Hi, thanks for asking in Healthcare Magic. Difficulty in swallowing after a blunt injury could be due to one of the following reasons. 1. esophageal injury. 2. cervical spine injury. 3. hypo pharyngeal perforation. 4. over stretching of neck muscles. Your neck would have hyper extended or tilted backwards during the elbowing, causing air way closure. This hyper extension can cause damage to the structures in throat like esophagus due to the compression force of thyroid cartilage against esophagus. Severe extension may cause even cervical spine injury, that may not be associated with symptoms of nerve injury. Injury and inflammation of neck muscles due to over stretching causes pain and difficulty during swallowing. Soft tissue injury due to the impact force also will cause severe pain and edema. Anatomically, hypo pharyngeal esophagus junction may be weak in some individuals and perforate during blunt injury. X-Ray of neck will reveal cervical bone injury or the presence of air shadow in case of hypo pharyngeal tear. MRI will confirm soft tissue injuries. Although analgesics and anti inflammatory drugs like Ibuprofen, ice pack on the injured area will ease the pain, you should consult an ENT surgeon to know the exact cause for difficulty in swallowing. I hope this is useful to you.