CHICAGO -- As increasing number of people take up billiards, doctors can expect to see more cases of 'nine-ball neck,' a physician warned Thursday.
In a letter to the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Richard Dean Smith of the John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, Calif., said the problem had come to his attention with the case of 56-year-old occasional pool player.
The man complained of sore, tight muscles in his neck and right shoulder and morning stiffness that seemed 'to be worse a day or two after playing pocket billiards, especially nine-ball.'
The physician decided the problem called for field studies. He observed the patient in action and collected further data at a profesional nine-ball tournament in Reno, Nev. These studies revealed that players 'roll' their shoulders, turn their heads and crane their necks when they play.
'In the modern stance, the player extends the neck sharply to the point where the chin nearly touches the cue,' Smith wrote. This, along with a sharp contraction of muscles in the shoulders -- 'especially during the 'break'' of the rack of balls at the start of a game -- can lead to forces pulling against neck muscles.
The doctor successfully treated his patient with conditioning exercises, massage, heat, proper instruction in technique and encouranging 'more frequent participation in billiards.'
''Nine-ball neck' ... will probably occur with increasing frequency as more people now participate in billiards than in jogging,' Smith warned.
