Neck Pain Causes – Symptoms, Causes, Stretches
Neck pain is a very common problem; additionally there are many different neck pain causes with makes this issue hard to diagnose. The neck has a huge range of motion and it is easily injured. This part of the body consists of many elements such as: veins, ligaments, tendons, blood vessels, nerves, muscle, and spine.
Everyone experiences neck pain in their life. The neck pain causes can be both minor and major. From such simple things as awkward sleep position to a lot more serious diseases and spine problems.
Neck Pain Symptoms
There are many different pain descriptions: stabbing, dull sharp or burning. It can also last for a very short period of time, few hours, or it can be long lasting for example eight weeks. Neck pain can even lead to more serious problems such as nerve damage. Additionally it can go in hand with other symptoms such as arm numbness or shoulder and chest pain.
Common Neck Pain Causes
Strain of the muscles – one of the more common neck pain causes. Muscle strain mostly is caused by poor posture in everyday activities. Any situation can cause muscle strain in our neck if done improperly, for example walking or even sleeping. A common symptom is neck stiffness, goes in pair with limited neck movement.
Quick movement or the so called whiplash effect – A very common cause. This effect happens when your body goes forward and your head back or vice versa. For example it can be caused by car accident or a football tackle. The ligaments stretch and tear, the pain doesn’t become apparent immediately instead it can even take few days. This kind of an injury a lot of the time comes in pair with shoulder and chest pain or headache. Bigger impact = more serious injury. It heals by itself within few days to up to 2 weeks, depending on the injury.
Aging
Degenerative disc or herniated disc – With age the space between our discs gets dried up and it causes the discs to come closer together. When they narrow down to a certain point they start to pinch the nerves and cause a lot of pain.
Cervical spondylitis - It is a very common issue among older folks. The symptoms are stiffness and numbness in the neck that improves after sleeping or lying down. A lot of time causes weakness and/or pain in both arms. This neck pain often comes in pair with shoulder pain.
cervical spinal stenosis – When the spacing becomes worn-out a pressure is put on the spinal cord. The symptoms are weakness in legs, arms or both. The pain becomes worse when doing an activity. For some individuals there are no symptoms.
Diseases
Most common diseases are rheumatoid arthritis, meningitis, cancer.
Rheumatoid arthritis attacks the feet and hand joins, but neck is the next most common place of the attack.
Meningitis causes the spinal cord to swell. The main symptom is stiffness of the neck.
The cancer cause is least likely. It happens only when the tumor spreads from a different area into the spine.
If you are worried go ahead and contact me via the contact page any time you want.
Neck Stretches
Here are some basic neck stretches to give a better idea of what is appropriate. if you are interested below I have a lot more stretches you can do to help you relief some of the neck pain.
Conclusion to Causes of Neck Pain
If you know the cause of your neck pain you can take appropriate measures to ensure quick recovery. If you are in a completely different situation and don’t know the cause of your neck pain it is mandatory to visit a specialist. Such steps should also be taken if your pain worsens or just doesn’t seem to go away. Even if neck pain most of the time is a temporary thing, by visiting a doctor you can quicken the recovery. Remember that there are many neck pain causes some are minor, but some can be very serious and even life threatening.