Pain in the neck

2 August 2021

The symptoms of neck pain are familiar to everyone: it pulls the muscles, it is impossible to tilt and turn your head, and to look to the side, you need to turn your whole body. The culprit of troubles, 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

Neck pain 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 nuisance? A special maternity bandage will help 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 hard mattress and a low pillow. But the most important thing is to consult a doctor, since any self-medication can negatively affect the condition of the mother and the unborn baby.

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 milk. How to help yourself and prevent the pain in the neck area from interfering with the joy of the baby?

Monitor your posture. While carrying a child, the center of gravity shifted with an increase in the abdomen - you had to bend back to maintain balance, and the shoulders were tense all the time.
Do not overstrain physically, try to properly distribute the load on the back. Various carrying devices can help with this. They distribute the weight of the child on both shoulders and prevent back and neck fatigue.
Baby care items need to be adjusted in accordance with their height so as not to stand for a long time in an uncomfortable position.
It is very important to take a comfortable position when breastfeeding, especially at night.

Neck pain in men

Neck pain is usually not gender-specific - 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 may indicate a fairly serious illness:

Thyroiditis is an inflammation of the thyroid gland. With thyroiditis, patients are worried 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: a sore throat while swallowing, it is difficult to turn the neck and even breathe.
Phlegmon of the thyroid cartilage is an 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. Infringement leads to pain during 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 elderly people, can indicate the development of diseases:

Cancer of the apex of the lung (cancer with Pancost and Horner's syndrome). The patient's pain in this case is associated with the growth of the tumor into 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 disorder characterized by stiffness and pain in the muscles of the shoulder girdle and hips.
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 causing distant pain

Perhaps the most specific "childish" cause of neck pain is torticollis, when the child'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 skeleton of the face.

Contrary to popular belief, the disease occurs not only during childbirth. Depending on how 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 childbirth, when the baby turns his head to the side and injures the neck muscles.
Dermatogenous - when the neck is twisted from the scars that are left by trauma or burns.
Reflex - it happens with injuries, otitis media, diseases of the salivary gland.
Neurogenic - due to muscle spasms after polio 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 observed in newborns, or manifests itself in the first months. The greatest risk of its occurrence arises when:

The fetus during natural childbirth is in breech presentation.
The location 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 forceps and vacuum for difficult labor.
The mastoid muscle is inflamed even during intrauterine development, as a result of which muscle tissue was replaced by fibrous tissue in the area of inflammation.
The mastoid muscle is pathologically hypertrophied and shortened.
With a caesarean section.

How can you cure torticollis?

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

Different types of neck pain

Sharp neck pain

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

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

Treatment for pain depends on the cause and includes:

Prescribing pain medications.
Muscle relaxants and antispasmodics to relieve muscle spasm.
Immobilization (immobilization) of the cervical spine.
Exercise therapy and physiotherapy.

Severe neck pain

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

Exacerbation of osteochondrosis, when an unsuccessful movement, rotation or shaking of the body causes displacement of the vertebrae, infringement of an existing hernia, compression of the spinal nerves.
Cervical radiculitis (inflammation and pinching of the spinal roots).
Cervicago - "lumbago" (sharp 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 many unpleasant minutes. As a result of muscle spasm or the shift of the vertebrae relative to each other, arteries supplying the brain can be pinched or twisted. In the most severe cases, this can lead to a condition similar to pre-stroke, when a person is dizzy, everything floats before his eyes, sometimes speech and vision are lost.

Neck pain on the left

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

Heart disease (heart attack, coronary artery disease, angina pectoris).
Cancer of the upper left lung.
Injuries.
Metastases 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).

Neck pain on the right

Pain in the neck on the right is an alarming symptom, but most often it is explained banally: 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 radiating to neck and shoulder.
Right-sided apical lung cancer with tumor invasion into the nerves located above.
Bruises, injuries, fractures of the clavicle and vertebrae.
Tumors of the cervical spine (metastases from other organs).
If the pain is concentrated in the front right side of the neck, it may also indicate heart problems (heart attack, coronary artery disease).
Inflammation of the lymph nodes due to ARVI and sore throat.

Neck and shoulder pain

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

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

Neck and back pain

Pain in the neck and lower back, as a rule, is a sign of widespread osteochondrosis, which has invaded the entire spinal column. 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 strong, painful if it has worsened. Exacerbation begins with a sharp pain in the neck and back with an unsuccessful turn, movement, impact. It can be removed with the help of medications prescribed by the doctor, rest, light heat on the affected area, exercise therapy and physiotherapy.

Neck and nape pain

Pain in the neck and back of the head is most often a symptom of a banal cervical osteochondrosis - a dangerous disease, but not fatal. 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, the 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.

Neck pain causes and symptoms

Trauma

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

Incorrect neck bend, inability to turn the head, chest and neck muscle tension indicate a fracture of the lower vertebrae.
Pain in the crown and back of the head is an indicator that the 1st cervical vertebra is damaged.
Swelling and "bruising" can be a consequence of a neck injury.
Pain in the neck when turning the head, in the shoulders, upper chest, aching headaches are a symptom of whiplash injury, which occurs due to alternating sharp bending and extension of the neck (this can happen when the vehicle is suddenly braked).

Neoplasms

An extremely dangerous cause of neck pain is a malignant neoplasm. What could it be?

Neck pain as a symptom of a tumor in the upper part of the lung. It sprouts nerve bundles and blood vessels, which causes severe pain. A person may be bothered by neck pains on the left or on the 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 on the neck, they grow with the progression of the disease, and it is difficult not to notice it. Other prominent signs of lymphoma are excessive sweating, seemingly unreasonable fever, and weight loss.
Salivary gland cancer is a tumor 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 into its walls, visually represents a tuberous neoplasm. It is difficult to notice them during a routine examination, therefore, cancer, unfortunately, is diagnosed at a late stage, when other manifestations become apparent: a feeling of a foreign body in the throat, hoarseness and nasalness of the voice, difficulty breathing through the nose. A tumor of the larynx is also dangerous because it is prone to the early appearance of metastases, which greatly worsens the prognosis of the patient's recovery.
Thyroid cancer presents with nodular lumps, pain in the front of the neck, and voice changes.
With cancer of the cartilage of the thyroid gland, patients complain of difficulty in swallowing and moving food in the larynx, sensation of a foreign body or a lump in the throat.

Reflected pain in diseases of other organs

The pain that radiates to the neck does not always indicate that the problem is in the neck itself. Sometimes it hurts due to ill health of other organs, and then the pain is called reflected. What diseases can cause it?

Cardiac (coronary artery disease, heart attack, angina pectoris) - they are accompanied by attacks, when pain radiates to the shoulders, neck, sometimes to the arm.
Pain in the neck on the right, under the right scapula 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 (lymphoma, tumor metastases) are the cause of human suffering when the neoplasm affects the nerve endings. So, cancer of the apex of the lung, when the tumor grows upwards, leads to pain in the neck and shoulders. Intracranial tumors, head oncological diseases 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. Spasm is not only due to stress, injury or injury - the cause can be stress, nervous shock and fatigue. Why is this happening?

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

Sedentary lifestyle, frequent computer work

Pain in the muscles of the neck often occurs due to the fact that a person has impaired posture, and the cause of impaired 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 at the computer. The situation is aggravated by the fact that the workplace is often not organized correctly, and the person sits hunched over or uncomfortably bent over. 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 subsiding are replaced by exacerbations, and only competent treatment, a change in lifestyle from sedentary to mobile, posture control, strengthening the muscles of the neck and back can break 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:
Anamnesis of life. It is necessary to find out whether there have been 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 painful sensations in the neck - with biliary colic, pain sometimes radiates just to this area. At the same time, the cause of neck pain on the left can be: swelling of the upper part of the left lung, muscle inflammation and compression of the spinal roots on the left.
Anamnesis of the disease - how and how it began, which doctor the patient consulted, what examination and treatment was prescribed for him, how it affected the course of the disease (whether it got better or worse).
A visual examination will help to 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 there is a suspicion that pain in the neck and shoulders is a consequence 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 to clarify the diagnosis: MSCT, CT, X-ray.
Sometimes electroneuromyography (ENMG), an electrophysiological study that determines the condition of the muscles and the peripheral nervous system, is a useful diagnostic procedure.

Neck pain treatment

Drug treatment

Medical treatment of neck pain, if it is due to cancer or problems in other organs, is aimed at coping with the identified underlying disease. If the matter is in diseases of the spine and muscle tension, then the following medications 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 stage, both may be prescribed (at intervals of several hours). So, if you can turn your head from pain in the neck only through tears, injections and ointments will come to the rescue.
Muscle relaxants are medicines that reduce skeletal muscle tone.
Antispasmodics are drugs for relieving smooth muscle spasms.
B vitamins are needed to improve metabolic processes and the synthesis of neurotransmitters.
If blood circulation is impaired due to compression of blood vessels and muscles, vasodilating drugs are prescribed.

Massage

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

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

Physiotherapy

Physiotherapy treatment of neck pain begins at the same time as medication, 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 light beams with a fixed wavelength on the affected area of the body.
Magnetotherapy 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 inclined ribs. This type of physiotherapy normalizes muscle tone, relieves tension.
The method of shock wave therapy (SWT) 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.
Exercise therapy (physiotherapy exercises) - the complex can vary 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 yielded the desired result:

Pain does not 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 disc hernias are performed simultaneously with fusion and immobilization of adjacent vertebrae. To eliminate the compression of the spinal cord, laminectomy is used - removal of a part of the vertebral arch with the subsequent elimination of osteophytes and hernias.

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

Preventing 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 very much, then life ceases to please at all. You can avoid neck troubles with prevention. What do we have to do?

Choose a comfortable sleeping position, a mattress with sufficient firmness and a low pillow on which your shoulders will not fall through.
Monitor your own posture: do not slouch, do not sit hunched over.
Perform at least simple exercises to strengthen your neck muscles regularly. Stretching and yoga are helpful.
If you are a sedentary lifestyle, take breaks every hour and a half to walk, stretch, and stretch.
Protect from physical injuries: do not turn your neck sharply, avoid impacts 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, stress and worries. Negative emotions and anxiety can cause stiffness, fatigue, and muscle cramps.
It is undesirable to load one of the two shoulders, as the distortion of the spine causes neck pain on the right or left.
Avoid colds and drafts that can cause myositis (inflammation of the neck muscles).
Drink plenty of decaffeinated liquids. Adequate water allows you to efficiently transport the substances and electrolytes that your muscles need.
Eat foods that contain calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium. A deficiency in these substances can cause muscle spasm and neck pain.

Severe neck pain can seriously ruin your life, especially if it happened at the wrong time - for example, on 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 about prevention: moderate exercise, sleep and work in a comfortable position, proper nutrition and weight distribution during carrying will help maintain neck health.