I dunno about "trapped;" if they gave you an anti-inflammatory, ice should help.

I used to take quite a bit if anti-flams till I started routinely icing. In my case it's a couple of tendons that swell under certain circumstances I can predict now, and so I ice before it hurts much, because when they swell they press on nerves that make it seem like huge areas are injured. Like a shoulder nerve felt all the way down the arm, but it's phantom pain-- the fingers are not injured, their nerves are just getting activated from up the line.

Icing removes this and restores movement that had been inhibited by the swelling. I still have to watch what I do after that, to avoid additional insult to the tendon, because the swelling and pain no longer warn me. But icing has allowed me to keep making music and then still get around the next day.

With icing, the chronic pain cycle no longer eats up the cortisol my tired adrenals make-- our natural anti-flams. This is important because those adrenals make things that run the whole system, keeping it in balance. When they get too worn out, or suppressed by taking cortisone, we can die of shock. They make the things that keep us from going into shock at the drop of a hat, in other words.

When the affected area is in my back or neck, I lie down on a soft couch with the hurt spot right on top of a re-usable gel pack in a fabric sleeve, bare-skinned. Sometimes I use a pillow to help the pack contour to press the affected area. A spouse is a big help in getting it placed right. And I always cover up first, because it cools me down all over!

If it is the thing you need, it will feel good for a few minutes, then very mixed up as the ice gets to the heat inside and the heat and cold argue back and forth (*G*), then just right. Then you will notice wanting to stretch the affected area. Do stretch carefully, ice still in place,and when the pack is no longer real cold, you are done.

If it is your upper back/neck area, you may get a slight headache from the cold or from the vessels recovering from the cold as more blood pours in, cold-shrunk vessels expanding again. It goes away very quickly unless you fret about it.

I did get a bad skin burn using an unlseeved pack two nights ago. It was the nerves crossing over the place where the collar bone attaches to the shoulder rig. I stuck an extra unsleeved pack under the bras strap to get it to press in snug, and now I have a four inch square freezer burn and abraded skin. So if you use a pack NOT protected by a self-fabric cover or a sleeve like a handi-wipe, look out.

While we were traveling it was so bad I could not drive, or sleep between drives, nerves jumping like crazy. Maddening. We took plastic garbage bags (and later switched to Ziploc), put about 1-3 quarts of ice in from our friendly motel (and later Kentucky Fried Chicken), popped the ice in a pillow case, and laid it over my shoulders like shoulder pads. If the cubes are big you need to add water to keep the pointy edges from hurting, and to spread the cold evenly. (You do that with a reusable ice pack too.)

Ice 1/2 hour at a time, with 1/2 hour or longer in between.

~Susan