Marketing apprentice Samuel Johnson was racing to get ready for work after waking up late. The towel got caught on the back of his head and he heard a ‘crack’ in his neck
A ‘tearful’ bloke ended up in A&E after drying his hair too aggressively with a towel – for fear of running late to work. Samuel Johnson woke up 45 minutes later than planned for work on September 30, leaving himself just 15 minutes to get ready for work.
The panicked marketing apprentice, who usually wakes up at 6am every day, rolled out of bed at 6.45am and was rushing through his morning routine so he wouldn’t be late. In a rush to fix his ‘messy’ barnet, Samuel wet his hair under the bathroom tap before grabbing a towel to quickly dry himself.
But the 21-year-old says he ‘dried his hair too aggressively’ and the towel got caught on the back of his head. Instead of carefully removing it, Samuel accidentally yanked his neck ‘all the way down’ with the towel, and said he heard a ‘crack’ in his neck.
But the 21-year-old says he ‘dried his hair too aggressively’ and the towel got caught on the back of his head. Instead of carefully removing it, Samuel accidentally yanked his neck ‘all the way down’ with the towel, and said he heard a ‘crack’ in his neck.
Samuel said the initial pain wasn’t bad, and he managed to make it into work just 10 minutes late. But he says the pain worsened throughout the day and became so severe that Samuel struggled to turn his head to the side, and it felt like it was ‘throbbing with its own heartbeat’.
By the time he’d driven home, Samuel burst into tears because the pain was so bad and his mum took him to A&E. Doctors diagnosed a sheepish-looking Samuel with a trapped nerve and sent him home with painkillers, but he says it felt like ‘he’d given himself whiplash’.
A week after the incident Samuel said his neck felt better and he’s now urging people not to rush if running late, as it’s not worth sacrificing your health.
Samuel, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, said: “I woke up really late for work, my hair is such a mess in the morning so I went to wet it under the tap in the bath. After I wet my hair, I started drying it really roughly because I was rushing so much.
“I got the towel caught round the back of my head so I went to pull it off. But instead of pulling it off, the towel got caught and my head went flying all the way down with the towel.
“I heard a click in my neck and I thought I’d just pulled a muscle because the pain wasn’t that bad to begin with. I went to work, I sat at my desk all day and it just seemed to be getting worse and worse. I couldn’t even look to the side without wanting to cry, I struggled to drive home from work.”
When Samuel arrived home he ‘burst into tears’, with his worried mum advising him to go to A&E where doctors diagnosed him with a trapped nerve and sent him home with painkillers.
Samuel said: “I got home from work and I just burst into tears because I was in so much pain. My mum said I needed to go to A&E. My neck was really inflamed and it was throbbing. It felt like it had its own heartbeat and I was really struggling to move my neck.
“I told the triage nurse I was in a rush this morning and I dried my hair too aggressively and I was really embarrassed. I saw the doctor and they told me I’d strained it and there was a trapped nerve because it [my neck] had swelled up so much. The pain was in the middle of my neck, down into my right shoulder.
“The doctors sent me home with painkillers. When I woke up the next day I couldn’t move at all, it was so bad, I just felt like a rock. Before I went into A&E I honestly thought I’d given myself whiplash, I might have done but they never actually said if I did or not.”
Now, Samuel says he’ll ‘think twice’ about rushing in the future. Samuel said: “The main thing I’ve learnt is to not rush – it’s not worth sacrificing your health to get to work on time. It’s better to be safe than sorry. I would also warn other people to watch what you’re doing and don’t be stupid like me.”
Since sharing a video talking about the incident online the clip has gone viral, racking up more than 83,000 views, likes and comments. One user commented: “Essentially gave yourself whiplash.”
Another wrote: “Trapped nerve is awful but you made this sound so funny.” A third added: “What are you drying your hair with? A leaf blower?”