Help! I can't turn my neck without it hurting! (Torticollis)

Lots of people are shy to ask me if I ever experience pain, like a muscle spasm or severe back pain or anything similar to what I'm treating when I'm massaging them. I guess its the same concept of wondering whether your dentist has a cavity or whether your mechanic ever breaks down on the highway. So with a humble heart I say, yes! I've experienced a plethera (I love using that word) of muscular pain in my lifetime and yes I do workout, eat healthy and am careful not to do any crazy stunts. But muscular spasms happen and today I woke up with something called "torticollis" It is a severe muscular spasm of the cervical (neck) muscles (and some surrounding muscles) that can leave you in lots of pain and an inability to turn your neck. Don't think you need to use your neck turning abilities that much? Try driving a car or turning to look when someone calls out your name. Each muscle group is so important to our everyday movement and most of us take it for granted each day...until we experience pain. Torticollis is caused by a muscle called the sternocleidomastoid (trying saying that 3 times fast) otherwise known as the SCM. This is not the only muscle affected, but its usually the main culprit. Other muscles may be the splenius capitis, trapezius, scalenes and levator scapulae to name a few. Any attempt to move the head will cause significant pain. There are different kinds of tortiollis but the one I and most people experience is the Spasmodic Torticollis where the spasm may be tonic (a sustained contraction). Adults are the main population for this condition although I have seen children suffer from it as well in rare cases. For the most part this spasm has come from a long period of mounting tension in the neck and or upper back muscles that has been accumulating and eventually resulted in this. If you're like me, you felt the tension in your shoulders from a couple of weeks back. I normally recieve massage therapy myself which prevents this from happening but I wasn't able to recieve my session recently and the tension kept mounting...
Just to note, torticollis can be ( emphasis on "can be") early symptoms of something more serious . There have been cases of detecting bone cancer in the spine , bone infections or an infection of adenoids (lymph nodes in the neck) which is why I don't like to dismiss certain cases if they continue. For treatment, if its very bad, see a chiropractor (a good one) and have some x-rays done to make sure the structure of your spine is alright. Medications such as an anti imfammatory to reduce the inflammation may be recommended if pain is too intense. For a more natural approach to torticollis caused by strictly muscle spasm, massage therapy and trigger point therapy are great sources of treatment and well as most heat ( a microwavable beaded heat pillow) and a muscle cream (I use I tiger balm and Sombra).