Expert: Dr. Paul Newhart - 11/20/2008

Question
Hello I am a 19 year old college baseball player and over the last 2 weeks, I have been developing some pretty severe neck and head pain right when I start to lift weights; no matter what body part (legs, chest, back, ect.) it still hurts in the same spot. The most painful spot where I feel is the area on my neck parallel to my ear, kind of my upper neck. Now the day I think that caused it, about 2 weeks ago, was I was pushing really hard on the incline press machine (2 45 ibs each side), and as I got to my 9th rep, I started to feel a pinch then I got dizzy and my head started to pound. Ever since then, whenever I start my first exercise, and have to push and breathe hard the pain comes back and its very painful and my head pounds alot. It wears off a little as I go on, but the pain continues throughout the day on some days, usually when I do any exercise near the neck (chest mostly). I wanted to know if there is any way to recover and if specifically you know what this is. Thanks

Answer
It could be a number of thing, and the first thing I would recommend, is to see your family physician to rule out anything serious.  As long as everything is A-OK medically, I would see a good chiropractor.  It may be a misalignment that would need correction and a good rehab program to strengthen it.