The human neck, like other animals, is an amazing part of the body, quite fragile but strong.
The cervical spine, along with all the muscles and ligaments, supports and moves the skull, absorbs shocks when walking, protects the brain from concussions, protects the blood vessels that feed it, and protects the spinal cord.
It can be said that almost everyone has experienced neck pain during their lifetime. Neck pain can affect both men and women of any age.
When the neck hurts, the reasons can be different. Some of them can resolve on their own within a few days, and some can cause chronic illness and pain.
Why does pain occur?
The most common reason why your neck hurts is poor posture. With the back bent, the head ceases to occupy a position just above the body and moves forward. In this position, the muscles and ligaments of the neck experience increased tension. The development of hips in the slope and neck is facilitated by prolonged work without changing position, sleeping on a soft bed or high pillow, prolonged static load.
Other causes of neck pain are injuries caused by falling head, in a car accident or while playing sports. With sudden acceleration and then braking, the cervical spine makes a jerk. As a result, the ligaments and muscles may stretch too much, causing a displacement or compression fracture in the cervical spine and the formation of intervertebral hernias.
Neck pain may appear as a secondary manifestation of other diseases. For example, with a heart attack, when a heart attack causes severe pain, which radiates along the nerve plexuses to the upper limbs, chest, neck. Neck pain with a heart attack is only a part of a large complex of symptoms - difficulty breathing, sweating, nausea, vomiting. If you have neck, jaw pain and other signs of a heart attack, you should call an ambulance immediately.
Neck pain is also used as a diagnostic sign of meningitis. With this disease, the neck muscles become hypertonic, that is, they become stiff. When you try to tilt your head towards your chest, your back neck hurts a lot.
The spine in the neck area hurts due to rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, spondylosis and osteoarthritis, hernia or bulge, with compression of nerve roots or spinal cord with infectious edema, abscess, tumor or benign neoplasm.
Special cases
Degenerative diseases
Osteochondrosis, or, in other words, dystrophic disorders in the intervertebral discs, leads to the fact that a person's neck constantly hurts. It is usually a mild aching pain, which is often accompanied by a feeling of numbness and pain in the shoulder girdle and head.
The area of the collar affected by osteochondrosis can cause the development of cerebral artery syndrome. With a decrease in intervertebral distances in this area, compression damage to the vertebral arteries occurs in the openings of the transverse extensions of the cervical vertebrae. The pressure on the vessel causes a decrease in blood flow to the brain with the appearance of dizziness, decreased vision and hearing. On the other hand, mechanical stimulation of the artery by pressure of the vertebrae causes a reflex spasm, which manifests as a tingling pulsating pain in the head.
Treatment
If the neck constantly hurts in the background of osteochondrosis, then the therapy begins with the removal of the pain syndrome. Another mandatory direction of treatment is to stop the degenerative processes in the cervical spine.
Pain relief can be achieved with the following groups of drugs:
- nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs — directly block the cascade of pain-signaling mediators;
- muscle relaxants - remove muscle spasm, reflex caused by severe pain;
- sedatives - calm and inhibit the nervous system and the transmission of pain impulses, including (valerian, antidepressants, sleeping pills);
- vasodilators - help eliminate vertebral artery syndrome and related pain.
To eliminate the cause of neck pain in osteochondrosis, chondroprotective drugs are prescribed to prevent the destruction of cartilage and vertebrae, as well as multivitamin mineral complexes.
Pain management also includes physical therapy, physiotherapy, massage, traction, reflex and taping therapy. During exacerbations, in order to relieve pain, the patient is advised to wear a special necklace that protects the neck from excessive mobility.
Muscle pain
Neck pain can occur when the muscles in the neck called myositis become inflamed.
Such pain should be distinguished from neuritis (inflammation of the nerve trunks with sensory disturbance) and pain caused by osteochondrosis.
Myositis occurs suddenly, after exposure to predisposing factors - hypothermia, vibration, prolonged overexertion, especially with long-term repetitive movements of the same type.
Cervical myositis is characterized by acute pain that occurs when an inflamed muscle tightens. The sharp intensity of the pain leads to difficulties in performing certain types of movements.
It usually hurts the long neck muscles on the anterolateral surface or the sternocleidomastoid muscles that pull the head back with a bilateral contraction and rotate it with a unilateral contraction.
The deep muscles surrounding the spine are also often inflamed and move the entire neck and back.
When probing the muscle, its increased tone and dense nodular areas are noticed. Violation of microcirculation and local trophism leads to gradual replacement of myocytes with connective tissue. As a result, the neck muscles are weak, their symmetry is broken on the sides of the spine, torticollis can occur and it is difficult for the patient to keep his head straight.
Treatment
Treatment begins by reducing the load on the neck. This is followed by a course of physiotherapeutic procedures - heating with UHF, electrophoresis with drugs, heating with paraffin, ozokerite wrapping, diathermy, massage, acupuncture. Such procedures restore blood circulation to the neck muscles. Of the drugs prescribed are vitamin B injections, anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs, ointments and rubbing.
An alternative method of treatment recommends the use of cabbage leaves or burdock as a poultice to relieve pain, preparing ointment from peeled willow buds in butter, rubbing a mixture of turpentine with apple cider vinegar and egg yolk. Also, the neck is rubbed with lava oil and then wrapped. The main guarantee of the success of any treatment is to keep the sore neck calm until the muscles are completely restored. Then you should start putting them back "on duty" using special gymnastics and massage.
Radicular syndrome
Severe neck pain, which spreads to the muscles of the head, shoulder girdle, upper limbs, can occur when the roots of the spinal nerves are crushed during prolapse, protrusion, or herniated discs.
In this disease, the inner core of the disc protrudes toward the spinal canal or its lateral horns. Hernia and its symptoms usually appear on one side. When pressure is created on the roots of the spinal nerves, a burning pain (cervical lumbago) appears in the innervated muscles. The patient feels numbness of the lower jaw, the area around the ears, the back of the head, the shoulder blades, the hands. Dizziness occurs, sharp pain in the neck when changing position from horizontal to vertical. Gradual protrusion of the disc nucleus leads to trauma to the surrounding tissues, their inflammation and edema. This creates the preconditions for inflammation of the nerve endings with the development of radiculitis, the mobility of the neck and upper limbs is gradually limited. Prolonged damage to the spinal nerves leads to paresis or paralysis of the limbs.
Therapy
What to do if your neck hurts because of a hernia? At home, with pain syndrome, painkillers, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, hormonal drugs, muscle relaxants are taken to relieve cramps.
In the hospital, severe neck pain is removed with the help of "blockades" - the introduction of anesthetic substances from the sides of the spine.
Swelling and inflammation are treated with steroids that can be injected directly into the hernia. Muscle pain is relieved by taking muscle relaxants.
Also, to prevent further development of hernia, I use drugs that strengthen cartilage tissue - chondroprotectors.
In many cases, therapeutic exercises and traction of the cervical spine with a bulge or a slight bulge help. Increasing the intervertebral space helps to "pull" the intervertebral disc and reduces the pressure on the nerves.
With a true hernia with rupture of the fibrous ring and prolapse of the nucleus into the spinal canal, surgery is required. There are several ways to remove neck pain with surgery:
- anterior cervical discectomy - removal of an additional piece of disc that presses on the spinal nerves;
- replacement of the damaged disc with an artificial joint, which protects the cervical spine from further destruction;
- microendoscopic discectomy using a posterior approach and removal of small parts of the hernia with an endoscope;
- posterior cervical discectomy through an incision at the back of the cervix. The operative canal is specially widened so that no pinching develops in the future.
Neoplasms
If there is constant pressing pain in the neck, the appearance of foreign education in this department may be suspected.
Benign or malignant tumors of the neck can occur in the body of the spine, blood vessels, epithelium, connective, nervous, adipose or glandular tissue.
Benign tumors (lipoma, fibroma, neuroma, osteoma, hemangioma) are usually of regular shape and clearly demarcated, rarely causing pain. The discomfort is mainly related to the compression of the surrounding tissue by the tumor. Malignant tumors (osteosarcoma, myeloma, lymph node or thyroid cancer) have no boundaries, they give many metastases to neighboring tissues. Their destructive action on the organs causes a painful sensation, a general worsening of the condition. The front of the neck can get cancer of the larynx, throat, oral organs, thyroid gland. The patient has difficulty swallowing, there is swelling on the neck and face, a change in voice. If the cervical flight hurts due to a bone tumor, then this condition is often accompanied by damage to the spinal cord and nerve roots on the side of the spine with the development of paralysis.
Treatment
Treatment of pain in the neoplasm is aimed primarily at eliminating the cause - reducing or eliminating the swelling. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy, hardening of the vessels that supply the tumor, and surgical removal of the pathological formation are used for this purpose.
Pain relief depends on the severity of the pain:
- weak painkillers;
- moderate pain medications;
- with increasing pain they switch to weak opiates;
- with severe pain, analgesia is only possible with the help of opiate medications. Antipsychotics, anticonvulsants, and corticosteroids are used to improve analgesia of neck pain with neoplasms.
Note! Neck pain can occur for a variety of reasons. In order not to miss serious diseases, it is necessary to visit a doctor first of all for consultations on the appearance of pain and the exact determination of its source.