Suggest Treatment For Neck Injury

help please.
About 11 months ago I had a neck injury where I damaged, fractured or broke something in my neck.

I was at the beach dove into the water and hit a sandbar head first.

I heard the crunch of my neck but I didn't feel any pain and wasn't paralyzed and didn't seem to have any problems.

Because I seemed ok, I never had Xrays done as I couldn't afford them then and I never wore a neck collar or treated it in anyway. I figured I would avoid physical activity for a while to give time for my neck to heal and thought that was good enough since there wasn't any pain or other problems.

As time went on, I would occasionally hear crunching sounds in my neck as I would turn it.

I thought  it must be broken fragments from my injury but since I had no pain or problems everything would be ok as long as I wasn't doing anything very physical to injure it.


Starting about 2 months ago (about a year after the accident) I sometimes get minor pain in the back right side of my neck with a little swelling.

For the past couple days to a week (or more) the back right side of my neck is a little swollen and maybe a bit numb from minor pain and the problem might be worsening.

What could cause these problems so long after the injury happened?


I am unemployed and I do not have any medical insurance.
I am 40 years old.

I don't know what to do.

What do you recommend?

Thank you very much.