Back to Blog
Stiff neck moderna side effect6/29/2023 That said, I didn't notice how stiff my neck felt until hours after receiving my vaccine. It's worth noting that other factors could have been at work leading up to the vaccine, such as how I slept the night before and how tense I was in my home workspace ( I tend to slouch a lot). "And if you're holding your body in a slightly different way than you would normally, that could contribute potentially as well."īody and muscle aches are also common side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine, Dr. "That in and of itself may have caused a muscle tweak or some tension," she said. She added that another cause of neck stiffness could have been that I was favoring my left arm because it was sore (arm and injection-site soreness is common, and I experienced it for a number of days myself). Volertas said, can make the muscles around that area a little more tense and tight and can result in stiffness. Amina Abdeldaim, MD, MPH, the medical director for allergy-treatment brand Picnic, agreed, stating that my cervical lymph nodes, found on the sides of the neck, were likely inflamed. "Lymph nodes are where your immune cells live, and so just means that they're getting activated in doing what we want them to be doing," she said. Volertas explained that in addition to your armpits, you have lymph nodes running in your neck, along your collarbone, and behind your ears. The stiffness and soreness I experienced was exclusive to the left side of my neck, which is consistent with the fact that I got the COVID-19 shot on my left arm. The reaction also typically occurs on the same side of the body that the vaccine was administered, but Sofija Volertas, MD, an assistant professor in UNC's division of rheumatology, allergy, and immunology, told POPSUGAR that the lymph node swelling could be on both sides of your body (though is more likely on the side where you got the injection in your arm).ĥ Stretches That Benefit the Lymphatic System and Why It Matters It's an expected side effect of any vaccine and shows that your immune cells in your lymph nodes are working. Swollen lymph nodes are a reported side effect of the COVID-19 vaccines ( you might have read about swollen or tender lymph nodes under the armpit in particular that, for example, affected 11.6 percent of Moderna clinical trial participants after the first dose and 16 percent following the second dose). I hadn't heard of stiff neck specifically as a common COVID-19 vaccine side effect however, with a simple search on Twitter, I did find similar anecdotes from people who had gotten the vaccines, and after speaking with two experts in the field of allergy and immunology, I learned that this could very well be a normal response. The other side effects I experienced were headache and tiredness, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle with some rest, hydration, and Tylenol. For transparency's sake, as of this article's publishing, I am one week away from my second dose. I had a sore and stiff neck for the better part of two days after I received my first Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine (a few hours post-vaccination, I raised my arms to put my hair up and felt a sort of twinge in my neck).
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |