The human neck, like any animal, is an amazing part of the body, quite fragile, but strong.
The cervical spine, along with all its muscles and ligaments, supports and moves the skull, absorbs shock when walking, protects the brain from concussions, protects the blood vessels that feed it, and also protects the spinal cord.
When your neck hurts, the reasons can be quite varied.Some of them may go away on their own within a few days, while others may cause chronic illness and pain.
Why does pain occur?
The most common cause of neck pain is poor posture.With a bent back, the head stops holding the exact position of the body and moves forward.In this position, the muscles and ligaments of the neck experience tension.Prolonged work without changing position, sleeping on a soft bed or high pillow and long static load contribute to the development of bending and neck pain.
Other causes of neck pain include trauma from a fall, car accident, or playing sports.During sudden acceleration and then braking, the cervical spine makes a whip-like motion.As a result, ligaments and muscles can be stretched, displacement or compression fractures can occur in the cervical vertebrae, and intervertebral hernias can form.
Neck pain can occur as a secondary manifestation of other diseases.For example, during a heart attack, when the infarction causes severe pain that radiates along the nerve plexuses to the upper limbs, chest and neck.Neck pain during a heart attack is only part of a large complex of symptoms - shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, vomiting.If you have neck or jaw pain or 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 muscles of the neck become hypertonic, that is, they become rigid.When I try to bend my head towards my chest, the back of my neck hurts a lot.
The spine in the neck hurts with rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, spondylosis and osteoarthritis, hernia or protrusion, compression of nerve roots or spinal cord by infectious swellings, abscesses, tumors or benign neoplasms.
special cases
Degenerative diseases
Osteochondrosis, or in other words, degenerative disorders of the intervertebral discs, causes a person to have constant neck pain.It is usually a mild aching pain, often accompanied by numbness and pain in the shoulder girdle and head.
The collar zone affected by osteochondrosis can lead to the development of cerebral artery syndrome.By reducing the intervertebral distances in this area, compressive damage occurs to the vertebral arteries that pass through the openings of the transverse processes of the cervical vertebrae.Pressure on the vessels causes a reduction in blood flow to the brain, which causes dizziness, loss of vision and hearing.On the other hand, mechanical irritation of the artery by pressure on the vertebrae causes a reflex spasm, which manifests itself as a burning, throbbing pain in the head.
treatment
If your neck constantly hurts due to osteochondrosis, then therapy begins with the elimination of the pain syndrome.The second mandatory direction of treatment is to stop the degenerative processes in the cervical vertebrae.
Pain relief can be achieved using the following group of medications:
- Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs - directly block the cascade of mediators that signal pain;
- Muscle relaxants - eliminate muscle spasms that reflexively arise from severe pain;
- Sedatives - calms and inhibits the nervous system and the transmission of pain impulses, including (valerian, antidepressants, sleeping pills);
- Vasodilators - help eliminate vertebral artery syndrome and associated pain.
To eliminate the cause of neck pain due to osteochondrosis, chondroprotective agents are prescribed, which prevent the destruction of cartilage and spine, as well as multivitamin and mineral complexes.
Pain treatment also includes exercise therapy, physical therapy, massage, traction, reflexology, and taping therapy.During exacerbations, to relieve pain, the patient is recommended to wear a special collar that protects the neck from excessive mobility.
muscle pain
Neck pain can occur due to inflammation of the neck muscles, called myositis.Such pain should be distinguished from neuritis (inflammation of nerve trunks with impaired sensitivity) and pain caused by osteochondrosis.Myositis appears suddenly, after exposure to predisposing factors - hypothermia, vibration, prolonged overload, especially with prolonged repeated movements of the same type.
Cervical myositis is characterized by acute pain that develops when the inflamed muscle is compressed.The sharp severity of the pain causes difficulty in certain types of movement.Pain is usually felt on the anterolateral surface of the long neck muscles or the sternocleidomastoid muscles, which pull the head back when compressed bilaterally and retract when compressed unilaterally.The deep muscles that surround the spine and move throughout the neck and back are also often inflamed.
When palpating the muscle, its increased tone and dense nodular areas are noted.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 the patient has difficulty keeping his head straight.
treatment
Treatment begins with reducing the load on the neck.This is followed by a course of physiotherapeutic procedures - UHF heating, electrophoresis with drugs, paraffin heating, ozokerite wrapping, diathermy, massage, acupuncture.Such procedures restore blood circulation in the neck muscles.Medications include injections of B vitamins, anti-inflammatory and pain relievers, ointments, and rubs.
Traditional treatment recommends using cabbage or burdock leaves as pain-relieving compresses, preparing an ointment from crushed willow buds in butter and a mixture of turpentine, apple cider vinegar and egg yolk.The neck is also sprinkled with lava oil and then bandaged.The key to the success of any treatment is to rest the painful neck until its muscles have fully recovered.Then you need to start returning them to their "duty" through special gymnastics and massage.
Radicular syndrome
Severe pain in the neck, which spreads to the muscles of the head, shoulder girdle, upper limbs, can develop when the roots of the spinal nerves are pinched due to prolapse, protrusion or herniated intervertebral discs.
With this disease, the inner core of the disc protrudes towards 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, there is a burning, sharp pain in the innervated muscles (cervical lumbago).The patient feels numbness in the lower jaw, ears, back of the head, shoulder blades and hands.Dizziness and sharp pain in the neck appear when changing the position from horizontal to vertical.The gradual displacement of the core of the disc causes trauma to the surrounding tissues, their inflammation and swelling.This creates the conditions for inflammation of the nerve endings with the development of sciatica, and the mobility of the neck and upper limbs is gradually limited.Prolonged stretching of the spinal nerves causes paresis or paralysis of the limbs.
therapy
What to do if your neck hurts because of a hernia?At home, in case of pain, painkillers, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, hormonal and muscle relaxants are taken to relieve spasms.
In the hospital, severe neck pain is eliminated with the help of "blockades" - injection of painkillers into the sides of the spine.
Swelling and inflammation are eliminated with steroid drugs, which can be injected directly into the hernia area.Muscle pain is relieved by taking muscle relaxants.
Also, to prevent further development of hernia, I use cartilage tissue strengthening drugs - chondroprotectors.
In many cases, therapeutic exercises and stretching of the cervical spine contribute to the protrusion or slight protrusion.Increasing the intervertebral space helps to "slide" the intervertebral disc and relieve pressure on the nerves.
A true hernia with rupture of the fibrous ring and prolapse of the nucleus in the spinal canal requires surgery.There are several ways to get rid of neck pain through surgery:
- Anterior cervical discectomy - removal of the excess part of the disc that presses on the spinal nerves;
- replacing the damaged disc with an artificial joint that protects the cervical spine from further destruction;
- microendoscopic discectomy using a posterior approach and removal of small areas of the hernia using an endoscope;
- Posterior cervical discectomy through a posterior neck incision.The operating channel is specially enlarged so that the catch does not develop in the future.
neoplasms
If there is constant pressing pain in the neck, you can suspect the appearance of a foreign body in this section.
Benign tumors (lipoma, fibroma, neuroma, osteoma, hemangioma) most often have a regular shape and are clearly expressed;They rarely cause pain.Discomfort is mainly associated with compression of surrounding tissues by the tumor.Malignant tumors (osteogenic sarcoma, myeloma, cancer of the lymph nodes or thyroid gland) have no boundaries and give numerous metastases to neighboring tissues.Their destructive action on the organs causes a painful sensation and general deterioration of the condition.The front of the neck can become painful due to cancer of the larynx, throat, mouth, or thyroid gland.The patient has difficulty swallowing, swelling of the neck and face, and a change in voice.If the cervical spine hurts due to a bone tumor, then this condition is also often accompanied by damage to the spinal cord and nerve roots with the development of paralysis on the side of the spine.
treatment
Treatment of pain caused by tumors is primarily aimed at eliminating the cause - reducing or removing the tumor.Chemotherapy and radiation therapy, sclerosis of tumor feeding vessels and surgical removal of pathological growth are used for this purpose.
Pain relief depends on the severity of the pain:
- weak drugs;
- moderate pain relievers;
- In increasing pain, they switch to weaker opiates;
- In case of severe pain, analgesia is possible only with the help of opiate drugs.Antipsychotics, anticonvulsants, and corticosteroids are used to enhance analgesia for neck pain due to neoplasms.
Pay attention!Neck pain can occur for a variety of reasons.In order not to miss serious diseases, you should first consult a doctor about the occurrence of pain and accurately determine its source.