Neck pain

2 August 2021

Symptoms of neck pain are familiar to everyone: it pulls the muscles, it is impossible to tilt and turn your head, and in order to look to the side, you need to turn the whole body. The culprit of problems, as a rule, is the spine: infringements, hernias, scoliosis lead to the fact that a person experiences pain in the back and neck. The discomfort makes him self-medicate. But if the pain radiating to the neck does not go away after home therapy, the next step is to visit the doctor.

Neck pain in adults

Neck pain in women

Pain in the neck during pregnancy

Back and neck pain often worries expectant mothers. The explanation is simple: with a change in the weight and proportions of the body, the posture changes, the load on the spine increases.

How to deal with this annoyance? A special maternity bandage will help you keep your back in the correct position. To strengthen the muscles of the back and neck, it is useful to do swimming and yoga (of course with the permission of an obstetrician-gynecologist). You need to sleep in a comfortable position, on a firm mattress and a low pillow. But the most important thing is to consult a doctor, as any self-medication can adversely affect the condition of the mother and the unborn child.

Neck pain in young mothers

Back and neck pain is common among young mothers. The matter is complicated by the fact that a woman during breastfeeding cannot use many medicines, because harmful substances will get into the milk. How to help yourself and prevent pain in the neck area from interfering with the child's joy?

Monitor your posture. When carrying a baby, the center of gravity shifted with an increase in the abdomen - you had to lean back to maintain balance and your shoulders were always taut.
Do not physically overload, try to correctly distribute the load on your back. Various transport devices can help with this. They distribute the baby's weight on both shoulders and prevent back and neck fatigue.
Baby care items need to be adjusted according to their height so that they do not stay in an awkward position for a long time.
It is very important to be in a comfortable position while breastfeeding, especially at night.

Neck pain in men

Pain in the neck, as a rule, does not differ in gender: it can appear in both men and women. And yet there are some differences in anatomy: the male neck is decorated with a pronounced Adam's apple - a thickening of the thyroid cartilage, the plates of which are located at an angle to each other.

Pain in the Adam's apple in men can indicate a fairly serious disease:

Thyroiditis is inflammation of the thyroid gland. With thyroiditis, patients are concerned about pain in the neck when turning, pain in the Adam's apple, above and below it, swelling of the neck.
Cancer of the thyroid cartilage - its danger lies in the fact that the onset of the disease can be similar to a common cold: sore throat when swallowing, it is difficult to turn the neck and even breathe.
Thyroid cartilage phlegmon is extensive suppuration of the cartilage and soft tissues of the neck, which is life-threatening. Patients complain of chills and high fever, pain when swallowing, loss of voice, difficulty breathing.
Cartilage tuberculosis occurs, as a rule, with existing pulmonary tuberculosis and is its complication.
Kadik may be ill due to osteochondrosis. Violation leads to pain when swallowing, sneezing, coughing.
Fractures, bruises, and compression of the cartilage can lead to displacement, swelling of the neck and suffocation.

Neck pain in the elderly

Pain radiating to the neck in older people can indicate the development of diseases:

Cancer of the apex of the lung (cancer with Pancost and Horner syndrome). The patient's pain in this case is associated with the growth of the tumor in the nerve endings of the shoulder girdle and neck.
Tumors of the neck, salivary glands.
Coronary heart disease. Pain can spread from the chest to the neck and arms, causing symptoms similar to osteochondrosis.
Polymyalgia rheumatica is an inflammatory disease characterized by stiffness and pain in the shoulder girdle and hip muscles.
Spinal metastases in various oncological diseases (it is no secret that the likelihood of getting cancer increases with age).
Subluxation of the cervical vertebra as a complication of rheumatoid arthritis.
The most common causes of neck and neck pain in the elderly are osteoarthritis and osteochondrosis of the spine, rheumatoid arthritis, and chronic inflammation of the connective tissue.

Neck pain in children

Severe neck pain in children occurs for the same reasons as in adults:

Trauma
Osteochondrosis
Stress and anxiety
tumors
Diseases of other organs that cause distant pain

Perhaps the most specific "infantile" cause of neck pain is stiff neck, when the baby's head is turned sharply to the side. Torticollis is dangerous because it leads to curvature of the cervical spine and disrupts the formation of the facial skeleton.

Contrary to popular belief, the disease occurs not only during childbirth. Depending on how the torticollis appeared, the following types are distinguished:

Congenital: It can happen in the womb if the fetus is not positioned correctly, but most often it happens during delivery, when the baby turns his head to the side and injures the neck muscles.
Dermatogenic - when the neck is twisted by the scars left by trauma or burns.
Reflex - happens with injuries, otitis media, salivary gland diseases.
Neurogenic - due to muscle spasms after poliomyelitis or encephalitis.
Spastic - due to excessive tension of the cervical muscles.
Traumatic - associated with a fracture of the spine.

Torticollis (with the exception of dermatogenic and neurogenic) is usually seen in newborns or occurs in the first few months. The greatest risk of it occurring occurs when:

The fetus during natural delivery is in breech presentation.
The position of the fetus in the mother's abdomen is such that the wall of the uterus presses on the neck.
Childbirth is difficult and the baby's mastoid muscle is damaged (with the formation of a scar).
It becomes necessary to use pliers and vacuum for difficult jobs.
The mastoid muscle becomes inflamed during intrauterine development, as a result of which the muscle tissue is replaced by fibrous tissue in the area of inflammation.
The mastoid muscle is pathologically hypertrophic and shortened.
With a caesarean section.

How can you cure a stiff neck?

The conservative method is with the help of a massage and physiotherapy course, a special orthopedic style of the baby's head, wearing an orthopedic collar and gymnastic exercises.
Operation - performed if conservative methods did not yield results. During the operation, the surgeon stretches the sternocleidomastoid muscle and straightens the position of the baby's head.

Different types of neck pain

Sharp pain in the neck

Why is there severe pain in the neck? There are two reasons:

Trauma (fracture, blow, contusion).
Violation of nerve endings - this is the case with osteochondrosis, hernia of the intervertebral discs, compression of the spinal canal.

Treatment for pain depends on the cause and includes:

Pain medication prescription.
Muscle relaxants and antispasmodics to relieve muscle spasm.
Immobilization (immobilization) of the cervical spine.
Physical therapy and physiotherapy.

Severe pain in the neck

Severe neck pain is always unpleasant. I would like to quickly understand why it hurts and recover. What are the causes of severe pain?

Exacerbation of osteochondrosis, when unsuccessful movement, rotation or concussion of the brain provokes displacement of the vertebrae, violation of an existing hernia, compression of the spinal nerves.
Cervical radiculitis (inflammation and pinching of the spinal roots).
Cervicago - "low back pain" (acute and severe muscle spasm).
Severe back and neck pain can occur after an injury.

Neck pain with osteochondrosis

Neck pain with osteochondrosis is very severe and gives the patient a lot of unpleasant minutes. Due to muscle spasm or the displacement of the vertebrae relative to each other, the arteries that feed the brain can be pinched or twisted. In severe cases, this can lead to a condition similar to a pre-stroke, when a person is dizzy, everything floats before her eyes, sometimes speech and vision are lost.

Pain in the left neck

Pain in the left neck is a possible symptom of problems not only in the cervical spine, but also outside it. What can a person have if he has a pain in his left neck?

Heart disease (heart attack, coronary heart disease, angina pectoris).
Left upper lung cancer.
injuries.
Metastasis of tumors from other organs to the nodes of the left side of the neck.
Infectious inflammation of the lymph nodes (due to tonsillitis, ARVI, tonsillitis).

Pain in the neck on the right

Pain in the neck on the right is an alarming symptom, but most often it is trivially explained: a person has osteochondrosis with all the ensuing consequences. Such consequences include nerve entrapment, muscle spasms, intervertebral protrusion and hernia, vascular disorders.

But there are other causes of neck pain on the right:

Biliary colic that radiates to the neck and shoulder.
Right apical lung cancer with tumor invasion into the nerves located above.
Bruises, wounds, fractures of the clavicle and vertebrae.
Tumors of the cervical spine (metastases from other organs).
If the pain is concentrated in the right front of the neck, it can also indicate heart problems (heart attack, coronary artery disease).
Inflammation of the lymph nodes due to ARVI and sore throat.

Pain in the neck and shoulders

Pain in the neck and shoulders is a classic sign of cervical osteochondrosis and its associated complications (violation of hernia, nerves, spinal cord trunk). In addition, simultaneous pain in the neck and shoulders is a symptom of such diseases:

Gallstone disease during an exacerbation, with biliary colic.
Heart disease.
Shoulder osteoarthritis.
Cervical plexitis is inflammation of the large nerve nodes of the spinal nerves.
Periarthritis of the shoulder and scapula - inflammation of the shoulder tendons and capsules of the shoulder joints.
myositis.
Arthritis.

Pain in the neck and back

Pain in the neck and lower back, as a rule, is a sign of diffuse osteochondrosis, which has invaded the entire spine. After all, it does not happen that the posture in one part of the spine is good and in the other it is bad. With osteochondrosis, neck pains are mild when the disease is in remission and severe, painful if it has worsened. Exacerbation begins with severe pain in the neck and back with an unsuccessful twist, movement, impact. It can be removed with the help of medications prescribed by the doctor, rest, light heat on the affected area, physical therapy and physiotherapy.

Pain in the neck and nape

Pain in the neck and back of the head is often a symptom of a banal cervical osteochondrosis - a dangerous, but not fatal disease. But sometimes it indicates meningitis, and this disease poses a threat to human life. The causative agents of meningitis - bacteria and viruses - invade the brain and spinal cord and cause inflammation of their membranes.

Numbness, pain in the neck and back of the head, stiffness of the occipital muscles, inability to simultaneously pull the head to the chest, bend the leg at the knee - all these are meningeal symptoms that will immediately alert the doctor. Treatment of a dangerous disease is carried out in a hospital,

In addition to meningitis and osteochondrosis, the cause of pain in the neck and back of the head can be injuries, neuralgia of the occipital nerve, hypertension and muscle strain.

Causes and symptoms of neck pain

Trauma

The cause of neck pain sometimes becomes an injury, as a result of which the cervical vertebrae are displaced or broken, the spinal nerves are damaged. Injuries can occur due to accidents, falls, injuries, bad diving or sudden movements. Symptoms of a neck injury include:

Incorrect neck curvature, inability to turn the head, muscle tension in the chest and neck indicate a fracture of the lower vertebrae.
Pain in the crown and back of the head is an indicator that the first cervical vertebra is damaged.
Swelling and "bruising" can be a consequence of a neck injury.
Pain in the neck when turning the head, shoulders, upper chest, aching headache are a symptom of whiplash injuries, which occur due to alternating bending and extension of the neck (this can occur when the vehicle is suddenly braked).

neoplasms

An extremely dangerous cause of neck pain is a malignant neoplasm. How can it be?

Neck pain as a symptom of a tumor in the upper lung. It causes nerve bundles and blood vessels to sprout, causing severe pain. A person may be bothered by neck pain on the left or right, depending on the location of the tumor.
A symptom of neck pain sometimes indicates the development of lymphoma - cancer of the lymph nodes. Since many lymph nodes are concentrated in the neck, they grow as the disease progresses and it is difficult to miss. Other prominent signs of lymphoma are excessive sweating, seemingly unreasonable fever, and weight loss.
Salivary gland cancer is a cancer that affects the salivary glands behind the ears, on the side of the neck, and in the palate. At an early stage, it is painless, only sometimes you can notice seals in the affected glands.
A tumor of the larynx grows in its walls, visually represents a tuberous neoplasm. It is difficult to notice them during a routine examination, so cancer, unfortunately, is diagnosed at an advanced stage, when other manifestations occur: sensation of a foreign body in the throat, hoarseness and nasality of the voice, difficulty breathing through the nose. A laryngeal tumor is also dangerous because it is prone to the early onset of metastases, which greatly worsens the patient's recovery prognosis.
Thyroid cancer presents with nodular lumps, pain in the front of the neck, and changes in the voice.
In thyroid cartilage cancer, patients complain of difficulty swallowing and moving food into the larynx, foreign body sensation or lump in the throat.

Pain reflected in diseases of other organs

Pain radiating to the neck does not always indicate that the problem is in the neck itself. Sometimes it hurts due to poor health of other organs, and therefore the pain is called a reflex. What diseases can cause it?

Cardiac (ischemic heart disease, heart attack, angina pectoris) - are accompanied by attacks, when the pain radiates to the shoulders, neck, sometimes to the arm.
Pain in the right neck, under the right shoulder blade and in the right shoulder occurs during an attack of biliary colic with stones in the gallbladder.
Diseases of the esophagus (reflux, erosion, ulcer).
Oncological diseases (lymphomas, tumor metastases) are the cause of human suffering when the neoplasm affects the nerve endings. Hence, apex lung cancer, when the tumor grows upward, leads to neck and shoulder pain. Intracranial tumors, oncological diseases of the head also cause pain in the cervical spine.
Abscesses and phlegmon of the head.
Bleeding into the subarachnoid space between the brain and its delicate tissues.

Psychological causes of neck pain

Neck pain symptoms often appear in conjunction with a muscle spasm. The spasm isn't just due to stress, injury, or injury - stress, nerve shock, and fatigue can be the cause. Why is this happening?

The fact is that the body perceives stress as a threat to its own well-being, and this causes it to mobilize. There is a release of stress hormones into the bloodstream, the heart rate increases, and digestion, on the contrary, slows down. Muscle tone increases in response to hormonal changes. As soon as the alarming situation occurs, the body goes into normal mode. But if emotional stress takes a chronic form, muscle spasm becomes constant and, in the background, diseases of the spine (osteochondrosis, hernia, disc protrusion) develop.

Sedentary lifestyle, frequent computer work

Pain in the neck muscles often occurs due to the fact that a person has an altered posture, and the cause of the altered posture may be a weakness of the muscle corset. As a rule, this happens in people who are far from physical education, lead a sedentary lifestyle and work a lot on the computer. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the workplace is often not organized properly and the person sits uncomfortably bent or bent. As a result, the pain radiating to the neck becomes a constant companion, the usual muscle spasm is formed, degenerative changes in the intervertebral discs begin, osteochondrosis develops. And even with osteochondrosis, neck pain becomes a constant companion: periods of pain decrease are replaced by exacerbations and only competent treatment, a change in lifestyle from sedentary to mobile, control of posture, strengthening neck and back muscles can interrupt this cycle.

Diagnosis for Neck Pain

How to establish the causes of neck pain and determine the diagnosis?

First of all, you need to collect an anamnesis:
Life history. It is necessary to find out whether there were injuries to the neck and shoulder girdle in the past, what diseases the person was sick with and which of them became chronic, whether there was a recent cold and hypothermia. For example, the fact of cholecystitis can explain the painful sensations in the neck: with biliary colic, the pain sometimes radiates precisely to this area. At the same time, the cause of pain in the left neck can be: a tumor in the upper part of the left lung, muscle inflammation and compression of the spinal roots on the left.
History of the disease: how and how it started, which doctor consulted the patient, what examination and treatment was prescribed, how it affected the course of the disease (whether it got better or worse).
A visual examination will help establish a diagnosis: the doctor palpates the lymph nodes and muscles, checks the mobility of the head and neck, assesses the condition and color of the skin, looks for visible damage and trauma.
If it is suspected that neck and shoulder pains are the result of diseases of other organs, the patient should be referred to a specialized specialist - oncologist, endocrinologist, gastroenterologist, cardiologist, etc.
In other cases, radiation diagnostics will help clarify the diagnosis: MSCT, CT, X-rays.
Sometimes electroneuromyography (ENMG), an electrophysiological study, is a useful diagnostic procedure, which determines the condition of the muscles and peripheral nervous system.

Neck pain treatment

Pharmacological treatment

Medical treatment of neck pain, whether it is due to cancer or other organ problems, is aimed at coping with the underlying disease identified. If the matter concerns diseases of the spine and muscle tension, the following drugs can be prescribed:

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are used to relieve pain and reduce inflammation. NSAIDs are available in the form of tablets, injections and in the form of gels and ointments. In the acute phase, both can be prescribed (at intervals of several hours). So, if you can turn your head from neck pain only through tears, injections and ointments will come to the rescue.
Muscle relaxants are medicines that reduce skeletal muscle tone.
Antispasmodics - drugs to relieve smooth muscle spasms.
B vitamins are necessary to improve metabolic processes and the synthesis of neurotransmitters.
If blood circulation is impaired due to compression of blood vessels and muscles, vasodilator drugs are prescribed.

Massage

Massage to treat neck and lower back pain is used when the acute symptoms of the disease have subsided. The beneficial effect of the massage is that:

Improve blood flow to the affected area
Relieves muscle spasm, relaxes, helps relieve tension and fatigue
Removes swelling and inflammation
Improves the cerebral blood supply
Restores the ability of the joints to move

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapeutic treatment of neck pain begins simultaneously with medications, when acute symptoms subside or remission occurs. During the period of the acute course of the disease, only those manipulations that have an analgesic effect can be prescribed. Physiotherapy gives a good effect, because the effect is aimed specifically at the diseased area. What procedures are possible?

Electrophoresis with various drugs. Under the influence of alternating current, drugs penetrate deep into the tissues.
Phototherapy (laser therapy) - exposure to beams of light with a fixed wavelength on the affected area of the body.
Magnetic therapy is a method of treating pain under the neck and in the neck using an alternating or constant magnetic field. The method has anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects.
Ultrasound treatment provides relief from neck pain and inflammation.
Detensor therapy is a stretching of the spine due to the weight of a person on a special mattress with sloping ribs. This type of physiotherapy normalizes muscle tone, relieves tension.
The Shock Wave Therapy (SWT) method is based on the action of low frequency acoustic waves that the human ear cannot hear. Treatment with the help of shock wave therapy allows you to reduce or disappear pain, improve blood flow in the area of exposure to the device.
Vibration therapy: exposure to mechanical vibrations using vibrating massagers.
Physical therapy (physiotherapy exercises) - the complex can range from traditional gymnastics to an individual set of exercises, developed taking into account the diagnosis and condition of the patient.

Surgical intervention

Surgical treatment for neck pain is prescribed when conservative therapy has not produced the desired result:

Pain doesn't go away with medication
There are signs of compression of the spinal cord and roots
Pronounced and increased weakness in the muscles of the hands

Most often, operations to remove herniated discs are performed simultaneously with fusion and immobilization of the adjacent vertebrae. To eliminate compression of the spinal cord, laminectomy is used - removal of a part of the vertebral arch, followed by the elimination of osteophytes and hernias.

After surgery and proper rehabilitation, the symptoms of neck pain cease to bother the patient.

Prevent neck pain

a healthy lifestyle for the prevention of neck pain

With neck pain, turning your head, tilting it or lying down comfortably becomes a big problem. And if it hurts a lot, then life stops pleasing altogether. You can avoid neck problems with prevention. What do we have to do?

Choose a comfortable sleeping position, a mattress with sufficient firmness, and a low pillow that your shoulders won't fall on.
Monitor your posture: don't bend over, don't sit hunched over.
Do at least simple exercises to regularly strengthen your neck muscles. Stretching and yoga are helpful.
If you have a sedentary lifestyle, take breaks every hour and a half to walk, stretch, and stretch.
Protect from physical injury: do not turn the neck sharply, avoid shocks and traumatic sports loads.
Get rid of the habit of talking on the phone by pressing it with your ear and shoulder.
Avoid nervous shocks, stresses and worries. Negative emotions and anxiety can cause muscle stiffness, fatigue, and cramps.
It is not recommended to load either shoulder, as sprain sprain causes neck pain to the right or left.
Avoid colds and drafts that can cause myositis (inflammation of the neck muscles).
Drink lots of decaffeinated liquids. Adequate water allows you to efficiently transport the substances and electrolytes your muscles need.
Eat foods that contain calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium. A deficiency in these substances can cause muscle spasms and neck pain.

Severe neck pain can seriously ruin your life, especially if it happened at the wrong time, for example, during a long-awaited vacation. Therefore, at the first "calls", one should not ignore the alarming signals of the body, but undergo an examination and get a doctor's recommendation. It is not out of place to remember prevention: moderate exercise, sleep and work in a comfortable position, proper nutrition and weight distribution during transport will help maintain the health of the neck.