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Imagine you are walking on a street and someone calls you from behind. What would you do? If you heard it, you would turn your head and neck to say ‘Hello!’, right? The neck allows movement of the head and of course, it has many other functions as well. However, the current era has us slouching our heads down either to view our phones or a computer at home or work, etc. Oftentimes, people feel dull or stabbing pain or stiffness in the neck and surrounding region, the discomfort can be agonizing.
Your neck is a part of the cervical section of the spine and has vertebrae that allow movements while acting as a buffer to safeguard the spinal cord passing through the spine. Injuries, inflammation, abnormalities, and diseases in the joint region, to the bones, muscles, or even ligaments can cause neck pain. It’s important to narrow down the neck pain symptoms and causes to find a treatment for the same.
When it comes to symptoms, depending upon the cause of neck pain and other factors, you might feel weakness or numbness radiating from the neck to the arm, forearm, or leg. There can be a tingling sensation in the fingers or hands. Additionally, you could find it difficult to balance yourself. Other common symptoms as well are headache, burning or paining pain, stiffness in the neck, upper back, and shoulder region, etc.
Oftentimes, poor or bad posture is a common cause of neck pain. Posture is how we hold our bodies when standing, sitting, or resting. Ideally, a good posture involves maintaining the natural S-curve of the spine. Poor posture contributes to chronic neck and back pain. You might end up with conditions like pinched nerves, spinal dysfunction, etc. A good posture is undoubtedly the right way to preserve optimum spine health.
It could be a whiplash injury, accident, trauma, etc, that resulted in damaging the vertebral joints, nerves, discs, ligaments, or muscles and could trigger neck pain. Depending upon the severity of the injury, you must report to a doctor ASAP.
Experts suggest neck pain could be a symptom of a heart attack. It is usually associated with shortness of breath, nausea, sweating, vomiting, and jaw or arm pain.
Physical strain such as doing repetitive tasks, putting your head down when viewing phones and computers, poor posture, heavier body weight, and others can lead to excessive pressure on the muscles around the neck. Perhaps, muscle strain is one of the biggest neck pain symptoms and causes when accounted for compared to other reasons.
Persistent stress can flare up neck pain since the body holds up the tension around the neck and shoulder muscles. Stress affects the mood of a person and oftentimes, neck pain is the ultimate side effect which is why it’s crucial to keep the stress in check. Neck pain borne out of stress is accompanied by headache or aching around the shoulder region.
Another probable cause and symptom of neck pain is Meningitis. For the unversed, it is a condition wherein the fluid and membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord begin to inflame. It triggers symptoms such as fever, headache, and a stiff neck. It is an infectious disease due to bacterial, viral, fungal, parasitic, or amebic or there are non-infectious causes too such as certain drugs, lupus, brain surgery, etc.
As the neck is something that moves around the clock, it’s natural to see wear and tear over a long period. It could contribute to deterioration or even degeneration in the parts involved triggering the pain. It could be a pinched nerve or a herniated disk or spinal stenosis etc.
Constant wear and tear can cause friction between the facet joints in the neck. It is a common type of arthritis that affects joints aka the neck region that could result in changes in bone structure such as bone spurs.
A herniated disc refers to the condition when the outer layer of the disk between two vertebrae begins to rupture, oozing out the gel-like liquid causing irritation and inflammation in the surrounding region. As we are talking about spine health here, the herniated disc localized in the neck is called a ‘Cervical Herniated Disc’.
As the name suggests, this is a condition where wear and tear between bones results in degeneration that can contribute to severe and chronic pain.
Foraminal Stenosis is referred to a condition wherein the space around openings between two vertebrae (called foramen) is narrowed theory pressing on the nerve roots exiting from the same. One of the reasons why it would happen is bone spurs or the development of unwanted bone-eating up the space available for the nerve roots. It triggers numbness in the arm or shoulder, weakness, and neck pain to name a few.
Cervical Stenosis refers to the condition wherein the spinal canal that runs from the base of the skull towards the sacral region is narrowed at the neck or cervical region. Myelopathy can affect the full body and may result in difficulty walking, reduced fine motor skills, pain in the arms or hands or shoulder, etc. A doctor’s help becomes a must in these conditions where the treatment could be invasive or non-invasive based on various underlying factors.
Growths including masses like bone spurs, cysts, and tumors can exert pressure on the nerves in your neck triggering the pain. In case of such, doctors will write down some imaging tests to find out the cause.
Can’t figure out the causes & symptoms that led to your neck pain? Book an appointment with QI Spine Clinic at 086558 85566. We are a leading spine health and rehabilitation clinic that has successfully treated 13,000+ patients helping them avoid surgeries.
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