm since then. At the time, the medical advice was to rest, given they don't operate on partial bicep severing, I figured I could have told myself that and for this squat injury, I initially decided I wouldn't bother. It has left me with my right bicep 2.5 inches shorter than it used to be, but I am not realy bothered by it.

Fast forward to Friday and by this point the unsteadiness was still the same (it alternates between me feeling my head is too far forward or I was standing a little far back) and my neck is feeling progressively looser relative to how it was before. I thought I was imagining it, but one thing has became progressively worse and that is a loose popping/grinding movement (and 'sound') just to the left of the vertebra below the protruding one at the base of the neck on the thoracic curve (sorry, not sure on the number, but I'd guess T2). I can press on the left hand side of that vertebra (which seems to have a bigger gap between it and the protruding one) and the popping/griding happens nearly every time.

Given it was an injury to that area and I am aware how delicate the spinal column is, I lowered my intransigence on the matter and went to see the GP. Couldn't get an appointment for love nor money (pretty typical) and was told to go to a local walk in centre at about 10:30am, they were closed so decided to forget it and go home. Stopping at the GP's on the offchance I could see the nurse. I just caught her and after a bit of back and forth with the GP, she told me to go to A&E given it was an acute injury and it needed an X-ray to make sure I hadn't damaged anything.

I didn't think it was all that bad given I was walking and it wasn't too painful. Plus, given the local A&E could have waiting times of between 4 and 10 hours, and I am self-employed, I really didn't want to go at all. In the end, after debating it with myself for nearly 45 minutes, I kicked off a work related process which I knew would take a while and made my way to A&E.

Got there, got triaged to their walk-in centre (which unlike the other one is open all day). I saw a nurse who examined my back and when she asked me where it was, I more or less got the site wrong, so she didn't go up far enough, even though I was in pain in the sites she hit. She said ice, painkillers and rest. I explained to her my concerns about going back into the gym, as unlike the bicep tear, if I got compensating injuries squatting or deadlifting at that weight, I could twist/buckle and hence injure my back more permanently. In the end, she got me to see a doctor who again didn't examine far enough up (and I couldn't find the spot, as I myself was searching too low). She again reassured me that it was just a muscle tear and ice, painkillers and at least 2 weeks rest would see me right. I was happy enough with that and went home. No X-ray done nor suggested by the walk in centre staff, given it's right next to the A&E department.

Unfortunately, things have gotten a little worse since then. Now I can't really walk around much. The stiffness and pain in my back is now much worse. I feel slightly nauseus and as you can probably see from my posting time, it's affecting my sleep a bit.

Plus, after not being able to find the spot where the injured parts 'move', when I was at the walk-in centre, I now can't stop finding it and it seems to be getting 'bigger'. 

Symptoms

In terms of feelings/sounds, it cracks and pops only on that left side. That definitely wasn't there before and ther isn't a corresponding effect on the right. 

I can make it crack or pop by pressing in it with my right hand in a location extending from directly under the protruding vertebra to about 2 inches to the left of it (So Imagine scratching the top of your left shoulder blade with your right hand, now move towards your spine and that's about where it is). I can feel the crack in my left lung when it happens.

The distance between that normal protruding vertebra and the one below seems to have a 50% bigger 'gap' than before the injury, which I initially just put down to inflamation in the surrounding tissue. Not 100% sure that's the case now. If I am sat for a while on the computer (such as now, thanks for reading) I can make it crack just by 'tensing' my shoulder blades which frees up the tension. If I walk for more than 15 minutes at a normal pace it starts to hurt a bit and I feel myself walking around 'shrugging' to hold my body up (in some weird 'Frankenstein's monster' sort of way... without the arms outstretched, because that would just be weird :o) I do have quite a heavy upper body.

Summary

Finally (even I gasp)! I just want to rule out chipping a vertebra or my shoulder blade, hairline fracturing a rib, slipping a disc (or twisting it in one or more of the 3 dimensions), pulling a ligament off something with a bit of bone, pinching my spinal cord, some form of compression injury, hairline fracture or something like that.

I am extremely surprised no X-ray was carried out, given that's what my GP suggested via the nurse I first saw. I got an X-ray for my bicep and that's nowhere near as sensitive an injury. I also have a high pain threshold and am a bit worried that I'm probably not conveying or even feeling the pain others might. It may also be a muscular build doesn't physically 'show' injuries which would be more obvious in those with a smaller frame.

Any suggestions?  Thanks so much for reading this far! I appreciate it's a lot to take in but I felt I needed to convey everything as I am not 100% sure the walk-in doctor really understood the 'physics' involved. 

Thank you in advance for any help. I really appreciate it!

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