Recovery from a neck sprain or strain With proper treatment and rest, most patients recover from a neck strain or sprain within four to six. If the strain or sprain is severe, full recovery can take three months or more. Your head and neck pain should improve in a couple of weeks. If not, local anesthetic injections may be tried.
Full recovery can take up to 3 months. If you continue to have symptoms after this time, it is advisable to have a spinal specialist perform an additional evaluation. Neck pain caused by muscle tension or strain usually goes away on its own within a few days and only needs conservative treatment at most. Neck pain that lasts longer than several weeks will generally continue to respond to exercise, stretching, physical therapy, massage, and watchful waiting, but steroid injections or even surgery are occasionally indicated.
The time it takes for stiff neck to heal due to minor strain depends on the severity of the strain. However, most minor strains feel much better after resting the neck for 24 hours, but sometimes stiffness can take up to a week to go away if the strain is in the moderate range. Neck sprains are related to soft tissue injuries that usually involve ligaments, which connect bone to bone. They have symptoms and treatment plans similar to those of strains.
They can take four to six weeks to heal, or even longer for serious injuries. You may need to wear a soft collar around your neck to help support your head and relieve pressure on your ligaments so they have time to heal. A neck strain is an injury to the muscles or tendons of the muscles and tendons of the neck, two types of soft tissue. Some strains are more likely to recur after the first time, so it's important to take some preventive steps to reduce the chances of your neck pain coming back.
Facet joints at the back of the cervical vertebrae or neck can also be a site of stiffness in the neck.
