consistent soreness

Just out of curiousity, Iv been wondering how many other folks literally have constant soreness in the neck and upper back. I do suffer from shoulder pain due to my shit being out of alignment and nerve pinching and whatnot. (have had PT and may need surgery)

But after over a week of rest, from one day of mellow bouldering and working one harder route on solo top rope, Im still as sore as if I spent a day on some longer route. Its literally a sore tight muscle feeling, but even with stretching, hydrating and rest nothing has improved. Maybe Im just a wusspie?

Maybe you should quit smoking.

I don't know why you're sore like you are but one thing you didn't mention: potassium/balanced diet.

What I would do for myself: note EVERY food you eat and pay attention to your potassium intake (if any), protein, even b12 and electrolytes, etc.

Start with 1 week of a diet that is geared (nutrients, etc) towards muscle soreness, growth and recovery.

The 2nd thing (I know nothing of your training/climbing so maybe you already concentrate on this) would be to concentrate on endurance. How's your endurance level?

Also cardio can improve/effect muscle recovery, growth, endurance, etc. Maybe your body isn't flushing out lactic acids fast enough (or fast compared to your earlier years? Maybe your cardio is so terrible that your body isn't maximizing its potential to get oxygen to your muscles therefore halting/slowing recovery.

Try good muscle focused diet, work on endurance (adaptation to long hard sessions) and improve your cardio. If these don't work see someone who can test; an expert.

Have you fallen on your head and/or twisted your neck/shoulders in the past?

Sounds like you've tried everything. I had tired everything I could think of - including monthly massages.

I used to have almost constant nagging soreness in my neck, which got worse with lots of belaying (looking up) and overhangs. I finally went to a recommended chiropractor who noted that my neck was out of alignment with an x-ray. He uses the Atlas Orthogonist treatment. After 10 treatments (fortunately my insurance covered the visits with a co-pay), I could tell it made a huge difference.

I also use belay glasses (CU belay made in Germany) so that saves my neck. I'm not without stiffness, but am much better after the treatments. I can tell when my neck starts going out of alignment though. So a lot of overhang climbing is out for me.

Just my two cents based on my own experience of my own injuries.

I wouldn't freak out about it. Every so often I get some worrying soreness (mostly in my arms). I take a week off and then often find that some light climbing actually makes me feel better. The trick is to just have a good solid warm-up and see how you feel. Be very conservative and really do some light climbing. I've actually had soreness disappear from a little climbing. The older you get the more that happens. You may have strained something, in which case a week or two of rest will do you good.

If you are under 30 IMHO, light smoking, recreational drug uses, not the greatest diet, don't matter so much. Unless maybe you are competitive sport climbing or something. Longterm who knows. But I wouldn't rush to a chiropractor or anything.

Just my opinion. And you probably shouldn't listen to me.

Of course now Karma is going to donkey punch me.

Good luck!

Jim

Hot yoga

I may be off base here, as I don't know you, but look into your NON climbing activities.

While I certainly get belayers neck from climbing, the real culprit has nothing to do with climbing.

It's sitting at a computer, or hunching over a tablet or phone, for far too long that really causes the tension in my neck. And poor posture in general.

Look into the ergonomics of your daily computer use. (Hint: a laptop, a tablet, and a phone are almost impossible to make ergonomically sound, and if used for more than minutes at a time, they are probably adding to your neck woes. Only a desktop setup can really make your neck happy, unless you do some weird stuff with your info appliances.)

Some things you did not elucidate: is this soreness on the same side as your problematic shoulder? Has this soreness occurred just this one time since the bouldering session, or is this a repeat occurrence?

Delayed onset muscle soreness can be severe and last as long as a week-ish if the load and volume on the muscle are great enough, but there should still be a gradual improvement with each day.

I personally highly doubt diet is part of this problem. Not that diet isn't relevant to recovery....but it is unlikely to be the source problem of intense and persistent soreness in a concentrated muscle group.

The suggestion of improving cardio is nonsense and is unlikely to help muscle soreness. Lactic acid is not your problem; it has long been known to have no relation to delayed onset muscle soreness and, regardless, the body flushes out all excess lactate within 2 hours of exercise all on its own.

Suggestions of other traumatic mechanism of injury or long term ergonomic issues (repetitive poor postures or the prolonged neck extension from belaying) are much more likely. If it doesn't resolve, see a doc.

+1 to everything Aerili said.

Go see a doctor or PT. Nerve root irritation could be causing your problems...sounds like you already know you have issues here. Also, a kyphotic posture could easily be causing your problems. Often, a stretching and strengthening routine can successfully manage issues related to a kyphotic posture. If you've been to PT and aren't happy with the results, then try another PT. They aren't all created equal. Ask around about for a good sports medicine PT and/or doc to see.