Neck Pain

CERVICAL SPINE ANATOMY

DISEASE EXPLAINED

SYMPTOMS

Pain that’s often worsened by holding your head in one place for long periods, such as when driving or working at a computer

Muscle tightness and spasms

Decreased ability to move your head

Headache

CAUSES

Your neck is flexible and supports the weight of your head, so it can be vulnerable to injuries and conditions that cause pain and restrict motion. Neck pain causes include:

MUSCLE STRAINS.
Overuse, such as too many hours hunched over your computer or smartphone, often triggers muscle strains. Even minor things, such as reading in bed or gritting your teeth, can strain neck muscles.

WORN JOINTS.
Just like the other joints in your body, your neck joints tend to wear down with age. Osteoarthritis causes the cushions (cartilage) between your bones (vertebrae) to deteriorate. Your body then forms bone spurs that affect joint motion and cause pain.

NERVE COMPRESSION.
Herniated disks or bone spurs in the vertebrae of your neck can press on the nerves branching out from the spinal cord.

INJURIES.
Rear-end auto collisions often result in whiplash injury, which occurs when the head is jerked backward and then forward, straining the soft tissues of the neck.

DISEASES.
Certain diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, meningitis or cancer, can cause neck pain.

TREATMENT

TREATMENT OPTIONS

The most common types of mild to moderate neck pain usually respond well to self-care within two or three weeks. If neck pain persists, your doctor might recommend other treatments.

MEDICATIONS
Your doctor might prescribe stronger pain medicine than what you can get over-the-counter, as well as muscle relaxants and tricyclic antidepressants for pain relief.

THERAPY
Physical therapy. A physical therapist can teach you correct posture, alignment and neck-strengthening exercises, and can use heat, ice, electrical stimulation and other measures to help ease your pain and prevent a recurrence.

TRANSCUTANEOUS ELECTRICAL NERVE STIMULATION (TENS).
Electrodes placed on your skin near the painful areas deliver tiny electrical impulses that may relieve pain.

TRACTION.
Traction uses weights, pulleys or an air bladder to gently stretch your neck. This therapy, under supervision of a medical professional and physical therapist, may provide relief of some neck pain, especially pain related to nerve root irritation.

SHORT-TERM IMMOBILIZATION.
A soft collar that supports your neck may help relieve pain by taking pressure off the structures in your neck. However, if used for more than three hours at a time or for more than one to two weeks, a collar might do more harm than good.

STEROID INJECTIONS.
Your doctor might inject corticosteroid medications near the nerve roots, into the small facet joints in the bones of the cervical spine or into the muscles in your neck to help with pain. Numbing medications, such as lidocaine, also can be injected to relieve your neck pain.

SURGICAL OPTIONS
Rarely needed for neck pain, surgery might be an option for relieving nerve root or spinal cord compression.