Neck pain/ stiffness NEED some answers please!?

Question

ok so here is the deal....
Last year in ?June? I went up north in WI near the border to the upper Michigan place with my friend. It was fun and a whole new experience for me I ate food that I had never even heard of, I went hiking in michigan I went tubing and much more.
The only problem was that when I tried to get up from my bed on the couch my neck hurt and it took alot of effort. As I said I was doing totally new things and I don't think I hurt my neck tho. I was sleeping on a couch...
Read over my question and make sure you pay attention to everything please! I need to know what was wrong with my neck and if I can do anything to prevent it from happening again. ( I am used to sleeping on the couch so I don't think that is what caused it)

Thanks to everyone who answers!

sorry.... i've been hiking b4 like alot just not tubing

and not tubing like that... tubing as in being pulled by a boat very fast while trying to stay on a tube

Answer 1

"...whole new experience for me... went hiking ... went tubing ... and much more." It would have been even more helpful to know what "and much more" might have been to determine if 'and much more' involved using your shoulders and neck.

If hiking and tubing were things you'd never done before and if your day-to-day life is reasonably sedentary, like going to work, sitting at a desk or standing at counter, going home and taking care of household tasks and then sitting down for maybe a television show or reading, then hiking and tubing were likely the source of your neck pain.

When hiking, you are typically moving your neck all over the place: looking down to watch your footing, looking up to see where you're going, twisting your neck from side to side to take in the scenery, and it's common to tilt the head all the way back to have a peek at the sky, if you had on a backpack, that would only have added to the possibilities of all the new neck movements you would have made.

When tubing, you're typically floating down the river or in the lake with your behind in the water, your legs over one side of the tube and your back against the other side of the tube. This forces your shoulders and neck into positions that would not be 'normal' conditions for Jane Average.

Pain in the neck can also come from strain in the shoulders and upper back. All the muscles connect to one another one way or another.

Lastly, don't lightly dismiss the couch; if it was a different couch than the one you are accustomed to sleeping on, it could have put your body into a different position depending on whether it was a solid cushion surface or a multi cushion surface you were sleeping on.

In short, i'd bet a dollar you used a lot of neck and shoulder movements, positions and muscles that you were unaccustomed to using.

The only thing to prevent it from happening again is to strengthen your neck and shoulders through strength training. You can also take along a good muscle rub and some anti-inflammatory, such as Ibuprofen, to help the muscles stop being mad at you.

Hope that helped a little and that i paid attention to all the matters you wanted noticed in your description. =)

ADDITION: The extra details helped a lot. Really concentrate and 'see' yourself on that tubed being pulled so fast behind the boat. What was your head doing? Were you flexing your neck muscles really hard and tucking your chin down in order to prevent the sting of the water on your face? Was your head bobbing every which-a-way? What were your shoulders doing? Think about all of those things.

By your descriptions, it has to be the neck/shoulder/ motions while tubing which, by the way, actually can give you a mild whiplash .... and even mild whiplash hurts like the dickens. Or it was that couch. I'm betting on the tubing, myself.

As to how you strengthen yourself up for that so that it doesn't happen again, i have no clue. I'm sure a gym trainer could make some suggestions. Another remedy is to just tell them that you enjoyed it, but you got a mild whiplash from it and either a) you'd like to do it again, but could they drive the boat slower for you; or b) you'd love to be able to do it again, but you just don't think you can take the pain of the whiplash again.

Answer 2

Muscles can have knots (trigger points) that make them tight which in turn put pressure on nerves and other things.
Molasses - a couple of swigs or Bananas 1 or 2 - both contain magnesium and potassium for muscles.
Try working with the principles taught in The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Davies.
I use a chiropractor and massage therapist with it