Neck pain when shooting prone?

[BoilerUP]

Most of my shooting over the years has been done off a bench.

On Thursday, I shot about 100rds prone off a 9" bipod. Yesterday morning I woke up with a sore neck, primarily on the left and right side of my neck where it meets my lower jaw area. The pain was a pretty low ache, but definitely steady.

I experienced a similar kind of discomfort when I was in college and rode a sport bike, presumably from head angle and helmet weight.

Is there something I can do with technique to reduce this, maybe exercises to strengthen the muscle, or do I need to just man up and deal with it?

 

[9H_Cracka]

Re: Neck pain when shooting prone?

Take up yoga for overall health/flexibility/core strength, then spend more time in position with your rifle. Your middle back will become sore too from prone.

I do neck exercises/stretching before any rifle shooting - prone, sitting, standing - same with pistol.

Shot a 4 day prone match a few weeks ago. I prepared my back and neck for it by dry firing in position every day for 7 days since I'm not training 4-5 days a week right now. Started out with a sore neck and back but by the time the match rolled around I was pain free.

(BTW Boiler class of '88)

 

[fx77]

Re: Neck pain when shooting prone?

Age may be a factor. U may have cervical degenerative disc disease or cervical facet joint degenerative changes which do not tolerate neck hyperextension ..U could be young and also have these problems, but as U age they worsen. Try some advil or aleve...

 

[JuniperEyes]

Re: Neck pain when shooting prone?

Practice at home on the carpet until you find the correct bipod height/body position/cheek weld that lets you totally relax all your muscles and maintain sight alignment and sight picture. You should actually be able to drift off to sleep and wake up still on target and eye centered in scope if doing it right.

After you know what "right" feels like you will be able to find the correct position in field conditions as well.

 

[Greg Langelius *]

Re: Neck pain when shooting prone?

All good advice up to a point.

I have aged out to the point where I'm 66, and have been coping with an arthritic spur in my cervical spine since just before turning 40. It has complicated pretty much my entire shooting history, and I haven't shot a genuine prone match in a year or two, mostly because it's become more discomfort than I think it's worth.

Our local shooting club has acknowledged that us elder duffers have this issue and permits me and my fellows the option of shooting the same COF from a bench and being scored in our own division. It's a logical and reasonable accommodation to "The Greying of America", IMHO.

Until I threw in the towel and made the transition, I developed a number of low-impact exercises to combat the general (and also specific to my cardiac condition) debilitation that eventually embraces us all when we get past our prime. Laugh if your want, but they are done in bed; I (still) do mine when I awaken, before I actually get up.

For this neck issue, I lie on my back and arch the back so my body is off the bed completely except for the heels and back of the head. I move very slowly, and make an effort to control my breathing so it progresses normally. Once the back is arched, I will hold it until the muscles begin to complain (quiver), then very slowly lower back down and completely relax, staying down until my breathing returns completely to normal. Five or so reps, over ten to fifteen minutes, completes a set.

I then do a set of the opposite, raising head and heels so that only the butt is in contact with the mattress. I take the same slow time, and hold until the quiver, slowly restoring to a relaxed position and regaining my normal breath; five or so reps, depending on my determination that day.

These simple steps restore some strength and muscle tone to the body's core, help somewhat to control neck and back pain, and start the day off with a half hour of genuine age and disability appropriate conditioning.

Greg

 

[Sterling Shooter]

Re: Neck pain when shooting prone?

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: _9H_Cracka</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Take up yoga for overall health/flexibility/core strength, then spend more time in position with your rifle. Your middle back will become sore too from prone.

I do neck exercises/stretching before any rifle shooting - prone, sitting, standing - same with pistol.

Shot a 4 day prone match a few weeks ago. I prepared my back and neck for it by dry firing in position every day for 7 days since I'm not training 4-5 days a week right now. Started out with a sore neck and back but by the time the match rolled around I was pain free.

(BTW Boiler class of '88)</div></div>

You are one disciplined dude.

 

[BoilerUP]

Re: Neck pain when shooting prone?

I appreciate the advice!

I'm 29 years old and fairly certain the discomfort is muscular in nature. I'll be doing some basic neck stretches going forward and guess I need to spend more time laying on the basement floor with my rifle...

 

[Augustus]

Re: Neck pain when shooting prone?

I have had the same problem for years. Mine is a pinched nerve, the more I stay in that position the worse it gets.

 

[Joezone]

Re: Neck pain when shooting prone?

Just in case you are not used to/familiar with shooting from the prone your problems might relate to being out of position. When I started I had the but of the rifle too high so it was on my collar bone (ouch). Then I found that it should be in my shoulder pocket below the collar bone. After I readjusted my cheekpiece and scope position so the scope was lined up correctly I had the added benefit of finding that my neck was more relaxed. I also found that shooting from the prone on a fairly regular basis allowed my back to get more conditioned to the position.

 

[MontanaHick]

Re: Neck pain when shooting prone?

Boiler, as a practicing orthopedic massage therapist, I'm pretty sure a couple of things are happening that contribute to your soreness:

1) not being used to the hyperextension (rolling your head back on your neck) is causing overuse of those muscles. Stretching is awesome to help alleviate this, and it will get better with time.

2) you have a pair of arteries (bringing fresh blood in) that travel through holes in the transverse processes of your spinal vertebrae. These become occluded (squeezed off, like a garden hose with a car tire on it) when your neck and head are on a rifle prone. As your musculature becomes more used to it and don't have to work as hard to keep your head on the gun, this should also become less of an issue.

3) its possible you've got misalignment in your spine, both neck and back (most of us humans do, at some level). this can cause things to go all pear-shaped if you're trying to force your bones to hold a position for a while.

It takes time for your musculature to get used to being prone. I'm fairly new at it myself, and my back KILLS me if I try it for more than about 25 minutes at a pop, even if I'm just spotting hits, much less shooting. It's getting better, and unless it turns out that you've got a rib or a vertebra (or multiple, as is usually the case) out of alignment, your discomfort decrease with time like mine is.

On that note, if it continues, go see a chiropractor, and don't let them talk you into a multiple visits a week for years. You likely don't need it. On the other hand, a regular course of chiropractic can actually help you lay behind the rifle better, and might not be a bad idea if you've got chronic issues.

lol how's that for an alternative-health-so-you-can-shoot-shit-better commentary?

 

[oneshot.onehit]

Re: Neck pain when shooting prone?

It could be as simple as to raising up an adjustable cheek piece a little or adding a pad or moving the scope ahead a little to correct the angle of your head and taking away some of the neck strain.

oneshot.onehit

 

[JeffinTX]

Re: Neck pain when shooting prone?

Boiler, shooting prone is very different than bench in regards to the setup of the gun, in particular the height of the bipod, the height of the sights/cheekpiece, and the relief of the scope or sights. If you're using the 9" bipod at full extension, the gun maybe too high, causing you to have to hyperextend your neck and upper body. Also, the sights for prone will need to be more forward than for the bench. So, if your sights/scope is adjusted for the bench, it will force you to have your head unnaturally high and back, causing undue neck strain.

 

[Hogstooth]

Re: Neck pain when shooting prone?

+1 on moving your optic forward just a bit if you have a picatinny rail in which you can do that. If not just move the optic a 1/2" forward in the rings or two rail slots and try shooting that way next time you go out.

It is far better to have to croon your neck out there a little bit than to have to hold your head back to get a propper sight picture.

Your condition is pretty common for people who often shoot from a bench most of the time. So bumping your scope forward won't disturb your bench shooting much, and your not moving it very far to have that happy middle.

 

[Ring]

Re: Neck pain when shooting prone?

take 2 alive before u go shoot... thats what i do

 

[mark5pt56]

Re: Neck pain when shooting prone?

On top of all the above, try to fit the stock for you as well. If you have an adjustable height or if not and using a stock pack, build it up to suit you. What I do when getting the rifle set up is (AI AE II/III) get on the rifle prone and adjust length of pull to my comfort/liking. Then I start on the height by closing my eyes as I get on the rifle, open and see how the scope shadow looks. When doing this, it's important to keep your eyes closed until you are comfortable, then open to see. At the same time, adjust eye relief.
This will reduce alot of neck strain, some don't realize that they are "holding" their head up more than need be. Having a buddy help with adjustment is a great benefit also. The Triad adjustable stock pack has the strips to build it up or old school carboard and duct tape. KMW adjustable are nice, etc.

I've found this helps a bunch and I don't feel as tired and hardly sore the next day.

Mark

 

[downhill]

Re: Neck pain when shooting prone?

Got the same problem as a result of 25yrs of pipeline welding,rodeo wrecks and dirt bike crashes( or probably a little of each). I talked to the doc who did my back surgery and he suggested 2 ibuprofin an hour or two before shooting prone. Best advice I have been gave. Works great!

 

[Bone318]

Re: Neck pain when shooting prone?

If you don't have an adjustable check piece, get one installed. I have a whiplash injury and could not shoot prone without one.

Jerry

 

[George Collins]

I am a practicing physical therapist and I too experience a degree of neck pain occasionally when I've spent considerable time in prone. When I first started back shooting from the prone position a few years back, my neck pain was considerably greater. I thought to myself, "I'm a physical-damn-therapist! I ought to be able to figger this shit out!"

What I came up with was this: Raise your bipod, relax into your cheek weld and take frequent rests.

I also agree that having your scope biased forward would tend to be less provocative than one set too far posteriorly.

Avoid the regular use of any type of NSAID. (Do an Internet search on NSAIDs and leaky gut.)

If this doesn't fix what ails you, let me know and I will attempt a more in depth evaluation.

No charge.

MontanaHick,

Where in your back does your pain occur?

 

[Joe L]

Lots of good advice above. I'll add my own, short experience. First, I use a 9-13" Harris bipod and have not yet needed to go lower. I also have scope rings that are a little tall so I had to add a cheek pad. I had a lot of difficulty with neck pain and actually vision after a few minutes when trying to shoot at a particular 500 meter range until I realized I was shooting uphill prone and that the concrete was actually sloped some downhill towards the target. I moved off the concrete enough to get a good angle and problem solved. Here is a photo...

Joe

 

[George63]

I find that to get a rear bag under the stock requires a little higher position than no rear bag - this brings more of the chest off the ground and some of that additional weight " hangs " off the neck on the rifle stock - this adds to the neck strain and undesired / inconsistent weight on the stock - my remedy for this has been to add another flat bag under my chest, supporting the torso independent of the arms/ neck, this makes for a more relaxed position and always the same weight of just the head on the stock - unfortunately it is another freaking thing to haul to each shooting position

 

[seanh]

all great advice...

As mentioned, exercise/stretch, DRINK PLENTY OF WATER a few hours before shooting and during your session....something often forgotten.

get a shooting mat if you don't have one already. I just use the interlocking foam rubber pieces---typical of what gyms have as flooring- 20 bucks at Walmart.

Drop the scope as low as you can. Simply raising the cheek piece higher for high rings will just increase the angle on the neck putting tension on the back. If you can't lower the scope, you'll get used to it eventually...just, the lower the better.

For the cheek piece, you can go adjustable or simply get a mouse pad (foam/cloth covered- not the plastic) and duct tape...setup so your cheek bone rests on the pad. I've seen a lot of people put that rest in the middle of the cheek...raises the head too much. (my last rifle never got the mouse pad/duct tape removed--it was just too comfortable--ugly but it worked very well)

If you can go with an adjustable cheek piece, get something like the loggerhead...plenty of adjustment, solid and looks good. Also, get an adjustable butt plate- 3 way. Getting the right length of pull and angle and vertical adjustment is a must in prone--not the same settings as bench.

get the rifle as low to the ground as you can...if it has to be high, consider getting something to lay on to raise your body up a little, it will reduce the angle of your back/neck.