The neck of humans, like other animals, is an amazing part of the body, quite fragile but powerful.
The cervical spine, along with all the muscles and ligaments, supports and moves the skull, absorbs shocks while walking, protects the brain from concussion, protects the blood vessels that feed it, and also protects the spinal cord.
It can be argued that almost everyone has experienced neck pain throughout their lives. Neck pain can affect both men and women of all ages.
When the neck hurts, the reasons can be quite different. Some of them can self-resolve within a few days, and some can provoke chronic illness and pain.
Why does the pain appear?
The most common reason why your neck hurts is poor posture. With a bent back, the head ceases to occupy a position exactly above the body and moves forward. In this position, the muscles and ligaments of the neck experience increased tension. The development of flexion and neck pain is facilitated by prolonged work without changing position, sleeping on a soft bed or a high pillow, an extended static load.
Other causes of neck pain are an injury from falling with the head, in a traffic accident or while playing sports. With sharp acceleration and then braking, the back of the cervix makes a whipping motion. As a result, ligaments and muscles can stretch, a displacement or compression fracture occurs in the cervical vertebrae and the formation of intervertebral hernias.
Neck pain can occur as a secondary manifestation of other diseases. For example, with a heart attack, when a heart attack causes severe pain, radiating along the nerve plexuses in the upper limbs, chest, neck. Neck pain with a heart attack is just part of a larger complex of symptoms - shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, vomiting. If your neck, jaw hurts and other signs of a heart attack are noticed, 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, i. e. they become stiff. When you try to tilt your head to your chest, your back neck hurts a lot.
The back in the neck area aches with rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, spondylosis and osteoarthritis, hernia or elongation, 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 is constantly aching. This is usually a mild excruciating pain, which is often accompanied by a feeling of numbness and pain in the shoulder girdle and head.
The collar area affected by osteochondrosis can cause the development of cerebral artery syndrome. With a decrease in intervertebral distances in this area, a compressive damage of the vertebral arteries occurs in the openings of the transverse processes of the cervical vertebrae. Pressure on the vessel causes a decrease in blood flow to the brain with the onset of dizziness, decreased vision and hearing. On the other hand, mechanical stimulation of the artery by pressure from the vertebrae causes a reflex spasm, which manifests as a throbbing burning pain in the head.
Treatment
If the neck constantly hurts against the background of osteochondrosis, then therapy begins with the elimination of pain syndrome. The second mandatory direction of treatment is the cessation of degenerative processes in the cervical vertebrae.
Pain relief can be achieved by using the following groups of medications:
- non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs directly block the cascade of mediators signaling pain;
- muscle relaxants - eliminate muscle spasm, which comes reflexively from severe pain;
- sedatives - they 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 that prevent the destruction of cartilage and vertebrae, as well as multivitamin mineral complexes.
Pain management also consists of physical therapy, physiotherapy, massage, traction, reflex and taping therapy. During an exacerbation, to relieve pain, the patient is advised to wear a special collar that protects the neck from excessive mobility.
Muscle aches
Neck pain can occur when the muscles in the neck become inflamed called miosis.
Such pain should be distinguished from neuritis (inflammation of the nerve trunks with a sensory disorder) and pain provoked by osteochondrosis.
Myositis occurs suddenly, after exposure to predisposing factors - hypothermia, tremor, prolonged overload, especially with prolonged repetitive movements of the same type.
Cervical myositis is characterized by acute pain that occurs when inflamed muscles contract. The sharp severity of the pain leads to difficulty in performing certain types of movement.
Usually, the long neck muscles on the anterolateral surface or the sternocleidomastoid muscles injure, which, with a bilateral contraction, pull the head back, and with a unilateral contraction, they turn it.
The deep muscles surrounding the spine are also often inflamed and set in motion all over the neck and back.
When you investigate a muscle, you notice its increased tone and dense areas of the joints. Violation of microcirculation and local trophism leads to gradual replacement of myocytes with connective tissue. As a result, the neck muscles weaken, their symmetry is broken on the sides of the spine, torticollis may appear, and it is difficult for the patient to keep the head straight.
Treatment
Treatment begins with reducing neck strain. This is followed by a course of physiotherapeutic procedures - UHF heating, drug electrophoresis, paraffin heating, ozokerite wraps, diathermy, massage, acupuncture. Such procedures restore blood circulation to the neck muscles. Of the medicines, injections of B vitamins, anti-inflammatory and analgesic medicines, ointments and rubs are prescribed.
Alternative treatment recommends the use of cabbage or burdock leaves as compresses for pain relief, preparation of an oil from willow buds in butter, rubbing from 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 injured neck calm until its muscles are fully restored. Then you need to start getting them "on duty" through 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 caught during prolapse, elongation, or disc herniation.
With this disease, the inner core of the disc protrudes toward the spinal canal or its lateral horns. A hernia and its symptoms usually appear on one side. When pressure is created on the roots of the spinal nerves, a sharp burning pain appears in the innervated muscles (cervical lumbago). The patient feels numbness of the lower jaw, the area around the ears, the back of the head, the shoulders, the arms. Dizziness, sharp pain in the neck occurs when you change position from horizontal to vertical. Gradual lengthening of the disc nucleus leads to trauma to the surrounding tissues, their inflammation and edema. This creates the preconditions for inflammation of nerve endings with the development of radiculitis, the mobility of the neck and upper limbs is gradually limited. Prolonged violation of the spinal nerves leads to paresis or paralysis of the limbs.
Therapy
What to do if the neck hurts with a hernia? At home, with pain syndrome, pain relievers, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, hormonal drugs, muscle relaxants are taken to relieve spasms.
In the hospital, severe neck pain is eliminated with the help of "blockades" - the introduction of anesthetic substances on the sides of the spine.
Swelling and inflammation are treated with steroids that can be injected directly into the hernia. Muscle pain is eliminated by taking muscle relaxants.
Also, to prevent further development of the hernia, I use drugs that strengthen cartilage tissue - chondroprotectors.
In many cases, therapeutic exercises and pulling the cervical spine with easy extension or exit help. Increasing the intervertebral space helps to "pull" the intervertebral disc and relieve pressure on the nerves.
In a true hernia with rupture of ring fibrosis and nucleus prolapse in the spinal canal, surgery is required. There are several ways to get rid of neck pain through surgery:
- anterior cervical discectomy - removal of an extra part of the 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 posterior approach and removal of small areas of the hernia through an endoscope;
- posterior cervical dissectomy through an incision in the posterior part of the cervix. The channel of operation has been specially widened so that tightening does not take place in the future.
Neoplasia
If there is a persistent oppressive pain in the neck, you may suspect the appearance of an external education in this department.
Benign or malignant tumors in the neck can appear on the vertebral body, blood vessels, epithelium, connective tissue, nerve, adipose or glandular.
Benign tumors (lipoma, fibroma, neuroma, osteoma, hemangioma) are most often of the right shape and clearly demarcated, they rarely cause pain. Concern is mainly associated with compression of the surrounding tissues by the tumor. Malignant tumors (osteosarcoma, myeloma, cancer of the lymph nodes or thyroid gland) have no boundaries, they give many metastases to neighboring tissues. Their destructive effect on the organs causes a painful sensation, a general deterioration of the condition. The front of the neck can get cancer of the larynx, throat, mouth organs, thyroid gland. The patient has difficulty swallowing, there is swelling in the neck and face, a change in voice. If the flight of the cervix hurts with a bone tumor, then this condition also often accompanies damage to the spinal cord and nerve roots on the side of the spine with the development of paralysis.
Treatment
Treatment of pain in neoplasms is primarily aimed at eliminating the cause - reducing or eliminating the swelling. For this purpose, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, hardening of the vessels supplying the tumor, and surgical removal of the pathological formation are used.
Pain relief depends on the severity of the pain:
- poor pain relievers;
- pain relievers of moderate severity;
- with increasing pain, they pass into weak opiates;
- with severe pain, analgesia is possible only with the help of opiate drugs. Antipsychotics, anticonvulsants and corticosteroids are used to increase the analgesia of neck pain with neoplasms.
Note! Neck pain can occur for a variety of reasons. In order not to miss serious illnesses, it is necessary first of all to visit a doctor for consultation regarding the occurrence of pain and the exact determination of its source.