Stiff neck with pain

I'm a 39 year old male who's 6' tall and weighs 155 pounds. Like many people, I've suffered from occasional stiff necks my entire life, but the past year or two they've become more frequent, to the point that they've become recurrent instead of just occasional.

So, the stiff neck has always been on my right side. When I was younger, I didn't think much of them -- I'd wake up with them sometimes, but was always told by the people in my life to leave it alone, that they go away, and to just keep on with my regular life.

This advice worked for years, until I was in my 30s, when the stiff necks started lasting longer than they had been, sometimes up to two weeks. This is when I found out about pressure point massage, and realized exactly where the pain was located. Behind my ear, at the base of my skull, every time, I discovered there was a point that would hurt when I'd massage it with my fingers. It would become swollen after I massaged it, and the pain would get temporarily worse. But the massage offered temporary relief while I was doing it, and seemed to spread the pain away from the center of the knot and shorten the healing time.

Unfortunately, I suffered a shoulder injury while swimming in my 30s, and at that point the occasional stiff necks became more complex. In addition to the pressure point at the base of my skull behind my ear, another pressure point became involved, this time near the scapula. It follows the same pattern as the pressure point in my neck, namely that if I massage it, it becomes slightly swollen, offers temporary relief, and seems to shorten the healing time. This area by the scapula is actually where the swimming injury was, and has been an aspect of the stiff neck ever since. Later I read online that these two pressure points are associated with the levator scapula muscle specifically.

After the swimming injury, I started to do stretching exercises. I did these exercises for years, though stopped doing them a few years ago. The stiff necks still came and went, increasing in frequency as I got older. I did them again recently, and I am somewhat less flexible, though not a whole lot. I also used to take over-the-counter pain relievers, though they left me feeling foggy and the pain was always still there, so I try to avoid them anymore.

So, the stiff necks have only gotten much worse. I think this year I've had five -- probably a record, and with an average healing time of two weeks, which means a lot of time feeling pretty bad. I had one in July that took over three weeks to heal -- I actually thought it was never going to heal. I've never seen a doctor about them because I tend to be so relieved they're gone that I forget about them and get back on with my life.

The Sunday before last, I developed another one. I was doing my regular chores, nothing strenuous. I mowed the lawn and a few hours later, my neck started to hurt. I've mowed the lawn before without any problems -- it's the lightest lawnmower in the market and weighs only 20 pounds, and is like pushing a stroller where there isn't a baby in it, so I don't consider it strenuous like pushing a regular lawn mower. Five weeks ago I moved into my new house and lifted heavy boxes and moved my bed, but didn't get a stiff neck -- this is the usual situation, namely that I don't get stiff necks from periods of strenuous physical activity. They appear seemingly out of nowhere, when I'm not doing strenuous activity.

This is probably the worst stiff neck I've ever had in terms of pain. I've even woken up in horrific pain one night, and I could tell it was a muscle spasm, somewhat like a charlie horse in my neck -- this is the first time I've ever woken up with what feels like a muscle spasm during a stiff neck.

At first, it hurt at the trigger point at my scapula. I massaged it, and that area of the pain swelled up and went away pretty quickly, after a few days. But after the pain went away at my scapula, the pressure point at the base of my skull started hurting, as well as a new pressure point I've never felt open up before, halfway between the two normal pressure points, that I've also read is associated with the levator scapula. I massaged these two pressure points until Sunday, and they improved significantly. On Sunday, it seemed like I was well on the way to being pain-free.

Unfortunately, Monday I moved my arm in a very usual motion and felt a loud pop in my shoulder, right where the pressure point at the scapula is. It started to hurt again from that moment on, and very suddenly I'm back at square one -- the pain is excruciating at the scapula pressure point, though the pain at the other two pressure points has disappeared.

I don't know what to do. Rest seems optimal, but I have so much to do and no one to help me that it doesn't seem possible, even though I was actively resting my neck last week, till Sunday. I've been resting the past several days, but did some housework today despite the pain. I'm looking for advice on what this could be, and how to prevent it from happening again. My only guess is a chronically aggravated levator scapula, though I'm not a doctor so I don't know for sure, and I definitely don't know how to make it not happen again. At the moment I don't have health insurance, and I live in a new place so the search for new health care seems daunting, though I am going to be able to buy health care in January. Hot showers numb the pain completely, though this time around the massage doesn't seem to be doing much. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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