Like other animals, the human neck is a magical part of the body, quite fragile, but powerful.
The cervical spine, together with all muscles and ligaments, supports and pushes the movement of the skull, absorbs vibrations during walking, protects the brain from concussions, protects the blood vessels that supply it, and protects the spinal cord.
It can be said that almost everyone has experienced neck pain in their lifetime. Neck pain can affect men and women of any age.
When the neck is painful, the reasons can be many. Some of them can resolve on their own within a few days, while others can cause chronic diseases and pain.
Why is there pain?
The most common cause of neck pain is poor posture. When bending over, the head no longer occupies the position directly above the body, but moves forward. In this position, the muscles and ligaments of the neck will bear more tension. Working without changing posture for a long time, sleeping on a soft bed or high pillow, and prolonged static load will promote the development of bending and neck pain.
Other causes of neck pain are head-down falls, traffic accidents, or sports injuries. With rapid acceleration and then braking, the cervical spine will make a whiplash movement. As a result, ligaments and muscles become overstretched, cervical spine displacement or compression fractures, and intervertebral hernias.
Neck pain can occur as a secondary manifestation of other diseases. For example, during a heart attack, when the heart attack causes severe pain, it will radiate along the nerve plexus to the upper limbs, chest, and neck. Neck pain caused by a heart attack is only part of a complex series of symptoms-shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, and vomiting. If you observe pain in your neck, jaw, and other signs of a heart attack, you should call an ambulance immediately.
Neck pain is also used as a diagnostic marker for meningitis. With this disease, the neck muscles become hypertonic, that is, become stiff. When you try to tilt your head toward your chest, the back of your neck hurts.
Neck spine pain, accompanied by rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, spondylosis and osteoarthritis, hernia or protrusion, nerve root or spinal cord compression, accompanied by infectious edema, abscess, tumor orBenign tumors.
Special case
Degenerative disease
Osteochondrosis, or in other words, intervertebral disc dystrophy, can cause frequent injuries to a person’s neck. This is usually mild soreness, usually accompanied by numbness and soreness in the shoulder straps and head.
Territories affected by osteochondrosis can lead to the development of cerebral artery syndrome. As the distance between the vertebrae in this area decreases, compression damage to the vertebral artery will occur at the opening of the transverse process of the cervical spine. The pressure on the blood vessels reduces the blood flow to the brain, causing dizziness, vision and hearing loss. On the other hand, the mechanical stimulation of the arteries by the pressure from the vertebrae can cause reflex spasm, which is manifested by the pulsating pain of the head burning.
treatment
If the neck continues to ache against the background of osteochondrosis, treatment begins with the elimination of the pain syndrome. The second mandatory treatment direction is to stop the degenerative process of the cervical spine.
The pain can be relieved by using the following groups of drugs:
- Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs-directly block the cascade of mediators that send pain signals;
- Muscle relaxants-eliminate muscle spasms, reflexively caused by severe pain;
- Sedatives-they can soothe and inhibit the nervous system and the transmission of pain impulses, including (valerian, antidepressants, sleeping pills);
- Vasodilators-help eliminate vertebral artery syndrome and the pain associated with it.
In order to eliminate the cause of neck pain caused by osteochondrosis, cartilage protection drugs are prescribed to prevent the destruction of cartilage and vertebrae, as well as a multi-vitamin-mineral complex.
Pain management also includes physical therapy, physical therapy, massage, traction, reflex and tape therapy. During the worsening period, in order to relieve the pain, it is recommended that the patient wear a special collar to prevent excessive movement of the neck.
Muscle pain
Neck soreness occurs when the neck muscles become inflamed, which is called myositis.
This pain should be distinguished from the pain caused by neuritis (inflammation of the nerve trunk with sensory disturbance) and osteochondrosis.
Myositis occurs suddenly after exposure to predisposing factors-hypothermia, vibration, prolonged excessive exertion, especially repeated repetition of the same type of exercise for a long time.
Cervical myositis is characterized by acute pain when the inflamed muscle contracts. The severe pain makes it difficult to perform certain types of exercise.
Usually, the long muscles or sternocleidomastoid muscles on the anterolateral surface of the neck are injured. When bilateral contraction, the head is pulled back, and unilateral contraction causes the head to rotate.
The deep muscles around the spine are also often inflamed, which activates the entire neck and back.
As you explore the muscles, you will notice increased tension and dense nodular areas. Microcirculation and local dystrophy cause muscle cells to be gradually replaced by connective tissue. As a result, the neck muscles become weak, the bilateral symmetry of the spine is destroyed, torticollis may occur, and it is difficult for the patient to keep the head straight.
treatment
The first step is to reduce the pressure on the neck. Next is a series of physiotherapy procedures-ultra-high frequency heating, drug electrophoresis, paraffin heating, ozokerite wrap, diathermy, massage, acupuncture. Such procedures can restore blood circulation to the neck muscles. Among the drugs, injections of B vitamins, anti-inflammatory and analgesics, ointments and friction agents are prescribed.
Alternative therapies suggest using cabbage or burdock leaves as an analgesic compress, using mashed willow buds to make an ointment in butter, and rubbing with a mixture of turpentine, apple cider vinegar, and egg yolk. In addition, the neck is rubbed with lava oil and then wrapped. The main guarantee for the success of any treatment is to keep the painful neck calm until its muscles are fully restored. Then you should start to get them "back to work" through special gymnastics and massage.
Nerve root syndrome
Severe neck pain can spread to the head, shoulder straps, and upper limb muscles. When the roots of the spinal nerves are squeezed during prolapse, herniation or intervertebral disc herniation, severe neck pain can occur.
With this disease, the inner core of the intervertebral disc protrudes toward the spinal canal or its lateral horns. The hernia and its symptoms usually appear on one side. When the spinal nerve roots are under pressure, the innervated muscles (neck and back pain) will have a burning pain. The patient felt numbness in the jaw, around the ears, back of the head, shoulder blades, and arms. I have dizziness and severe soreness when my neck changes from a horizontal position to a vertical position. The gradual herniation of the nucleus of the intervertebral disc leads to trauma, inflammation and edema of the surrounding tissues. With the development of radiculitis, this creates a prerequisite for inflammation of nerve endings, and the mobility of the neck and upper limbs is gradually restricted. Long-term invasion of the spinal nerves can cause paralysis or paralysis of the limbs.
treatment
What if the neck is sore from hernia? At home, for pain syndrome, you can take analgesics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, hormone drugs, and muscle relaxants to relieve cramps.
In the hospital, the severe pain in the neck was eliminated with the help of "blockers"-anesthetic substances were introduced on both sides of the spine.
Swelling and inflammation are treated with steroids, which can be injected directly into the hernia. Muscle soreness can be eliminated by taking muscle relaxants.
In addition, in order to prevent the further development of the hernia, I used a drug that strengthens cartilage tissue-a chondroprotectant.
In many cases, cervical spine treatment exercises with extension or slight extension and traction can help. The increase in the intervertebral space helps the "retraction" of the intervertebral disc and reduces the pressure on the nerves.
In true hernias where the annulus fibrosus ruptures and the nucleus pulposus prolapses into the spinal canal, surgery is required. There are several ways to get rid of neck pain through surgery:
- Anterior Cervical Discectomy-to remove the extra discs that compress the spinal nerves;
- Replace damaged intervertebral discs with artificial joints to protect the cervical spine from further damage;
- Microendoscopic discectomy using posterior approach and removal of small hernias through an endoscope;
- A posterior cervical discectomy is performed through an incision in the back of the neck. The surgical channel is deliberately widened to prevent sandwiching in the future.
Tumor
If there is persistent tenderness in the neck, the performance of the foreign teacher of the department can be suspected.
Benign or malignant neck tumors can appear in the vertebral body, blood vessels, epithelium, connective tissue, nerve tissue, fat or glandular tissue.
Benign tumors (lipomas, fibromas, neuromas, bone tumors, hemangiomas) are usually the correct shape and are clearly restricted, and they rarely cause pain. The discomfort is mainly related to the compression of the surrounding tissues by the tumor. Malignant tumors (osteosarcoma, myeloma, lymph nodes or thyroid cancer) have no borders, and they can metastasize a lot to adjacent tissues. Their destructive effects on organs can cause pain and make the condition generally worse. The front part of the neck may suffer from laryngeal cancer, laryngeal cancer, oral cavity cancer, and thyroid cancer. The patient has difficulty swallowing, swelling of the neck and face, and changes in voice. If the cervical spine is injured due to bone tumors, this condition is often accompanied by damage to the spinal cord and nerve roots on the side of the spine, and leads to paralysis.
treatment
The treatment of tumor pain is mainly aimed at eliminating the cause-reducing or eliminating swelling. For this, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, hardening of the blood vessels supplying the tumor, and surgery are used to remove pathological formations.
Pain relief depends on the severity of the pain:
- Weak analgesics;
- Analgesics of moderate severity;
- As the pain worsened, they turned to weak opioids;
- For severe pain, the pain can only be relieved with the help of opioids. Use antipsychotics, anticonvulsants and corticosteroids to enhance the analgesic effect of neck tumor pain.
notes! There are many reasons for neck pain. In order not to miss a serious illness, you must first see a doctor to consult the occurrence and exact source of the pain.