In my opinion movement and stretching will be your key. I dont know what kind of physical activity you have throughout your day, but try to make time to stretch out and possibly free hang several times throughout the day and very well in the morning and at night. I've been scoliosis and old injuries from sports and lifting and this is what's actually helped me.

I injured my neck at work, slammed my head into an i beam in a walkable crawlspace under a building. Wasn’t able to turn my neck for a few weeks. It would heal, I would re injury in the gym. Started seeing a chiropractor and did x rays. My neck had become perfect straight. Basically chiropractor said my traps were overdeveloped and I need to stop training them and upper back as well. Because the muscle runs from top of the neck down into the lower shoulder blade. Needless to say I have smaller traps now but my back still looks nice and have moderate to little neck pain

I have some damage to C7 with radiculopathy which has caused me to be unable to turn my head or reach across my body at times. I would just wait it out and it would get a little better in a few weeks. Then it would be aggravated again with as little as a hard sneeze. I finally went to the doctor and they prescribed physical therapy. I was skeptical but I must admit that it worked pretty well. It still lingers and I have to be careful but it has only been debilitating once in the five years since I had the physical therapy.

suffer mostly.
thymosin alpha 1 helps me with some inflammation, i just always forget to take it. I'm used to the pain at this point. My younger self would spit in my own mouth at how much I've let pain control my daily life, not in a gay way though

48, been fighting an almost identical MRI for years. First started in 2021, somehow simply rolling over in the middle of the night led to a CRACK in my neck, and then weakness/numbness on my entire right shoulder through the arm. That one took about a year to resolve with some physiotherapy that honestly, I would have told you is bullsh*t had it not worked. Lots of bloodflow restriction through the arm, cupping, graston technique on the upper traps, and manual traction. Somehow regained full strength.

Then, for no particular reason, my left side started to insidiously lose strength in early 2026. I barely noticed it at first, after workouts my left tricep/lat/pec would twitch for hours on end. Then the pain the upper trap / tricep started up, and wouldn't go away... and if I tried to look up at the sky, my arm and first 3 fingers would burn with pain. And then one day I noticed it in the mirror, my entire upper left side had started to atrophy compared to my right. My long head tricep has shrunk so much my left arm is 1" smaller than my right, and my left pec is visibly smaller than the right. What I think happened was, it was all so slow moving for me , that because my push movements are on machines, and bilateral, my right side was just compensating for everything and I didn't notice my lifts were struggling until it was too late.

Physio didn't work this time. Instead, I had to opt for the dexamethasone epidural injection into the C7/T1, after getting the MRI. Got it mid-June, and in about a month, I noticed a major change. The twitching and pain were gone. Honestly, it's a lot better now. I'm not 100%, and I have the option to get a second shot (doc tells me it can take up to 3 to see a lasting effect). Having gone through a similar arc with sciatica 12 years ago, I can confirm, it took 3 shots to finally do the trick on my lower spine, so I'm mentally prepared for shots #2 and 3 in my neck.

In the meantime, no more incline bench, no more shoulder/military press, probably ever again. I now exclusively use machines that have unilateral weight options, so I can gauge how my left is performing compared to my right. For shoulders I just spam side delt raises (30+ reps), which sucks and is time consuming but it's better than aggravating things again. Strength is slowly coming back on those push movements, but not nearly as fast as I had hoped.

If you're eligible for the cortisone injection, I'd highly recommend it.

A lot of us are in the same boat I've had pretty similar findings. For me the only real way to bring long-term relief was to correct posture the best that I could. Which included traction to help create a little more space between the discs. It really sucks but I only had to wear it for like a half hour, which would then bring upon hours of relief. It was a little expensive I think mine was like 150 on Amazon, I was hesitant but there comes a point where you become more desperate than hesitant. Really only awkward the first few times then it becomes quite comfortable because it brings such relief.

I know how it goes when all the surrounding muscles get into a tizzy and you literally feel like you're on aching fire. The worst is when you start to lock up and can't move your head left or right. I did not want to opt for selective denervation or shaving down the bone spurs. I feel for you hope you find some relief. The pump detaches after you get the stretch that you need out of it. It was a game changer in my situation good luck

I’ve had 3 fusions in last 2 years. L2-L4 then L5-S1 and then C2-C5 because for some reason that I will never understand I felt the need to rep out 650lb squats and 600 deads when I was younger. Sucks. The only good thing is that because I was so fit otherwise I was back in gym lifting lightly (still do) a few days after each one.

I think you would be best to change the Title of this post to 'Spinal/Neck Injury' then you will get more members looking at it mate who have had these type of problems. Injuries is just a little too vague.